StemCell Therapy

Metformin in breast cancer Nature.com A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology reports that metformin improves the prognosis of patients with HER2-positive, hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer and diabetes mellitus. The phase III randomized ALTTO trial included ...

Visit link:
Metformin in breast cancer - Nature.com

Diabetes medications were the most expensive traditional therapy drugs in 2016, with an overall trend of 19.4%, according to the latest Express Scripts drug trend report. This positive trend is reflective of increases in both utilization and cost.

Heres how pipeline developments could change the landscape.

Pipeline treatments

Peterson

While I do not see any game-changing medications within the diabetes class that will reach the market within the next several years, there are a few updates that we are watching, says Chris Peterson, director in the emerging therapeutics department at Express Scripts.

He points to the continued growth of the sodium-dependent glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor classsparked by the positive cardiovascular outcomes from empagliflozin (Jardiance, Boehringer Ingelheim/Eli Lilly), a previously approved SGLT2 inhibitor. Pipeline SGLT-2 inhibitors include investigational ertugliflozin (Merck and Pfizer) and bexagliflozin (Chugai Pharma), both in phase 3 development at press time. Sotagliflozin (Lexicon Pharmaceuticals),a first-in-class oral dual SGLT-1 and SGLT-2 inhibitor for type 1 and type 2 diabetes, also in phase 3. If approved, it will be the first oral drug approved for type 1 diabetes, a disease that typically has been managed by lifestyle modifications and insulins, says Farrah Wong, PharmD, director, pipeline and drug surveillance at OptumRx.

Wong

The glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analog class is also expected to grow, says Peterson. This is driven by cardiovascular outcomes data with liraglutide (Victoza, Novo Nordisk) and the introduction of the fixed-dose combination GLP-1 agonist/long-acting insulin products, insulin glargine and lixisenatide injection (Soliqua 100/3, Sanofi) and insulin degludec/liraglutide (Xultophy, Novo Nordisk).

Semaglutide is a GLP-1 agonist in development for glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. It is being developed as both subcutaneous formulation from Novo Nordisk and oral form from Novartis. If approved, it will be the first oral GLP-1 agonist on the market.

As oral drugs are easier to administer and less invasive than injectable drugs, oral semaglutide may offer these advantages over other GLP-1 agonists, says Wong. Furthermore, type 2 diabetics will have another oral therapeutic option in a class of drugs that thus far were only injectable drugs.

Exenatide osmotic mini-pump (ITCA 650, Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc.) is a subcutaneous implant that continuously delivers the GLP-1 agonist, exenatide, for three months (introductory dose) or six months (maintenance dose) to treat type 2 diabetes. Approval is expected in November 2017, says Peterson.

New insulin products are also expected to receive approval soon, including insulin tregopil (Biocon Ltd.), an oral insulin in phase 2 development for type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Currently, insulins are either injected or inhaled, says Wong. If an oral insulin product is available, the ease of administration may drive some of the market share to shift from injectable/inhaled insulins to the oral product.

Insulin glargine injection (Basaglar, Eli Lilly/Boehringer Ingelheim) approved last year, was the first follow-on insulin glargine product to treat diabetes. Another follow-on insulin glargine product, known as MK-1293 (Merck/Samsung Bioepis), will be competing as a brand product within the market and is expected to be approved in the second quarter of 2017. Basalog is yet another insulin glargine product currently in phase 3 development; however, it is not yet clear whether the manufacturer, Mylan, will seek approval as a competing brand or as a generic to Lantus (Sanofi). Finally, Sanofi is developing SAR342434, a follow-on protein to Lilly's Humalog (insulin lispro), for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. If approved, it will compete as a brand with the other rapid-acting insulins.

View post:
New therapies show promise in treating diabetes - ModernMedicine

WASILLA I always say my story begins with Logan, Kelly Marre says.

Her first born son, Logan passed away at the age of 11 in 1998 after fighting acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Nineteen years later, Marre carries his memory everywhere. As an active member in the volunteer community, particularly focusing her efforts on Leukemia and bone marrow registries, Marre states she tries to do everything with purpose.

When God took Logan, it did not compromise my faith. I could have been bitter and cursed his name from a mountaintop. But I didnt. Look around everything is beautiful. Logans story almost 19 years after his death lives on (Sharing her story and her sons) It brings people hope and that is my purpose, Marre says.

Kelly, too, is battling leukemia. Now 22 months into remission, Marre has survived thus far and has a story to share.

Saturday, April 8, from 11am to 2pm is Kelly Marres book signing event. Titled, Killing Leuk, the book chronicles her journey through the stages of Acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

The book-singing event will be inside the new Little Millers Caf off the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. Guests can stroll into the cozy lounge and casually waft through the afternoon with Marre as she sells and signs books and welcomes meaningful conversations. She invites anyone who wants talk about overcoming the challenges of pain and suffering, hoping to a brighter future.

Marres goal is to donate $1 for every book sold. If they all sell that would mean 4,000 books to raise $4,000 to donate to her charities of choice: The Ronald McDonald Foundation, Be the Match (bone marrow registry), the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Nineteen years after her son Logans death, Marres book details her dealings with loss, illness, high hopes and setbacks, hope, strength, and ultimately inspiration; how she kept fighting through every strained step, every clump of hair fallen, each relapse. All with the love and support through faith, friends, family, and the heartbeat of the community.

Logan was pretty famous in our community, Marre said.

If you look back in the Frontiersman archives, you will find stories surrounding Marres family and the impact it had on the community; a living, breathing story arc of love and loss, whirling a dramatic wind of positive momentum, all around.

You know what, we all have stories; we all have circumstances, and we all have pain and weve all had suffering, she said. Its what we do with that its our journey. We were given a journey and its all how we walk that journey that can make our break us.

Both Logan and Kelly were unable to find matches for bone marrow transplants. Both, however, received cord blood units from donated umbilical cords.

The umbilical cord is rich, rich in stem cells. Unfortunately in Alaska we dont have that opportunity and Im trying to change that, Marre said. Thats why I get involved with the be the match bone marrow registry drive. We need to find matches for everybody.

Anyone interested in visiting Kelly Marre is welcome to do stop by this Saturday. It appears Marre and her sons stories have already given people hope. Theres always room for more.

Read the original:
'Killing Leuk:' Kelly Marre's book signing April 8 - Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman

In Brief Studies are being done on the value of replacing older blood with younger blood via transfusions. Other researchers are studying the effects of a certain protein, osteopontin, on blood cell production. 1000 Ways To Live Forever

Society is gradually changing its classification of aging as a natural phenomenon to a disease. We have made strides in our research on preventing and potentially reversing the effects of aging.In addition to the ongoing research in molecular biology ontelomeres, there is the interesting idea of utilizing young blood to combat aging. Ironically, the legends of Dracula might be vindicated in light of new research involving young blood to rehabilitate cognitive abilities in mice, which has inspiredclinical trials that may give patients a chance at beating the Grim Reaper.

Ambrosia, a company inspired by the work done by Stanford University neuroscientistTony Wyss-Coray with parabiosis in mice, charges $8,000 per patient for its human clinical trial ofparabiosis. Although there may be 600 people whotake part in the study transfusing 1.5 liters of plasma with donors between the ages of 16 and 25, thestudy is being done without the blessing of Wyss. He believes that the study does not genuinely represent the science and that, theres just no clinical evidence, and youre basically abusing peoples trust and the public excitement around this.

While Ambrosia is operatingwithout clinical evidence to support the trials, the science behind utilizing young blood in repairing and restoring aged cellular processes is worth taking a look at.

Red and white blood cells are produced from stem cellswithin bone marrow, and as we grow older, our bodys ability to replenish the number of red and white blood cells greatly depletes. Similar to the mouse trials ran by Wyss-Coray, researcherHartmut Geigerand his team at the University of Ulm in Germany looked at the bone marrow in mice at varying ages and determined that older rodents produce very low levels of the protein osteopontin.

Rather than looking at blood transfusions for apossible solution like Wyss-Corays team, Geigers team looked the potential of stem cells to test the importance of the deficient protein.The team introduced fresh stem cells into mice that had little to no osteopontin and noticed that the stem cells aged very quickly. When older stem cells were introduced to a dish with osteopontin and anactivator protein, the stem cells began to propagate blood cells.

While companies like Ambrosia are testing blood transfusions on humans to mimic an experiment that utilized a shared circulatory system between an older mouse and a younger mouse, Geigers team notes that long-term studies must be done on their work to verify the effect of osteopontin on rejuvenating cells completely.

The team is developing a drug with the protein and its activating factor, but they do not promise a fountain of youth. They do believe that there would be benefits for the immune systems of the elderly, which may be better positioned to fight diseases that are linked with cardiovascular agingafter takingthe drug.

While all this talk about immortality is exciting, it might be a while before we can actually reap the benefits of researchers studiesin the way we hope. In the meantime, we can keep dreaming away death.

See more here:
If Young Blood Can Combat Aging, It May Be Thanks to Just One Protein - Futurism

Promising Drugs in Clinical Development To Treat Advanced Colorectal Cancer P&T Community Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer diagnosed in men and women in the United States. Overall, the lifetime risk of developing the disease is approximately one in 21 (4.7%) for men and one in 23 (4.4%) for ...

