Blog | HemaCare

Stromal cells are becoming a viable candidate for cell therapy due to their immunosuppressive properties and ability to treat autoimmune diseases.

Advances in the development of treatments for autoimmune diseases and tissue repair are being realized through cell therapy approaches. Research is ongoing to overcome common limitations to successful clinical use, such as transplantation rejection and low therapeutic efficacy. Stromal cells, or mesenchymal stem cells, are becoming a very viable candidate for cell therapy due to their unique characteristics in comparison to other stem cell types. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are pluripotent stem cells that are self-renewable; however, they have immunomodulatory features that increase the success of their utility for immune disease therapy and regenerative medicine.

Researchers studied the potential harm of carbon nanoparticle absorption but found that lysosome encapsulation may prevent cell-damage from occurring.  

Carbon nanoparticles are very promising tools for use in the delivery of therapeutic agents in the body and for bioimaging applications to monitor drug distribution and efficacy. These particles have been successfully attached to various therapeutic agents including small drug molecules, vaccines, immunotherapeutic agents, and gene therapies. Agents can be delivered directly into cell targets without first being metabolized. However, are there adverse effects that could potentially overshadow these benefits?

Mesenchymal Stem cells (MSCs) derived from mouse muscle tissue and bone marrow were used in an experimental cell therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an incurable, progressively debilitating muscular-skeletal and cardiac disease caused by a mutation in the dystrophin gene. The encoded dystrophin protein is part of a larger protein complex involved in anchoring the muscle cytoskeleton to components of the extracellular matrix. Loss of dystrophin leads to muscle wasting, and heart disease is a major cause of death in patients with DMD. Therefore, the availability of effective treatments to address cardiac function in people with DMD is vital.

The mobilization of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) to the peripheral blood is an essential process enabling the collection of these cells from an easily accessible source. The use of peripheral blood as a source of stem cells has significantly improved donor safety, since it does not require a surgical procedure for cell collection, and it is associated with a significantly accelerated reconstitution of the immune system in transplant patients.

A new study shows that we may be able to boost the grafting ability in cells for people receiving a bone marrow transplant.

Allogenic stem cell transplantation is a treatment approach in people with diseases that are destructive to the bone marrow, such as multiple myeloma, leukemia, and Hodgkin´s lymphoma. The goal is to restore bone marrow after total-body chemotherapy and irradiation. The transplantation procedure involves transferring hematopoietic stem cells from compatible, healthy donors to a patient. An important complication of this procedure is rejection and destruction of the donated stem cells by the recipient’s immune system before engraftment can occur.