Mesenchymal stem cells (green) colonize a pancreatic islet in a preclinical model of diabetes. Blue dots represent the nuclei of cells within the islet. (Image courtesy of Robert Sackstein.)

GPS Method Guides Stem Cells to the Pancreas

A research team studying mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) – a cell type useful for the treatment of immune-related diseases — have uncovered a way to enhance and prolong the therapeutic effects of these cells in a preclinical model of type 1 diabetes. The team, led by Robert Sackstein, MD, PhD, of BWH’s Departments of Dermatology and of Medicine, and Reza Abdi, MD, of the BWH Department of Medicine and Transplantation Research Center, reports its results this week in the journal Stem Cells.
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Taking on Titin

Christine Seidman, MD, director of BWH’s Cardiovascular Genetics Center, and colleagues have uncovered more than 50 mutations that occur in titin – a gene tied to cardiac failure and sudden death – and have gone on to predict and examine which of these mutations are benign and which ones are harmful. Their study appeared in Science Translational Medicine.
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Predicting Cancers’ Cell of Origin

A study led by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital suggests a new way to trace cancer back to its cell type of origin. By leveraging the epigenome maps produced by the Roadmap Epigenomics Program – a resource of data collected from over 100 cell types – the research team found that the unique genetic landscape of a particular tumor could be used to predict that tumor’s cell type of origin. The study, which appears this week in Nature, provides new insights into the early events that shape a cancer, and could have important implications for the many cancer patients for whom the originating site of the cancer is unknown.
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 Nano Drones Deliver

Nanometer-sized “drones” that deliver a special type of healing molecule to fat deposits in arteries could become a new way to prevent heart attacks caused by atherosclerosis, according to a study in pre-clinical models by scientists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Columbia University Medical Center. These findings are published in the February 18th online issue of Science Translational Medicine.
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