Read more:
Promising Drugs in Clinical Development To Treat Advanced Colorectal Cancer - P&T Community

As I write these words, the death toll from the blast outside an imambargah in Parachinar has increased to 22. There is no doubt that the number will grow further. A day earlier, a leader of the Ahmedi community, Malik Saleem Latif was brutally killed while on his way to the court. These incidents are exclamation marks and need to be treated seriously.

There is much sadness in these words. As a student in a foreign country, Ive tried very hard to present a peaceful image of Pakistan to the international community. Ive spent hours trying to justify our ruthlessness after 9/11. I have expressed my annoyance at the international audience for not giving the Pakistani culture as much attention as they give to Indian culture. Ive expressed anger when theyve termed something distinctly Pakistani as Indian. Ive expressed sorrow when, after munching on Pakistani delicacies, theyve exclaimed their love for Indian food. I digress. However, the truth is that this has been an unlevel field and Ive tried very hard to have people fall in love with the Pakistan I earnestly love. Of course its been a difficult job and Pakistan hasnt made it any easier.

There is no way to justify any form of violence. There is much to learn from people who find themselves terrorised after a racial slur is thrown in their society. There is even more to embrace from a nation that mourns as one when a single life is wasted. There is much to acknowledge from a community that identifies each other as human and insist thats the only distinction that matters.

Pakistan is a different context. Or, is it? Time and time again, we have reasoned ourselves for our shortfalls. The many, many shortfalls. Weve reasoned to ourselves over our softness towards the monsters that were the Taliban, weve reasoned shamelessly on sainting the murderer Qadri, weve reasoned our disregard for continuing to allow Maulana Abdul Aziz to preach hatred against our mere existence, weve reasoned (or at least Hamza Ali Abbasi has) our failure to see Hafiz Saeed as a terrorist. Time and time again we have reasoned with ourselves for not terming incidents like Parachinar for what they are: sectarian violence. We continue to reason the discrimination and prosecution of the Ahmedi community. There is so much more.

The reaction to such complaints are consistently redundant. Why dont you look at the positives? Why just focus on the negatives? The answer remains the same: cherry picking certain good things out of a murky pond of a country does not prove Pakistan to be a nation of realists. It proves Pakistan to be a nation of foolish optimists, delusional people who are addicted to their blindness.

Irfan Hussain, started his writeup for Nov 20, 2010 by indicating that he realised the nugatory of his pleas and simply wrote to vent his spleen. Dec 25, 2011, Ardeshir Cowasjee bade farewell to his incredible career with these words: Now, old at 85, tired, and disillusioned with a country that just cannot pull itself together in any way and get on with life in this day and age, I have decided to call it a day. This column too caries no burden of expectations with it.

The way to move forward is easy: we have to stop moving forward. We have to be angry when the likes of Chaudry Nisar take the podium and justify the banning of social media. We need to be flabbergasted by Justice Shaukat Aziz who seems to be living under a stone for thinking that social media is all about selfies and pictures of food. We need to put a check to our laziness for refusing to knock sanity into our social psyche.

Why should the people abroad fall in love with Pakistan? Why would investors and entrepreneurs penetrate the market that seeks to eliminate social media; the arena and foundation of countless businesses. Why would anyone have any pity for a country that is bent upon butchering itself by exaggerating differences based on personal beliefs? Why would anyone see Pakistanis as humans when for them a religious deviant is no more a human?

As any foolish does, I too hope for a time when Pakistan will not be what it is today. The country is its own demon and the only way to escape this tragedy is to stop being itself. Till then I shall continue harassing the international audience for not being as delusional as I am, for not romanticising the past as I do, for not being in love with Pakistan like I am.

Go here to see the original:
Addicted to blindness - The Nation

Biotechnology is a top-notch field of study that emerged into the scientific world as a result of revolutions in Biology, Chemistry, Informatics, and Engineering. It is considered to be an applied branch of Biology. Biotechnology helps out this old and respectable field of science keep up with the pace of time and remain competitive in the contemporary world.

With a Master in Biotechnology, students will study the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in technology, engineering, medicine, agriculture and results in all kinds of bioproducts, from genetically modified food to serious cutting-edge devices used to carry out gene therapy. Students in Master in Biotechnology programs may also explore bioinformatics, which is the application of statistics and computer science to the field of molecular biology. Bioinformatics is extremely important for contemporary biological and molecular researches because the data amount there grows by geometric progression and it is necessary to have adequate technology to process it. Bioinformatic methods are widely used for mapping and analyzing DNA and protein samples, as well as for the study of genetics and molecular modeling. Biotechnology and Bioinformatics do a great favour to traditional fields of study, refreshing them with new methods of research, which allows their drastic development, and you can make your contribution with a Master in Biotechnology degree.

Find out about various Master in Biotechnology programs by following the links below. Don't hesitate to send the "Request free information" form to come in contact with the relevant person at the school and get even more information about the specific Master in Biotechnology program you are interested in.

Originally posted here:
Best Master's Degrees in Biotechnology 2017

March 31, 2017 9:38am NASDAQ:BBC

From Zacks: After being stressed by the twin attacks of higher drug pricing and increased regulatory scrutiny, the biotech sector has made a strong comeback in the first quarter of 2017.

In fact, BioShares Biotechnology Clinical Trials ETF (BBC Free Report) tops the list of the best performing ETFs of the quarter, with impressive returns of about 27.4%. BBC carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 or Hold rating with a High risk outlook.

The surge in the fund was largely driven by cheap valuation, robust earnings results and a slew of positive actions taken by the President. In particular, Trump promised to reduce federal regulations by 7580% and streamline the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approval process. This would make it easier for biotech companies to bring new products to the market. Trumps proposed tax reforms and cash repatriation policy are also supporting the rally (read: Top ETF Stories of Q1 from Wall Street).

Apart from these, encouraging industry trends including the possibility of increased M&A activity, an accelerated pace of innovation, promising drug launches, growing importance of biosimilars, cost-cutting efforts, an aging population, expanding insurance coverage, the growing middle class, an insatiable demand for new drugs, and ever-increasing health care spending are fueling growth in the sector.

Lets take a closer look at the fundamentals of BBC and its performance.

BBC in Focus

This fund has a novel approach to biotechnology investing with exposure to companies that are in the clinical trials stage. This can easily be done by tracking the LifeSci Biotechnology Clinical Trials Index. BBC is a small cap centric fund, having amassed $24.4 million in its asset base. It charges 85 bps in fees per year from investors and trades in light average daily volume of around 14,000 shares.

Holding 70 stocks in its basket, it is widely spread out across various components with none holding more than 3.34% share. Though almost all the stocks in the funds portfolio delivered strong returns, a few were the real stars that more than doubled their size (read: Hit ETFs & Stocks from the Top Sector of February).

Below we have highlighted those five best-performing stocks in the ETF with their respective positions in the funds basket:

Best Performing Stocks of BBC

Esperion Therapeutics Inc. (ESPR Free Report) : The stock has surged about 185% so far this year and carries a Zacks Rank #3 with solid Industry rank in the top 39%. Most of the gains came on hopes of the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) approval to the cholesterol-lowering medicine bempadoic acid. However, Esperion saw its earnings estimates deteriorating from a loss of $3.46 to a loss of $6.27 for this year over the past 90 days. It also has an unfavorable VGM Style Score of F. ESPR occupies the top spot in the funds basket with 3.3% of the total assets (see: all the Health care ETFs here).

Global Blood Therapeutics Inc. (GBT Free Report) : This stock takes the second position in the funds basket with 2.8% allocation. It has also delivered incredible returns of 169% in the first quarter on rumors of the takeover of a big pharma name like Novo Nordisk (NVO). The stock saw its earnings estimates moving from a loss of $2.89 to a loss of $2.83 for this year over last the 90 days. Further, it belong to a solid Industry with a Zacks Rank in the top 43%. The stock has a Zacks Rank #3 with a VGM Style Score of F.

TG Therapeutics Inc. (TGTX Free Report) : It currently has a Zacks Rank #3 with a VGM Style Score of F. The stock soared nearly 150% in the first quarter with most upside coming after positive study results from its phase 3 clinical trial of treatment for high-risk leukemia patients. However, TG Therapeutics saw negative earnings estimate revision of a nickel for the current year over the past 30 days and has an ugly Zacks Industry rank in the bottom 32%. The stock is the third firm and accounts for 2.7% share in BBC (read: Trump Tweet on Drug Pricing Hits Biotech and Pharma ETFs).

Cara Therapeutics Inc. (CARA Free Report) : The stock has been climbing since the start of the year and has gained about 105.5% this quarter on the pending trial results of its lead drug candidate. It hit a new one-year high of $20.90 in the last trading session after the company announced positive results from part A of a phase 2/3 trial for chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus. Cara Therapeutics has a solid Zacks Industry rank in the top 43%. However, it has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) with a VGM Style Score of F. The stock occupies the fourth position in the funds portfolio, making up for 2.5% share.

NewLink Genetics Corporation (NLNK Free Report) : This stock takes the seventh spot in the funds basket with 2.2% of assets. It has doubled this quarter but saw negative earnings estimate revision of $1.21 for this year over the past 90 days. NewLink Genetics currently has a Zacks Rank #3 with a VGM Style Score of F and solid Zacks Industry rank in the top 43%.

The BioShares Biotechnology Clinical Trials Fund (NASDAQ:BBC) was unchanged in premarket trading Friday. Year-to-date, BBC has gained 25.75%, versus a 5.59% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

BBC currently has an ETF Daily News SMART Grade of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #23 of 36 ETFs in the Health & Biotech ETFs category.

