RegMed Daily Dialogue, 7/22/11, a day late but, no big changes, its July
The 6 W’s: Who, what, where, when, why and what of it…
The major US stock indexes were able to claim a week of gains by the time the market closed Friday.
US stocks closed Friday’s session highlighting a generally strong streak of earnings reports. This has been a week of positive earnings announcements, so may be we’ve started to change investor focus from the slowdown of Q2/11 which … could acceleration of growth in the 3rd and 4th quarters
Prospects for an agreement on the budget and removing uncertainty over the debt ceiling” could lift equities in coming weeks, even when the headline news is not so good. However, Friday’s low-volume session highlights the summer doldrums. It might be very HOT outside but, frigid air inhibits appreciation.
Regenerative medicine/stem cell universe is “welcomed to the Zero-Sum Universe” as exhibited by the tensions between scientists, companies, government regulation, markets and investors but, all is not lost – just in flux on 7/22/11 … The NASDAQ is up +24.40 (+0.86%) to 2,858.83. The Dow is DOWN -43.25 (-0.34%) to 12,681.16.
Who’s was UP Friday:
Advanced Cell Technology (ACTC.OB), Athersys (ATHX), ImmunoCellular (IMUC.OB), International Stem Cell (ISCO.OB), Geron (GERN), NeoStem (AMEX: NBS), StemCells (STEMD), ThermoGenesis (KOOL) are up …
What’s driving the regenerative medicine/stem cell market …
NeoStem Announces Closing of Public Offering for $16.5M in Gross Proceeds: NYSE Amex: NBS closed of an underwritten public offering of 13,750,000 units at $1.20 per unit. Each unit consists of 1 share of common stock and a warrant to purchase 0.75 of a share of common stock with a per share exercise price of $1.45. The bottom line, this financing and signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Amorcyte with a P2-ready asset for acute myocardial infarction marks the beginning of their transition to a developer of cell therapeutics and capitalizes on the purchase of Progenitor Cell Therapy (PCT) earlier this year.
Joint venture licenses hemangioblast cell technology to Advanced Cell Technology: Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine International, a joint venture by ACTC.OB and South Korea-based CHA Bio & Diostech, has exclusively licensed its hemangioblast cell technology to ACT. Under the deal, ACT also will hire 10 joint venture employees as it explores the potential use of hemangioblasts in vascular repair. The bottom line, while still permitting the leverage of the combined expertise of 2 companies, this new licensing and development arrangement should help to accelerate the development of clinical programs, and open the door to further government-sponsored research
Sigma® Life Science Launches Genetically Modified Human Cell Lines for Breast Cancer Research: NASDAQ: SIAL expanded its CompoZr® Oncology Disease Model portfolio with the release of the 1st in its collection of breast cancer-specific knockout and knock-in cell lines for drug discovery and research. The bottom line, these modified epithelial cell lines are expected to provide researchers with a characterized and known genetic background for basic research and pathway analysis. They are supplied with isogenic parental cell lines to allow high throughput, cell-based screening for drug discovery, target validation and mechanistic studies. CompoZr® ZFN-modified breast cancer cell lines will accelerate drug discovery and enhance basic research. Important breast cancer genes – such as Estrogen Receptor, PTEN and HER2 – have been targeted using Sigma Life Science’s proprietary Zinc Finger Nuclease (ZFN) technology, to create stable and heritable genomic knockouts and to provide new cellular models of cancer. These modified human epithelial cell lines, including MCF10A, among others; offer researchers the complete knockout of disease-relevant target gene expression.
1st genome-wide mapping of DNA: US researchers have completed the first genome-wide mapping of a DNA modification called 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) in embryonic stem cells. The molecule is predominantly found in genes that are turned on, or active, according to the researchers from the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at University of California, Los Angeles. The bottom line, this finding may prove to be important in controlling diseases like cancer, where the regulation of certain genes plays a role in disease development. The researchers used genomics to define where in human embryonic stem cells the 5hmC was present. Human embryonic stem cells were used because it had been shown previously that the molecule is abundant in those cells, as well as in brain cells. In the study, the researchers found that 5hmC was associated with genes and tended to be found on genes that were active. The study also revealed that 5hmC was present on a type of DNA regulatory element, called enhancers, which help control gene expression. In particular, 5hmC was present on enhancers that are crucial for defining the nature of the human embryonic stem cells. The results suggest that 5hmC plays a role in the activation of genes. This is opposite of the role of the more well studied 5mC (DNA methylation), which is involved in silencing genes. This relationship is in line with the view that 5hmC is created directly from 5mC. If we can understand the function of 5hmC, that will lead to greater understanding of how genes are turned on and off and that could lead to the development of methods for controlling gene regulation. The study appears in the July issue of the journal Genome Biology.
New Publication Validates StemCells, SC Proven(R) Reagents for Automated Production and Cell-Based Screening: STEMD announced publication of a collaborative study which used commercially available SC Proven serum-free cell culture media for the reproducible and robust production of large numbers of genetically stable, self-renewing cells that retain true multi-potent biological function over extended culture periods. The paper was published in a special edition of Neurochemistry International dedicated to “The Potential of Stem Cells for 21st Century Neuroscience”. The bottom line, this work overcomes a key hurdle to the use of non-immortalized cells for regenerative medicine, and demonstrates the utility of human tissue-derived neural stem (NS) cells^1 as a scalable platform for cell-based drug discovery and drug screening applications. This work by our scientists and their collaborators also underscores the rationale for, and the advantage of, using well-defined, serum-free and where possible animal component-free reagents for cell culture and cell-based assays because it eliminates contaminants that cause culture variability and that impair assay performance.
Stem cell treatment may restore cognitive abilities in patients with brain cancer:
Stem cell therapy may restore cognition in patients with brain cancer who experience functional learning and memory loss often associated with radiation treatment, according to a laboratory study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Radiotherapy for brain tumors is limited by how well the surrounding tissue tolerates it. Patients receiving radiation at effective levels suffer varying degrees of learning and memory loss that can adversely affect their quality of life. In this study, multipotent human neural stem cells were transplanted into the brains of rats that had undergone radiation treatment. They migrated throughout the hippocampus, a region known for the growth of new neurons, and developed into brain cells. The bottom line, this new study sheds light on how transplantation could alleviate side effects of radiotherapy. The findings of this study are significant, and may help pave the way for a human safety trial to be conducted within a few years, most likely with patients afflicted with glioblastoma multiforme, if appropriate funding can be secured. Neural stem cells like those used in this study do not present the same ethical questions as embryonic stem cells.
