| |
|
September
2, 2003 |
| |
| If
you are unable to view these articles or access the links,
please visit the ASBMT Web Site at
www.asbmt.org to read this
issue. To be removed from this distribution list, please see
instructions at bottom. |
| |
 |
Top
Stories |
| |
|
|
|
Legislation and Regulation |
| |
|
|
|
Clinical
Research |
| |
|
|
|
Pharmaceutical
News |
| |
|
|
|
Association
News |
| |
|
|
|
Calendar |
|
|
|
|
eNews
Archives |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tandem BMT Meetings
Feb 13 - 17, 2004
Orlando, Florida
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Note: Answers to this interactive poll are anonymous.) |
|
|
|
Last Month's
Poll Results
If ASBMT provided you with contact information and
suggested talking points, would you be willing to write to
your representative or senators at a key moment when “HR
2852 - National Cord Blood Stem Cell Bank Network” is
working its way through committee?
|
Yes, this is an important bill, and I'm more than
happy to help get it through Congress. |
(173) 33% |
|
|
|
|
No, I'm
sympathetic to this bill, but you know me: I'll
probably not get around to doing anything about it. |
(247) 47% |
|
|
|
|
No,
personally I would rather not support this bill. |
(105) 20% |
|
| |
|
|
Calendar |
• September
International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT)
3rd Annual Somatic Cell Therapy Symposium: Regulatory Issues for
Scientists and Clinicians
Sept. 13-15
Chesapeake Bay Hyatt
Cambridge, Maryland
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
2003 Cancer Conference
Sept. 15-18
Marriott Marquis Hotel
Atlanta
Federation of European Cancer Societies (FECS)
ECCO 12
Sept. 21-25
Bella Center A/S
Copenhagen, Denmark
Asian Society of Transplantation (AST)
8th Congress
Sept. 23-27
Shangri-La Hotel
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Conference on Contracting, Cost Containment and Reimbursement
Strategies
Bone Marrow/Stem Cell & Solid Organ Transplantation
Sept. 29-30
Hyatt Regency
San Francisco, California
• October
American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT)
(with the International Society for Cellular Therapy)
3rd Annual Meeting on Mesenchymal and Nonhematopoietic Stem
Cells
Oct. 19-21
Hotel Monteleone
New Orleans
American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI)
29th Annual Meeting
Oct. 28-Nov. 1
Fontainebleau Hilton
Miami Beach
• November
American Association of Blood Banks (AABB)
56th Annual Meeting
Nov. 1-4
San Diego
American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)
53rd Annual Meeting
Nov. 4-8
Los Angeles Convention Center
Los Angeles
National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)
Council Meeting
Nov. 14-16
Minneapolis
European Society for Gene Therapy (ESGT)
11th Annual Meeting
Nov. 14-17
Edinburgh International Conference Centre
Edinburgh, Scotland
• December
American Society of Hematology (ASH)
45th Annual Meeting
Dec. 6-9
San Diego Convention Center
San Diego
American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)
43rd Annual Meeting
Dec. 13-17
Moscone Convention Center
San Francisco
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Top
Stories |
| |
British scientists create first human
embryonic stem cell line
Scientists at Kings College London have created Britain’s
first human embryonic stem cell line, which will be deposited in
the Medical Research Council’s stem cell bank, launched last
year. The researchers obtained three stem cell lines from 58
embryos, but two of those lines perished. To generate this line,
researchers used high-quality embryos donated by women
undergoing pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to assess their
risk of passing on serious genetic disorders.  |
|
|
Heart patients who receive autologous stem
cell treatment don’t need organ transplant
After undergoing autologous stem cell treatment, four out of
five Brazilian heart failure patients didn’t need a heart
transplant, according to results presented at the meeting of the
European Society of Cardiology. The patients were treated with
cells removed from their bone marrow and injected into the left
ventricle.
|
| |
Australian scientists produce lung cells
from human embryonic stem cells
Scientists at the National Stem Cell Centre in Melbourne
have succeeded in turning human embryonic stem cells into lung
cells, a potentially valuable breakthrough in the treatment of
cystic fibrosis, mesothelioma, emphysema, and chronic
bronchitis. Researchers hope to eventually use this technique to
treat lung cancer by replacing cells damaged by cancer.
|
| |
Music therapy relieves pain and speeds
healing after bone marrow transplantation
Music helps relieve pain and nausea in patients undergoing
bone marrow transplantation and could even prompt the new marrow
to produce blood cells more quickly. In a study of 42 people at
the University of Rochester Medical Center, the 23 patients who
met two times a week for music-assisted relaxation and imagery
reported less pain and nausea and began producing white blood
cells within 13.5 days, compared with 15.5 days for the control
group.
|
| |
| |
 A
Word from President Joseph Antin, M.D.