This article is brought to you courtesy of Zacks Research.

Tags: biotech Equity Health Care NASDAQ:BBC Zacks

Categories: NASDAQ:BBC

Read the original:
BioShares Biotechnology Clinical Trials Fund(NASDAQ:BBC ... - ETF Daily News (blog)

Longtime Little Monsters might not be surprised to see their Mother Monster talking about hip pain, though. The 31-year-old was forced to cancel the remainder of her Born This Way Ball world tour in February 2013 after suffering a massive joint tear and hip breakage requiring surgery. Initially, she thought the pain was the result of only a labral tear and an inflammatory joint condition called synovitis, but tests revealed her hip was broken as well. "Nobody knew, and I havent even told the fans yet," she revealed to Women's Wear Daily that July. "[The MRIs showed] giant craters, a hole in my hip the size of a quarter, and the cartilage was just hanging out the other side of my hip. She added, "The surgeon told me that if I had done another show I might have needed a full hip replacement. I would have been out at least a year, maybe longer."

See the original post here:
Lady Gaga Arthritis Magazine Cover Hip Pain - Refinery29 - Refinery29

When we think of arthritis, we believe of the elderly it affects. But age is not the only factor for arthritis; it can affect young and old alike. Data source? The number of cases of arthritis among youth has seen an increase in last two-three.

Arthritis may result from an injury to a joint, inflammatory disease or an infection. The most common causes of arthritis affecting young people include Juvenile Chronic Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, Haemophilia, infections like Tuberculosis, etc. It often presents as pain and swelling in the joints. It disturbs the normal life of a person. He or she is unable to do his or her basic activities like walking, running, climbing and even sitting. It not only leads to the restriction of movement but also make the life of the person painful.

The human body has 68 joints, and all of them are susceptible to arthritis. However, the disease, once diagnosed, can be controlled by prompt and continued treatment. Arthritis strikes more women than men. And if intervention is not sought in time, it can impact the chances of improvement in symptoms like stiffness when waking and joint pain during the day, swelling around joints, reduced activity level does not improve over time.

Treatment depends on the type of arthritis and the various symptoms associated with it. Lifestyle changes can also help. Usually, treatment includes drugs to control the pain and inflammation and also stronger painkillers and steroids to alter the immune system. Then there are various types of injections (like steroids, platelet-rich plasma etc.) used for painful joints. For rheumatoid arthritis, it is crucial for the patient to follow an exercise regime along with it a good diet.

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a concentrated extract of platelets derived from patient's own blood, by centrifugation. Platelets have high concentration of various growth factors which help in healing of tissues and hence PRP is now considered as a novel and new treatment option for arthritic patients.

Rest, relaxation, medication and appropriate use of joints are also other forms of treatment. Apart from this, there are other natural medications (haldi pack for temperory relief) also. However, if the problem is severe, surgery like arthroscopy or joint replacement may be required. Recently, various cartilage restoration techniques like cartilage transplantation have emerged as a biological solution for arthritic patients. Cartilage transplantation is a biological treatment where the cultured chondrocyte cells or concentrated mesenchymal cells are injected to the damaged areas of joint. It thus repairs the damaged cartilage of joint and not only provides pain relief by postpone the need for joint replacement surgery.

These help the person in leading a normal life, and also do all the activities which earlier had become a burden. In short, they make the lives of arthritis patient much easier.

It is also important to lose weight to lessen the burden on the joints. Do exercise that doesn't damage joints like low-impact biking, swimming, along with yoga, walking (if it is not too fast), and weightlifting (as long as it is not stressful).

The author is a senior consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi and founder president of Arthritis Care Foundation.

Did you like this article? Do send us your feedback to dnaofhealth@gmail.com

Read more:
Arthritis in the youth - Daily News & Analysis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a painful, debilitating autoimmune disease.

That makes it a difficult condition to treat.

But now, researchers have found that specific antibodies in certain people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may provide more treatment options and a better outlook for people with the disease.

In some but not all people with RA, there are antibodies formed that target a protein in joint cartilage called collagen II.

These antibodies often play a role in increasing inflammation in the earlier stages of RA.

Read more: Rheumatoid arthritis and stem cell treatment

In the past, researchers have concluded that the highest amounts of collagen antibodies are usually detected at the time of an RA diagnosis.

These levels most often decrease during the first year of RA disease activity.

But a recent study out of Uppsala University in Sweden concluded that antibodies against the cartilage protein collagen II are associated with a good outlook.

Researchers said people with RA who have more of these antibodies often do better when it comes to treatments, the management of symptoms, and how disabling their symptoms become.

This study followed a group of people with RA over the course of five years to look at the suspected correlation between collagen antibodies and disease advancement.

What they found could prove vital as a prognostic tool and help to further individualize and implement targeted treatments.

Analyzing these antibodies, in combination with other relevant antibodies, could be used for predicting prognosis and choosing therapy for rheumatoid arthritis patients, Dr. Johan Rnnelid, lead researcher on the study, said in a press release.

Vivek Anand Manivel, a PhD student at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, and a lead author of the study, also offered a public statement to the press: We found that patients with collagen antibodies showed increased signs of inflammation during the first six months after diagnosis, after this there was no difference compared to patients without any collagen antibodies. We also discovered that the presence of collagen antibodies at the time of diagnosis was associated with a better prognosis.

Read more: Can cancer medications bring on rheumatoid arthritis?

What this means for people with RA is that treatments may become better-tailored to them moving forward, depending on the antibody presence and activity.

RA is a complex disease that manifests itself differently from person to person.

Since disease activity is so unpredictable, any assistance in figuring out prognosis or a better therapeutic approach could be of importance to the rheumatology community.

In all, our findings suggest that a combined analysis of antibodies against collagen and antibodies against citrullinated peptides could be a new tool for predicting the disease course and perhaps also for choosing therapy in newly diagnosed RA patients, said Rnnelid.

Currently, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) is often used as an indicator for RA disease activity, alongside rheumatoid factors.

Now, doctors can look at the collagen II antibodies as well when determining disease severity and thus, a more robust and detailed plan for treatment and disease management.

Read more: Green tea as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis

Original post:
Antibody May Help Deliver Better Prognosis, Treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis - Healthline

Jim Durgeloh, 59, was desperate to avoid surgery. After a career as a construction contractor and hours of leisure time spent on a motorcycle around his Longview, Wash., home, he was facing an operation to replace his left hip.

Thats pretty invasive, he said, nervous about a surgery that would require being cut open and implanted with an artificial hip; Jims brother had died from complications after a similar operation. In the search for an alternative, he and his wife, Janet, happened upon the website for La Jolla-based StemGenex Medical Group, which touts itself as the worlds first and only Stem Cell Center of Excellence.

But what caught the Durgelohs attention were the words of Rita Alexander, its chief administrative officer and a founder.

Alexander wrote that she had suffered debilitating rheumatoid arthritis until a stem cell treatment sent her into remission. Today it remains my passion to advocate for those diagnosed with debilitating illnesses to have access to cutting edge stem cell treatment, she wrote.

Rita was very inspiring, Janet Durgeloh says.

Durgelohs doctor in Washington was skeptical about the therapy offered by StemGenex. He didnt think it was going to work, Durgeloh says. The therapy isnt approved by the Food and Drug Administration, which says such treatments are not based on scientific evidence and can be unsafe. Then there was the cost: about $15,000, not including airfare. That wasnt covered by Durgelohs insurance, which would have paid for his hip replacement.

But on a recent Wednesday morning, the Durgelohs were at the DoubleTree hotel in Del Mar, where their bill was paid by StemGenex. Durgeloh was still wearing a bandage on his midriff, where a StemGenex doctor had performed liposuction to obtain stem cells that subsequently were reinjected into his body, ostensibly to regenerate his damaged bones and tissues. They were preparing to fly home, infused with the hope communicated by the clinic staff, who seemed very optimistic, Durgeloh told me.

A lawsuit in San Diego federal court suggests that StemGenex may have given the Durgelohs nothing but hope. Three StemGenex patients two with diabetes and one with lupus say they were misled by the medical groups marketing pitch to pay $14,900 each in 2015 and 2016 for therapies that have had no effect.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, claims that StemGenex has made its money by targeting the ill and the elderly with false, fabricated and purposefully misleading claims about patient satisfaction. Selena Moorer, a lupus patient from Florida, and her two co-plaintiffs say StemGenex has no reasonable basis for its marketing claim that the Stem Cell Treatments were effective to treat diseases as advertised. The lawsuit names StemGenex, Alexander and Andre Lallande, the groups chief medical officer, as defendants. The company denies the claims made in the lawsuit.

Durgelohs treatment was typical of the procedures offered as stem cell therapy. He says he received injections directly into his hips, his ailing knees and his back, with whatever was left over suffused into his body via an IV drip.

Whats most important to know is that theres no accepted scientific evidence that treatments using cells from adipose fat tissue layers work.

But as we reported last year, many clinics offering the treatments capitalize on the publics impression that stem cells have become some sort of medical miracle. Dr. Mehmet Oz warned his vast television audience about this misconception in February, when he aired a lengthy undercover investigation of stem cell clinics and called for government regulation. StemGenex wasnt mentioned in the piece.

StemGenex, in its reply to the Moorer lawsuit, asserts that the plaintiffs cannot prove that its representations regarding the efficacy of its stem cell treatments are actually false. The plaintiffs, it continues, do not cite to a single scientific study that disproves [StemGenexs] advertised claims.

StemGenex may not have to prove that in a court of law, but thats not the way federal regulation works. At nearly $15,000 a pop, the companies should have to show a treatment works.

The FDA has been grappling with this very point in pondering how to regulate the burgeoning industry. There are more than 500 clinics offering stem cell treatments in the U.S., according to a survey released last year by stem cell scientist Paul Knoepfler of UC Davis and bioethicist Leigh Turner of the University of Minnesota.

Right now, theres no consensus how these clinics should be regulated.

In 2015, UC San Diego researchers described stem cell treatment as medicines Wild West. As Hermes Taylor-Weiner and Joshua Graff Zivin observed, Because FDA guidelines are ambiguous, stem-cell clinics have in effect been operating without regulation.

The proliferation of the clinics has forced the FDA to take a closer look.

The government agency maintains that using stem cells extracted from a patients fat requires licensing as a drug, device or biological product, which means the clinics have to demonstrate the products are safe and effective, possibly via a clinical trial.

The clinics obviously disagree. Steven Brody, chief scientific officer of StemGenex, testified at an FDA hearing in September that if the FDA took a hands-off approach, this would help our patients have access to stem cell therapies.

Earlier this month, the New England Journal of Medicine reported the devastating outcome for three elderly women injected with fat-derived stem cells directly into their eyeballs by a clinic in Florida as a treatment for macular degeneration. The treatment left the patients totally or mostly blind.

Stem cell clinics typically are cagey about what patients should expect. They neither claim their treatments are effective nor explicitly state that theyre unfounded, Taylor-Weiner and Zivin observed. Their language is intentionally imprecise and exploits the vulnerability of patients with debilitating diseases.

Indeed, a disclaimer on the StemGenex home page states, Stem cell therapy is not FDA approved, and, StemGenex Medical Group and affiliates do not claim that treatment using autologous stem cells are a cure for any condition, disease, or injury.

Thats a striking admission for a treatment costing nearly $15,000 out-of-pocket and might help explain why health insurers shun the treatments.

The emotional video testimonials from patients posted on the StemGenex website carry disclaimers that the results experienced by those patients may not be typical or expected. You should not expect to experience these results.

When I asked Jamie Schubert, a StemGenex spokeswoman, to point me to a scientific study or any other evidence that its treatments work, she replied that anecdotal feedback from patients indicates that their symptoms have improved and their quality of life has increased.

There are other red flags. One of the medical groups physicians, plastic surgeon Scott Sessions, was placed on three years probation by the California Medical Board in February. He was accused of negligence related to cosmetic surgery and other procedures he performed on two patients at an unrelated facility in 2011 and 2013.

Schubert told me Wednesday that Dr. Sessions has informed us that he is in compliance with all requirements of the probationary terms of the medical board. But the very next day, his name, photograph and bio had disappeared from the StemGenex website. Sessions didnt respond to a request for comment.

The same thing happened with the logo of the American Board of Surgery, which had been prominently displayed on the StemGenex site, implying the company had the certification boards seal of approval. After I mentioned to Schubert that a board official told me that display was a complete misuse of our logo, it vanished. Schubert called it an error.

Peoples health needs are not suitable for unregulated Wild West experimentation, and anecdotal feedback isnt proof that cutting edge treatments are safe and effective. The course couldnt be clearer for the FDA and state medical regulators across the country: If these stem cell clinics are endangering their customers health and draining their pocketbooks for quack remedies, shut them down.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

Return to Michael Hiltzik's blog.

Original post:
The stem cell therapies offered by this La Jolla clinic aren't FDA ... - Los Angeles Times

Shares of Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. (APOP) are up more than 44% over the last 5 trading days.

With its shares currently traded on both the NASDAQ and Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Cellect is the company behind ApoGraft, a breakthrough technology for the isolation of stem cells from any given tissue.

Cellect's ApoGraft technology is aiming to turn stem cell transplants into a simple, safe and cost effective process, reducing the associated severe side effects, such as rejection and many other risks, such as Graft versus Host Disease.

Graft versus Host Disease, a condition in which the transplanted immune cells attack the recipient's cells, is a common complication associated with *allogeneic stem cell transplantation. (*Allogeneic stem cell transplantation involves transferring the stem cells to the recipient from a genetically matched relative or other donor).

The positive results from a clinical trial of ApoGraft that involved 104 healthy donors of blood stem cells reported in February of this year demonstrated that Cellect's ApoGraft is a safe, robust and reproducible process for clinical use.

According to the company, the use of the ApoGraft to process human stem cells for bone marrow transplantation resulted in a significant increase in the death of mature immune cells, primarily T Lymphocytes, without compromising the quantity and quality of stem cells. The process takes only a few hours as compared to days of complex and expansive lab work with traditional methods, is anticipated to be extremely cost effective in comparison to current approaches, and has the potential to significantly reduce the risk of GvHD.

The first blood cancer patient was treated in a phase I/II trial of ApoGraft in February of this year, and on March 27th, the company announced that the first stem cell transplant procedure has been successfully performed.

With the first stem cell transplant procedure being successful, Cellect has received the go-ahead from the independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board for enrolling additional 2 cancer patients for ApoGraft transplantation treatments.

The study is designed to enroll 12 patients.

Key Financials:

- Net loss for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2016 was $0.75 million or $0.007 per share compared to a net loss of $0.96 million or $0.012 per share in Q4, 2015.

- Cash totaled $8.0 million at December 31, 2016 compared to $3.1 million on December 31, 2015.

- The number of shares outstanding is 107.58 million (Data sourced from Yahoo Finance).

In order to maximize the value of the Company for all stakeholders, Cellect plans to delist from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) in accordance with section 350 to the Israeli Company Law.

Shares of Cellect Biotechnology touched an all-time intra-day high of $13.50 on Mar.27, 2017 on the NASDAQ. The stock closed yesterday's trading at $8.98, up 2.75%.

by RTT Staff Writer

For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News

View original post here:
Company Spotlight: Cellect Biotechnology - RTT News

A few hours before beginning chemotherapy, a man named Chris faces the camera on his mobile phone with a mischievous smile and describes a perfectly absurd milestone at 1:37pm on a Wednesday. There is no more beautiful moment in a mans life... he says with puckish glee. Because how can you not laugh when youve been invited to bank your sperm in advance of being Godzilla-ed with chemotherapy and radiation, all just four days after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia at the age of 43 and given a 5 to 15 per cent chance of survival?

Oh, and the fertility clinic forgot to send someone over with a specimen kit and theyre closing in little more than 20 minutes so you have to fire up your iPad for some quick visual stimulation to help you fill a sterile tube. Just try to ignore the legal consent paperwork all around you and the catheter thats been surgically inserted into your jugular vein.

And because there are no couriers available, your sister who has been running half-marathons to get in shape gamely volunteers to tuck the freshly filled tube in her sports bra to keep it at body temperature before dashing the mile to the clinic. You imagine her arriving as the window is closing, lurching towards the counter and shouting Nooooo! in the slow-mo way they do in action movies. She hands over her precious cargo in the nick of time and triumphantly exclaims, This is my brothers!

Nothing is normal about leukaemia or its aftermath, and Chris Lihosit has chosen to cope by learning everything he can about the disease and poking fun at its many indignities and absurdities. While some people with cancer are reluctant to share because they see it as a sign of weakness, he knows that humour and openness have a way of breaking the ice and maintaining visibility.

On the last day of 2015, Chris received one of the estimated 40,000 umbilical cord blood transplants performed around the world to date. Cord blood contains what are known as stem cells and progenitor cells, which can give rise to oxygen-carrying red blood cells, infection-fighting white blood cells and clot-forming platelets.

Transplanted cord blood can be used to treat or cure more than 80 conditions, from leukaemia to sickle-cell disease. Based on current research exploring autism, brain injury, cerebral palsy, type 1 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, among others, the list of potential applications is likely to grow. Emerging strategies are even transforming cord blood left over after birth into a potent potion that might provide lifesaving treatments for victims of a nuclear disaster.

Stem and progenitor cells are also found in the spongy marrow within some bones and in the blood that circulates around our bodies. But cord blood, once dismissed as medical waste, is particularly rich in these cells. As researchers are discovering, it may carry other significant advantages too.

While a cord blood transplant might save your life, though, going through the process and then starting anew your survival down to an anonymous baby is far from easy.

One advantage is that umbilical cord blood can be collected without touching the donor ( MaricorMaricar/Handsome Frank)

I. Before

The first cases of leukaemia were documented some 200 years ago. The earliest known reports, by Scottish surgeon Peter Cullen in 1811 and French surgeon Alfred Velpeau in 1827, chronicled a baffling ailment marked by an enlarged spleen. Cullen described the mysterious transformation of his patients blood serum from a clear pale yellow to a milky liquid. Velpeau was just as astonished by what he likened to a thick gruel, leading him to conclude that his dead patients blood was full of pus.

As we now know, bone marrow produces cells called blasts, which take time to grow into infection-fighting white blood cells. But leukaemia sends production into overdrive, filling the blood with blasts that dont develop as they should. This army of immature cells crowds out the useful ones, leaving the host highly vulnerable to internal bleeding or foreign invaders.

Although the risk factors for leukaemia are only partly understood, scientists have linked it to genetic disorders such as Fanconi anaemia and Downs syndrome, and to exposure to radiation or toxins like benzene. The out-of-control growth of abnormal white blood cells, though, has provided an opening for drug and radiation therapies that selectively cull the bodys fastest-growing cells. As a last resort, doctors may deliberately kill off all leukaemia-riddled blood and bone marrow cells and attempt a full reset with someone elses blood-forming stem cells.

August to September 2015

In early August 2015, Chris Lihosit fell ill with an exhausting, dehydrating and pyjama-soaking fever that mysteriously disappeared two days later. During a check-up, on his 43rd birthday, his doctor named summertime flu the most likely culprit.

Then the same thing happened again, and it settled into a disturbing pattern: midweek chills and an escalating fever that would break on Sunday. By Monday, Chris would feel fine, only to have the sequence repeat itself. He joked about it with colleagues at T-Mobile, where he works in software development, Well, I hope its not cancer!

On alternating weekends from May to October, Chris would volunteer as a backcountry ranger for the US Forest Service a physically demanding role that involves patrolling Washingtons Cascade Mountain forests and hiking along high-altitude trails with a backpack that can weigh up to 32kg. But now, even at sea level, he was getting winded just walking his two dogs around the block. What the hell was going on?

A medical appointment revealed a heart murmur and suspicions of endocarditis, an infection of the hearts inner lining. The scare triggered another series of tests that led Chris and his husband, Bill Sechter, to Emergency Room Four at the University of Washington Medical Centre.

A whiteboard checklist documented his Saturday morning: insertion of a large-bore IV as a potential conduit for antibiotics, a round of blood draws, and discussions with the ER doctor. Then the phone rang and the nurse answered, listened and responded to multiple questions in quick succession: Yes. Yes. Oh, OK. OK. Yeah. He excused himself from the room and soon returned in a full hazmat suit, as Chris describes it. Yellow.

And thats when we were like, Oh shit, its on. Something is seriously bad.

Chris learned that his level of infection-fighting neutrophil cells, normally churned out by the bone marrow, had fallen so low that his defences were in tatters. He was also severely anaemic, with roughly half the normal amount of red blood cells in his blood.

It wasnt endocarditis. And when one of his doctors performed a blood smear, she saw something on the microscope slide that shouldnt be there: blasts. These leukaemic cells, stuck in adolescence, were the harbingers of the coming horde that had so astonished 19th-century surgeons.

The doctor apologetically broke the news and Chris and his sister dissolved into tears. In an emotional Facebook post later that day, he attached a picture of himself in a hospital gown and pink facemask and wrote: This avowed agnostic could actually go for your good juju/positive thoughts or even your (gasp) prayers.

More tests, including a bone marrow biopsy of his pelvic bone, painted an increasingly disturbing picture. He had acute myeloid leukaemia, a fast-progressing cancer. The biopsy suggested that an astonishing 80 per cent of his bone marrow cells were cancerous. Strike one.

Other results suggested that chemotherapy wouldnt be as effective on his form of leukaemia. Strike two.

Cord blood is unusually rich in hematopoietic stem cells ( MaricorMaricar/Handsome Frank)

And genetic tests put him in the unfavourable risk category by revealing that his cancer cells carried only one copy of chromosome 21, a rare anomaly associated with dismal outcomes, according to recent studies. Strike three.

Chris needed to start chemotherapy immediately. But first, he had his sperm banked. Then, with family and a close friend at his side, he celebrated his impending treatment with prime rib and cheap champagne smuggled into his hospital room.

Over three days, he received multiple doses of the anticancer drugs cladribine, cytarabine and mitoxantrone, the last a dark blue concoction often dubbed Blue Thunder. The drug turned his urine a shade he describes as Seahawks green in honour of Seattles American football team. Other patients have had the whites of their eyes temporarily turn blue.

On the third night of his drug infusion, a sudden back pain grew into an intense pressure in his chest that felt like he was being stabbed. A heart attack? An emergency CAT scan instead revealed two newly formed blood clots: one in his right leg and another in his right lung not uncommon consequences of chemotherapy.

Over the next six months, Chris would need transfusions of blood-clotting platelets whenever his level of them dipped too low, and daily injections of a blood-thinning drug whenever it rose too high. Thirteen days after being admitted into the hospital, he posted a more hopeful Facebook entry: And Im finally going home! Now the real adventure begins.

II. During

In 1988, French doctor Eliane Gluckman saved a five-year-old boy from North Carolina by treating him with what was then deemed medical waste. The boy, Matthew Farrow, had been diagnosed with Fanconi anaemia, a rare genetic disorder that wipes out the bone marrows ability to form new blood cells. At the Hpital Saint-Louis in Paris, Gluckman used blood from the umbilical cord of Matthews younger sister for an experimental transplant. It worked. Matthew survived, and now has a boy of his own.

Scientists had learned that, like bone marrow, cord blood is unusually rich in hematopoietic stem cells which can give rise to every type of blood cell and their more developed descendants, progenitor cells, which are more limited in what they can become.

But, unlike bone marrow, cord blood can be collected in advance and stored for decades in liquid nitrogen a critical asset that opened the door in 1992 to the worlds first public cord blood bank, in New York City.

Umbilical cord blood also doesnt require an invasive collection procedure. One of the advantages of a cord blood graft is its the only circumstance where you collect cells without touching the donor, says Mary Laughlin, medical director of the Cleveland Cord Blood Centre in Ohio. When parents are celebrating a new life and asked about giving up cells that would otherwise go into the trash, she says, Thats a different donation.

In 1995, Laughlin and colleagues performed the worlds first cord blood transplant on an adult, a woman in her early twenties who, like Chris, had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia. The team resorted to cord blood after failing to find a bone marrow donor who matched the womans cells highly uncommon identification tags.

To help the immune system distinguish friend from foe, nearly every cell in the body has protein tags on its surface, marking it as self. We inherit half of these ID tags from each parent, meaning that any two biological siblings have a one in four chance that all their tags will align. But these proteins known as human leukocyte antigens or HLAs can vary enormously between two unrelated people.

For bone marrow and other transplanted tissue, the chance of finding an HLA match beyond immediate relatives can fall precipitously among people with more genetically diverse ancestries. In the US, the National Marrow Donor Programme runs its Be The Match registry, which searches a global database of more than 29 million possible adult donors. A 2014 study suggested that white patients of European descent had a roughly three-in-four chance of finding an optimal match through the registry, while the likelihood dropped to less than one in five for blacks of African American, African, Caribbean, and South or Central American descent. Because Laughlins patient was half-Native American and half-African American, she couldnt find any suitable matches at all.

Laughlin and her colleagues, however, correctly predicted that a cord blood transplant might work, thanks in part to a quirk of newborns immune systems called neonatal immune tolerance. In telling self from other, cord blood cells are far more forgiving than adult bone marrow cells. The ability to use cord blood has significantly expanded patients options, and black adults in the US now have at least a four-in-five chance of finding a suitable donor.

One of the biggest limitations of cord blood transplants, however, may come down to volume: doctors can extract roughly ten times more blood-forming stem cells and precursor cells from one bone marrow donation than from a detached umbilical cord.

Studies began suggesting that a cord blood transplant may be insufficient to rebuild the bone marrow in an adult, or take longer for it to become functional, leaving the recipient dangerously exposed to opportunistic infections or bleeding in the interim. The fewer cells you gave, the higher the risk of death, says John Wagner, director of the Blood and Marrow Transplantation Programme at the University of Minnesota.

Wagner and other researchers soon realised that cord blood transplantation would be pointless unless they could keep their patients alive long enough to see the benefits.

September to December 2015

Based on his leukaemia classification, Chris was braced for multiple rounds of chemotherapy. He and his husband were overjoyed when a second bone marrow biopsy suggested that the leukaemia had become undetectable after only a single round. Because of his high-risk classification, however, Chriss doctors said that the cancer was likely to return without a bone marrow transplant.

But, like Laughlins patient, Chris discovered that he had inherited an extremely rare set of HLA cell-identifying tags. Only one bone marrow donor on the worldwide registry matched his genetic tags, and that person was unable to donate. A cord blood transplant, Chris and his doctors agreed, was his best hope.

First, he would need to spend another five days in the hospital for a standard follow-up round of chemotherapy to pick off any hidden cancer cells. Chris marked the occasion with a Facebook post of himself in a grey felt Viking helmet and attached braids. Round 2 And FIGHT! This time, the chemo went off without a hitch.

He was a familiar face at the medical centre, though, with three additional hospitalisations: twice for bacteraemia, a bacterial blood infection marked by high fevers, and once so doctors could tame an allergic reaction to a transfusion of platelets, which always reminded Chris of chicken broth.

He had to steel himself again on Christmas Eve for the arrival of the big guns: two days of conditioning chemotherapy, headlined by a derivative of mustard gas. Its name is cyclophosphamide, and it works by sabotaging the machinery that copies DNA in rapidly dividing cells. As it does this, it breaks down to form toxic chemicals, including a pungent one called acrolein, which can destroy the lining of the bladder. To neutralise its effects, patients must take another drug, called mesna, and drink plenty of water.

After a day of rest, Chris began a radiation therapy regimen so intense that it would have killed him if delivered in a single dose. Instead, his radiologists used a particle accelerator to fire X-rays at him in multiple bursts during morning and evening sessions over four days.

You basically get into a tanning booth made out of clear Plexiglas, he says. Wearing nothing but a paper gown, Chris had to stay completely still behind two metal shielding blocks, each the size of a brick, positioned to protect his lungs from irreversible radiation-induced scarring. He did get a mild tan, he says, along with damaged skin that still resembles crepe paper. Another absurdity still makes him laugh: while he requested punk rock for one of the sessions, he was instead blasted with the tune of Princes Erotic City.

When he finished the final round of total body irradiation on 30 December, the radiology team gathered for a final tribute and let Chris hit a small ceremonial gong.

***

Cord blood transplants in adults, still an option of last resort in the early 2000s, nearly slammed to a halt over the quandary of how to keep patients alive until their new bone marrow cells could kick in. Some researchers reasoned that they could boost the transplant volume by giving adults two cord blood units instead of one. Wagner and colleagues at the University of Minnesota performed the first double transplant in 2000, using cells from two infant donors.

The tactic dramatically reduced the rate of graft failure, in which the recipients body rejects the new cells. But it barely changed the time needed to regenerate the bone marrow, and some critics have questioned whether a double cord blood transplant offers any significant benefits. Wagner says his research suggested that transplanting enough blood-forming cells was necessary but likely not sufficient for better results. Improved patient survival, in fact, seemed to depend more upon a revised roster of drugs given pre-transplant.

To their surprise, researchers also discovered that the donors in a double cord blood transplant seem to battle for dominance, a curious graft-versus-graft phenomenon that almost always results in the victor dominating the recipients new bone marrow and blood cells. Filippo Milano, associate director of the Cord Blood Programme at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, compares it to a pivotal scene in the 1986 movie Highlander, when the antagonist exclaims, There can be only one!

On a sunny morning nearly a year after Chriss transplant, he and I meet the Italian-born doctor in his lab so he can greet one of his star patients and explain the science behind the therapy that saved Chriss life. Milano is passionate about coaching soccer and cooking. On the side, he jokes, he conducts research on cord blood transplants. Upon his arrival to The Hutch in 2009, Milano teamed up with Colleen Delaney, founder and director of the Cord Blood Programme, to test and refine a treatment strategy that may yet prove a better option than a bone marrow transplant for people with leukaemia who are at high risk of relapsing.

Based on collaborations and discussions with other experts in the field, Delaney pioneered a method to minimise the risk of infection and bleeding after a cord blood transplant by reducing the time needed for the new blood cells to kick in. The strategy relies on what she and Milano call an expanded blood unit. Starting with an extra batch of cord blood, they separate out the minuscule fraction of blood-forming stem cells and their early descendants and expand that population in the lab. The hundreds of millions even billions of resulting stem and progenitor cells can jumpstart the generation of protective blood cells in the recipient. When infused along with a more traditional transplant, they can act like a temporary bridge until the replacement bone marrow takes over. The net gain was that you didnt have those very prolonged periods of recovery, Wagner says.

One crucial component, Delaney discovered, is a protein called Notch ligand. When added to the blood-forming stem cells, Notch ligand lets them divide quickly in the lab but temporarily pauses their development by preventing them from maturing into the normal range of cell types. Critically, they never give rise to T or B immune cells, which would seek out and destroy any perceived threats lacking the proper self ID tags.

Putting a donors T cells into an unmatched recipient, Delaney says, would trigger fatal graft-versus-host disease. Thats the key: we get rid of all those bad parts of the immune system that need to be matched or they can kill you.

The bridge of recovery lasts only so long before the full contingents of other donor cells begin attacking and dismantling it. But, with no cells checking IDs initially, the early flood of blood-forming stem cells need not be matched to the recipient at all, meaning that the expanded cord blood unit could be created well ahead of time and used whenever needed as a universal donor.

Other researchers are working on strategies toward the same end, and Mary Laughlin describes the overall progress as very exciting. Delaneys work, she says, is very important, saving lives and improving the tolerability of these transplants and the success of these transplants.

December 2015

Its the morning of New Years Eve, and Chris writes on Facebook, Im as nervous as an expectant father! An hour and a half later, he marks the delivery of his zero birthday with a small chocolate cake and a decorative 0 candle: the day when his own bone marrow cells, erased by radiation and chemotherapy, will be replaced by roughly four tablespoons of a life-granting elixir from the cord blood of two baby girls.

Chris and Bill have nicknamed the donors Amelia and Olivia based on their blood types, A-negative and O-positive. In a later post, Chris marvels at the new arrivals reseeding his bone marrow: I use more vanilla flavouring creamer in my coffee than the volume of cells that are rebuilding my entire blood and immune system.

Four hours after the initial infusions, he will receive his protective bridge of blood-forming stem cells, collected and expanded from the cord blood of a third baby, a boy Chris and Bill have nicknamed Eddie. In a celebratory video, they cue up Kay Starrs version of the 1946 Peggy Lee classic, Its a Good Day.

III. After

Preliminary results suggested that Delaney and Milanos strategy of adding temporary bridges like Eddies to cord blood transplants could significantly shorten the time needed to reboot the recipients population of neutrophils, the microbe-digesting white blood cells.

Based on their early success, the researchers have launched a larger randomised trial of 160 patients. Eighty are receiving one or two units of intact cord blood. The other 80, including Chris, are also receiving the experimental expansion unit of blood-forming stem cells. When Milano recruited Chris for the study, he punctuated his pitch with a simple message: The only thing I want you to think is that cord blood is not trash.

Chris became patient 69, a detail that still makes him giggle. In his body, the researchers believe, Eddies cells provided the critical early support for his bone marrow until Amelias or Olivias cells could take over.

Even before the new strategy, a review of double cord blood transplants by John Wagner and colleagues suggested that recipients carried a significantly lower risk of relapse than people who received bone marrow transplants. The benefit seemed particularly apparent for people whose leukaemic cells hadnt been completely eradicated by chemotherapy and radiation.

Delaney, Milano, Wagner and others have since raised a question that was previously anathema among doctors: what if cord bloods unexpected cancer-killing prowess is actually linked to there being a partial mismatch between donor and recipient?

Something thats different will fight, says Milano. Its also why an identical twin is a poor donor choice: if the replacement bone marrow is too similar to the flawed original, Delaney says, it will do nothing new to prevent the cancer from returning. Your cells are like, Hey, I havent seen you in a while. Come on in, lets have a party, she says. For high-risk patients, in fact, several transplant centres now advocate the opposite of the once-intuitive strategy: using deliberately mismatched cord blood to minimise the risk of recurrence.

Although the clinical trial likely wont be completed and analysed for another year or two, Milano says Chris has done exceptionally well, even among those given expanded cord blood units. The researcher jokes that Chris received the Tesla 2.0 model of transplants, though the variable outcomes also raise the question of whether some donor units simply work better than others.

Chriss husband, Bill, joins us on our tour and gives Milano a hug. They discuss plans for a highly anticipated get-together; at a recent fundraiser for the cancer centre, Chris and Bill successfully bid on a dinner that Milano will cook.

We head to the basement and peer into the window of a rigorously controlled cell-processing room, where technicians are clad in disposable caps, masks, gowns, gloves, leggings and booties to prevent contamination of stem cells destined for clinical use. The technicians then grow the cells for roughly two weeks with the Notch ligand that directs their fate. After a separate lab tests each culture to weed out any contaminated batches, the individual units of expanded cells from Eddie and other donors could potentially be stored indefinitely.

January to July 2016

Even with some of the best help that medicine can offer, transplant recipients face a daunting few weeks without functional bone marrow when nearly anything can kill them.

Chriss third feverish bout of bacteraemia arrived on the fourth day after his transplant. Each infection, blamed on varying strains of E coli bacteria that had somehow made their way from his gut to his bloodstream, kept finding new ways to evade the potent antibiotics his doctors threw at it. His conditioned worsened over four days and culminated in a fever dream that he describes as a dystopian mix between the movies Blade Runner and Speed Racer, with an African American Goth as his guardian angel. When he eventually awoke, his fever was gone.

After the infection scare, Chris was confined to his room to minimise the risk of passing along the drug-resistant bacteraemia to other patients. On the inside, though, Amelia and Olivia were vying to become his internal guardian angel and soon left Eddie in the dust.

Recipients pass the first big post-transplant milestone engraftment when their new blood precursor cells begin growing rapidly and developing into the proper components within their bone marrow. Daily blood tests can chart the progress of the new recruits: white blood cells such as neutrophils recover first, followed by red blood cells and platelets.

Less than three weeks after the transplant, Chriss neutrophils had fully engrafted and genetic tests suggested that Amelia had decisively won the fight to form his new blood and bone marrow. He progressed so rapidly, in fact, that he had to stay in the hospital for two days after he was fit to leave, so that Bill could finish preparing the apartment.

28 January: discharge day. As his family packed up his hospital room, Chris was taking a shower when a wall of exhaustion hit him. He could no longer stand or even dry himself off and sat dripping on the shower bench until Bill heard his calls for help.

He had survived, but life had fundamentally changed.

At home, every surface had to be disinfected daily with a bleach solution. At first, Chris couldnt walk 100 feet down the apartment hallway without leaning on his brother. Until he hit the 100-day milestone after his transplant, the end of the most vulnerable period for recipients, he returned to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance every other day for blood tests and checkups.

On the ninety seventh day, Chris and his family celebrated a hard-fought victory when he was officially declared cancer-free: a leukaemia survivor.

His never-ending kick line of drugs required parties of a different sort every Sunday to apportion close to 60 daily pills into time-stamped plastic bags. His once-photographic memory also failed him frequently one lingering side-effect of chemotherapy known as chemo brain. And he commonly felt the cold and tingly or warm and prickly sensation of neuropathy in his hands and arms. Combined with tremors in his hands, this meant he often struggled to hold a pen or spoon steady. This eventually subsided, although the prickliness still returns for occasional night-time cameos in his feet.

Chris had two reactivations of a painful viral infection that homed in on his kidneys and urinary tract and tended to announce its presence dramatically, through large blood clots in his urine. As he discovered, the pain-relieving remedy stains anything it touches including bodily fluids a bright orange.

A keen member of the Seattle Mens Chorus, Chris was warned by one nurse not to sing or hum for months until his platelets rebounded, lest he permanently damage his vocal cords. Nor should he have sex or masturbate until his body could recover, to avoid the excruciating pain and risk of tearing the lining of his urethra, breaking a blood vessel and causing bruising in places that are awkward and weird, as Chris puts it. The threat of another E coli infection also interfered with his sex life (anal sex could increase his risk of bacteraemia), as did his faltering self-image. You just dont really feel comfortable in your skin, which kills your confidence a bit, he says.

Chris isnt alone. A recent Danish study of nine patients found that many were still struggling to regain their sexuality a full year after a bone marrow or cord blood transplant, because of negative body image, physiological limitations and other concerns. One 49-year-old described his fear of passing out or keeling over during an unexpectedly strenuous session: And in that very moment, you believed you were going to die because the air simply you wanted to finish even though you were fighting for breath; because it is unfair to the other person to stop, so I thought, If I pass out, then that is just what I will do, because you push yourself to the limit, and then you have to lie still for 10-15 minutes afterwards.

Even with all this, Chris reminded himself, things could be far worse.

IV. Now

Despite dozens of studies documenting its curative powers, cord blood is saved after only 5 per cent of all US births. The rest is simply thrown away. Michael Boo, chief strategy officer for the US National Marrow Donor Programme, estimates that only one in ten of those retained units passes the required screening tests and has enough volume to merit long-term storage.

Cord blood is also notoriously expensive, ranging from $22,000 (17,500) to $45,000 per unit. Due to the relatively low demand from doctors, Boo says, public banks at least in the US are collecting as much as they can afford to keep. Beyond persuading new parents to donate, then, lowering the cost of cord blood transplants may depend upon persuading more doctors to use the cells and more insurers to cover them.

Units that never make it into long-term storage often go to research labs like Milanos or to Delaneys new cancer centre spinoff, Nohla Therapeutics. The startup, with Delaney as chief medical officer, hopes to develop an off-the-shelf blood precursor product essentially a biological drug that doesnt require any matching of the HLA tags that distinguish self from other. If the company can craft a universal donor out of stem cells from cord blood, public health agencies could theoretically pool and stockpile the units.

One potential use has attracted the avid interest of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. As part of Project BioShield, the federal agency has been on the lookout for medical interventions that could treat acute radiation syndrome after a dirty bomb or nuclear disaster.

Not unlike the radiation therapy that killed off Chriss bone marrow prior to his transplant, nuclear radiation can wreak havoc on healthy marrow. And just as Eddie provided the initial defences until Amelia could take over, a timely dose of blood-forming stem cells could offer a critical window of protection for people exposed to radiation until their own bone marrow recovers.

We have stem cells that are incredibly hardy and so it may take two months but most people, if they can live that long, will finally start making their own blood cells again, Delaney says.

Not everyones on board, though, with some critics questioning the interventions practicality and applicability in the wake of a disaster. The same temporary product, however, could be given to any at-risk patient with low red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets, Delaney says. Are you septic? Did you just get chemotherapy? Are you getting a transplant? Did a nuclear bomb go off?

A pared-down batch of blood-forming stem cells also might help usher in a cheaper version of what Milano dubs the Tesla 3.0 strategy: if doctors could achieve the same transplant results or better with just one full cord blood unit plus an off-the-shelf expanded unit, they could cut costs significantly.

Link:
How umbilical cords are saving the lives of cancer patients - The Independent

Helping the retina regenerate Science Daily Amphibians do this naturally in response to RGC death from injury. Similarly, adult zebrafish regenerate RGCs by reprogramming cells in the retina called Mller glia. As outlined in the report, the workshop explored additional cell types for potential ...

Read more from the original source:
Helping the retina regenerate - Science Daily

An Italian neurosurgeon is saying he plans on transplanting a head onto a donor body, not in some distant future, but by the end of 2017.

When Dr. Sergio Canavero first announced his plans a couple of years ago, most people thought he was either crazy, or it was a publicity stunt. Now Canavero says he will put the head of 30-year-old Russian Valery Spiridonov on a donor body in December. Spiridonov suffers from Werdnig-Hoffman disease, which is a form of spinal muscular atrophy.

The surgeon said the procedure would take humanity closer to extending life indefinitely.

Although Canavero insists everything is ready to go, a lot of the details remain murky, and it might still be more fantasy than reality.

Dr. David Albert Jones, the director of the Oxford-based Anscombe Bioethics Centre, says the risks associated with such an attempt are not justifiable.

The center is a Catholic academic institute that studies the moral issues surrounding medicine.

The current scientific and medical consensus is that this experiment has very little chance of success, Jones told Crux, adding the most likely outcome is either death during the operation or survival in a paralyzed state for a few hours or days.

Similar experiments have been done with small animals, to little success. No animal has ever come out of the procedure without being paralyzed, and they all have died soon after.

Jones said the studies are not even advanced enough to attempt the procedure on primates such as monkeys or chimpanzees, let alone a human subject.

There is nothing to suggest that the current proposal for a head transplant is realistic, Jones said, adding even if it were, it would not put mankind on a path to immortality.

People who have received donor organs live longer than they would have done, but they do not live longer, on average, than the average life expectancy of the general population, Jones said.

We will all die.

Jones did warn that if immortality became the goal of a society, this could be a real concern because the quest for unachievable goals can detract from the achievable goals of society, the realistic goals of healthcare, education and social solidarity.

Jones responded to some questions from Crux by email, and told us the scientific and ethical concerns about the proposed procedure.

Crux: Is this even possible with todays technology?

Jones: The idea of a head transplant (or a neck down body-transplant) has been attempted in animals but most animals have either died or have been completely paralyzed and none have lived more than a few days. Given the very poor outcome with mice at the present time it is very difficult to justify attempting this with primates, let alone with humans.

A key challenge is reconnecting the spinal cord. Only if we could finally overcome this problem in patients suffering from spinal cord injury (for example, by the use of gene therapy, stem cells and/or growth factors) would it be realistic to deliberately severe the spinal cord and reconnect the head to a different body.

Thought must also be given to the consequences if the body were to reject the new head. Could the head be kept alive apart from the body, and what kind of existence would this be?

Is such a transplant ethically permitted?

The current scientific and medical consensus is that this experiment has very little chance of success. The most likely outcome is either death during the operation or survival in a paralyzed state for a few hours or days.

The risks are such that it is not justifiable even with consent, but there is an added concern in that it seems likely that the patient has been given misinformation about the realistic prospects for success, and in these circumstances it seems doubtful that consent is properly informed.

It should also be noticed that the operation would not only take great financial and human resources but would also require a donor whose heart, lungs, liver, and/or kidneys could have given real benefits to several patients on the organ transplant waiting list. The opportunity costs would, at the very least, involve extending the suffering of these patients and could involve the death of a patient who might otherwise have been saved.

Many are saying that if such a surgery is successful, it puts humanity on the path to immortality. Should such a goal concern us?

There is nothing to suggest that the current proposal for a head transplant is realistic. If some time in the future the technical problems were overcome, it would not be the path to immortality any more than current, very successful, transplant medicine puts people on a path to immortality. People who have received donor organs live longer than they would have done, but they do not live longer, on average, than the average life expectancy of the general population. We will all die.

How can the Church do more to help people assess the morality of new biotechnologies and medical (or pseudo-medical) procedures?

The goal of immortality is unachievable. There is no need to be concerned therefore about the achievement of this goal. On the other hand if (virtual) immortality became the goal of a society, this could be a real concern because the quest for unachievable goals can detract from the achievable goals of society, the realistic goals of healthcare, education and social solidarity.

The virtue of temperateness is needed if society is to avoid such vain and destructive desires. The Church could do more to promote the virtues of temperateness and humility, which are necessary not only in relation to this issue but in the wider context of the care of creation.

How should the governments involved handle such things, both on a national and international level? I mean, it seems odd that this doctor is even being allowed to attempt this procedure, given the objections from many that the technology has not even been tested properly.

Governments should ensure that experimental surgery is subject to the same level of ethical scrutiny as the clinical trials of drugs or of medical devices. Unfortunately surgery is sometimes given a degree of latitude that leaves patients vulnerable to exploitation. Experimental procedures should not be permitted by a hospital unless and until it has been subject to scientific peer review and has satisfied a clinical ethics committee. It is difficult to see how the current proposal could fulfill such criteria.

Read the original here:
Should a head transplant be allowed to happen? - Crux Now - Crux: Covering all things Catholic

Setting off from the Isle of Wight to walk around the world is the aim of one couple.

Robin Frape and his partner Julie Binnington will set off today (Friday) from their Island home in on the first leg of their mammoth journey.

Its set to raise awareness and money for sight charity RP Fighting Blindness.

Robin has hereditary retinitis pigmentosa (RP) disease and is progressively losing his sight and its forced him to give up his job as a hydrographic surveyor, mapping out the ocean floor.

Robin says:

I ended up having to stop working and find a new way of life. So thats the point Ive come to is to try and find a little bit of purpose. Im hoping I can raise a bunch of awareness and hopefully some money to go to the cause at the same time

The couple are funding the trip themselves and all the money raised will go to RP Fighting Blindness.

They will leave the Island from Yarmouth on Saturday, walk through the New Forest towards Wales and then its up to Scotland before crossing over to Ireland. Theyll walk to the south of Ireland where they will head to Europe to continue their journey.

Robin says:

I will get to a point where Im not going to be able to see properly, everything will just be sort of foggy and distorted to the point that functioning properly is reallynot going to be a possibility but its going to be a great opportunity to basically walk and see everything at eye level and do it slowly and just take everything in while we can.

You can follow their progress on their Facebook page or donate to RP Fighting Blindness by the Just Giving page.

comments

Continue reading here:
Isle Of Wight Couple In Worldwide Walk For RP Fighting Blindness - Isle of Wight Radio

By Elizabeth Johnson

Leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies chose INTERPHEX 2017 to launch their newest products, with 20 companies debuting new technology at the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry trade show held March 21-23 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

In its 38th year, INTERPHEX offered attendees a mix of content including more than 104 conference education sessions, INTERPHEX Live discussions, hundreds of exhibits and product launches.

The show experienced attendee growth, compared with 2016, and attributes much of that to its robust program.

INTERPHEX offers its customers the opportunity to bring their entire teams and engage in education for everyone, said Melissa Ashley, senior vice president of INTERPHEX.

She continued, Attendance is free to those who register ahead to support the industry and allow companies full teams to experience all that is happening in the industry.

Having grown and evolved from a regional to a national and international event, INTERPHEX selected New York as its home because the city is a gateway that allows people to come from abroad and because there are a lot of customers in the tri-state area.

INTERPHEX is reflective of the industry advancing to the future, with organizers working to ensure the needs of technology companies are on display.

Still, the biotechnology industry is slower to change than some industries because it is heavily regulated, according to Kate Scott McCorriston, director of marketing and technical content for INTERPHEX.

The regulations mean people need to attend to learn about new guidance and regulations, McCorriston explained.

She added, Young professionals need to attend to learn how to manufacture new products within regulations and cost-effectively.

Unique features such as INTERPHEX Live keep attendees engaged.

Unlike standard panels or lectures or even exhibitor-led education, INTERPHEX Live discussions allow participants to ask questions and engage in a direct dialogue with experts, with sessions taking place out in the open and not far from registration, making it easy for people to join the discussions.

In addition, INTERPHEX organizers solicit customer feedback to make sure they are hitting the mark with show programming.

We ask, who do they want more of and what research do they need? Ashley said.

She continued, Then, we put that information together with feedback from our technical advisory board in order to create the best program we can.

In addition to showcasing the latest technology, the show itself uses a lot of technology to provide the best experience for attendees and exhibitors, including online matchmaking tools pre-show so that attendees can customize their experience and understand who they want to target before they arrive.

The show invested in a lead retrieval tool that helps exhibitors really know who they are talking to as well.

We want people to engage, not just walk up and down the aisles and leave, Ashley explained.

The goal of INTERPHEXs show organizers was to reach more attendees using the technology they had available, and it appears they got their wish, with a positive response to those tools.

INTERPHEX is sponsored by the Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) and brings over 11,500 global industry professionals and more than 625 industry-leading suppliers together to Learn it, Experience it, Procure it annually.

INTERPHEX 2018 will take place April 19-21 at the Javits Center.

Continued here:
20 New Biotechnology Products Debut at INTERPHEX 2017 - TSNN Trade Show News (blog)

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2017 / Prana Biotechnology and Xenetic Biosciences both saw their company's stock prices soar on news of a broader, more global product distribution. Prana is continuing to expand its presentation of PBT-434, while Xenetic is moving ahead with its strategic planning goals to make its product technology available to a larger geographical area.

RDI Initiates Coverage:

Prana Biotechnology Limited https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=PRAN

Xenetic Biosciences Inc. https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=XBIO

Prana Biotechnology advanced 37.65% to close at $3.40 on Thursday. The stock traded in a wide range between $4.58 and $2.75 during the day on a volume of 11.95 million shares traded. The company has presented new data from its Reach2HD trial at the American Neurological Association Annual Meeting held in Baltimore. Its primary candidate drug, PBT-434, demonstrated pre-clinical evidence that the drug will help with the treatment of movement disorders of patients with Parkinson's Disease.

Prana Biotechnology, an Australian company, for the half-year period ending December 31, 2016, reported total operating expenses of $6.05 million AUD, a pre-tax income of $3.65 million AUD, and a loss of $0.68 AUD per share.

Access RDI's Prana Biotechnology Research Report at: https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=PRAN

Xenetic Biosciences accelerated to advance 44.30% to close at $5.44 on Thursday. The stock traded between $5.61 and $3.87 on volume of 180,793 shares traded. Xenetic has been aggressively promoting its products internationally, and the rise in price is due in part to it becoming a member of the NASDAQ community on March 30th. The company has been expanding its patent portfolio to a number of countries, including Europe and the United States. Currently, their major marketable product is PolyXen technology platform. The product's IP on its PolyXen technology platform will afford protection on average for the next 10 to 12 years.

The latest financial report with period ending September 30, 2016, showed the company posting $2.25 million in operating expenses, a net loss of $2.47 million, and net loss per share of $0.28 and it had about $212,000 of cash assets on its books as on September 30th.

Access RDI's Xenetic Biosciences Research Report at: https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=XBIO

Our Actionable Research on Prana Biotechnology Limited (NASDAQ: PRAN) and Xenetic Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: XBIO) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

Research Driven Investing

We are committed to providing relevant and actionable information for the self-directed investor. Our research is reputed for being a leader in trusted, in-depth analysis vital for informed strategic trading decisions. The nimble investor can leverage our analysis and collective expertise to execute a disciplined approach to stock selection.

RDInvesting has not been compensated; directly or indirectly; for producing or publishing this document.

Disclaimer: This article is written by an independent contributor of RDInvesting.com and reviewed by Nadia Noorani, CFA charter holder. RDInvesting.com is neither a registered broker dealer nor a registered investment advisor. For more information please read our full disclaimer at http://www.rdinvesting.com/disclaimer.

CONTACT

For any questions, inquiries, or comments reach out to us directly at:

Address:

Research Driven Investing, Unit #901 511 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, 10011

Email:

contact@rdinvesting.com

CFA and Chartered Financial Analyst are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.

SOURCE: RDInvesting.com

Original post:
Prana Biotechnology and Xenetic Biosciences Expand Their Product Promotion - Yahoo Finance

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease. It causes joint problems, such as:

According to Mayo Clinic, joint damage from RA is usually symmetrical. If a joint is affected on one side of the body, the same joint on the other side will probably be affected as well. This is one way that doctors distinguish RA from other forms of arthritis, such as osteoarthritis (OA).

The immune system normally identifies and destroys foreign substances in the body, such as viruses and bacteria. In an autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakes the body's own cells for invaders. It attacks healthy cells and organs instead of pathogens.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in RA, the immune system attacks the synovium. This is the membrane that lines the joints. When the synovium is attacked, it becomes swollen and damaged. Eventually, the joint cartilage may start to erode. This leads to destruction of the joint, deformity, and loss of function.

RA can also affect other organs, including the:

According to the CDC, approximately 1.5 million Americans have RA. Its two to three times more common in women than in men. Up to 4 percent of American women will eventually be diagnosed with RA.

RA is most often diagnosed in people over the age of 40. However, it can also occur in younger adults and in children. It can present as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The largest group of RA sufferers is women over 55.

Both RA and osteoarthritis (OA) fall under the general category of arthritis, but the two conditions are sometimes mistakenly used interchangeably. As with RA, people with OA can experience painful and stiff joints that can make moving around difficult. Joint swelling may occur after extended activity, but OA doesnt cause any significant inflammatory reaction which typically results in redness of the affected joints.

However, unlike RA, OA is not an autoimmune disease. Its more of a degenerative disease, which is related to the natural wear and tear of the joints. For this reason, OA is most often seen in older adults. On the other hand, RA can sometimes develop in adults under the age of 40. OA is also far more common than RA. The CDC estimates that 26.9 million people in the United States are affected.

Still, OA is not just seen in older adults. The joint condition can sometimes be seen in younger adults who overuse a particular joint (such as tennis players and other athletes), or in those who have experienced a severe injury. Obesity can increase the risk of OA, especially in the hips and knees. Genes may also play a role in your individual risk for OA.

Since RA is an autoimmune disease, there is no way to prevent the condition. Instead, the focus is on treating joint flare-ups and identifying signs and symptoms in other organs (eyes, lungs, heart, blood vessels, mouth, skin) to maintain a better quality of life. Once you have OA, you cant necessarily prevent the symptoms, either. However, unlike RA, you can take steps to help prevent OA by losing excess weight and preventing injuries.

RA is a chronic disease. If you have RA, you will have it for the rest of your life. The course of the disease varies from person to person.Symptoms can range from mild to severe.

Most people with RA do not have constant symptoms. Instead, they have flare-ups followed by relatively symptom-free periods, called remissions.

Joint problems caused by RA usually get worse over time. However, early treatment can delay serious joint damage for a number of years.

See the original post here:
Rheumatoid Arthritis - Healthline