One of the joys of late-summer vacations is the
chance to get away from the unrelenting grind of national
events. If you were fortunate, as I was, to bail out for a
few days, you may have missed the news about a proposal in
Congress to create a National Cord Blood Stem Cell Bank
Network. The network is targeted to contain at least
150,000 units of human cord blood stem cells, primarily
for therapeutic purposes, but also for peer-reviewed
research.
If you would like to see the specific bill introduced by
Rep. Chris (R-NJ), we’ve put it on our Web site:
HR 2852 – Cord Blood Stem Cell Act of 2003.
The proposed legislation is important for several reasons:
• First, we are all well aware of the results achieved
over the past several years using cord blood stem cells. A
putative benefit of a cord blood network is to overcome
the paucity of matched donors for ethnic minorities. The
proposed legislation stipulates that recruitment for the
inventory of cord blood will take into account the ethnic
diversity of the country so that appropriate matches are
easier to find. They hope to provide products for as many
as 90% of minority recipients.
• A second provision of this bill is a 10% allocation of
banked stem cells for research. Given the reluctance of
our government to support some forms of stem cell
research, this is a welcome addition.
• A third significance may be the milestone represented in
this proposed legislation. Federal financing for an
inventory of cord blood stem cells signals an arrival of
cord blood transplants in their evolution from pure
research to a mainstream clinical practice. It
demonstrates medical research functioning well – moving
from basic and laboratory inquiries to clinical trials to
accepted practice in a relatively short time. It was 15
years ago that our colleagues Drs. Eliane Gluckman and Hal
Broxmeyer and their team successfully showed that
unrelated cord blood could be used as a source of
hematopoietic stem cells.
The road for this bill through Congress will be smoothed
if it has vigorous support from the transplant community.
There’s also a need to rally public support, which can be
done by publicizing what we have achieved to date in the
clinical application of cord blood stem cells. Part of
that effort should be clarifying public understanding of
the difference between private banks that store a baby’s
cord blood for the remote possibility of future family
need, and public banks and registries that make stem cells
available for any patient who might be a good match.
HR 2852 deserves our support.
-Joe
|
|
| |
|
Clinical
Research |
| |
Scientists use stem cells to grow new heart tissue
Researchers at Geron Corp. have successfully transplanted
heart muscle cells derived from human embryonic stem cells into
the hearts of rats, and those cells appear to be dividing and
forming new heart tissue. Geron is planning other studies to
determine whether such transplanted human cells can help animals
that have suffered heart attacks. Geron presented data from this
study at a meeting of the American Heart Association.
Genetically modified stem cells restore
heart’s pumping capacity
Mesenchymal stem cells derived from bone marrow restored the
pumping capacity of rat hearts by 80 percent to 90 percent,
according to a report in the September issue of the journal
Nature Medicine. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
in Boston modified the cells by adding a gene called Akt1, which
can prevent transplanted cells from dying. Scientist hope to
turn the process into a gene therapy for humans.
Fetal nigral transplantation not effective in
treating Parkinson’s disease
Fetal nigral transplantation for treating patients with
Parkinson’s disease appears to be no better than placebo
treatment, according to the results of a two-year double blind
study that were published in the September issue of Annals of
Neurology. Thirty-four patients received either bilateral
transplantation or a placebo, and results were measured in motor
component of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale.
|
| |
| |
|
Pharmaceutical
News |
| |
Genzyme Corp. buys SangStat Medical Corp. for $600 million
Last month, Genzyme Corp. paid $600 million to acquire
SangStat Medical Corp. Through this purchase, Genzyme will
acquire Thymoglobulin (anti-thymocyte globulin), a product that
treats acute rejection in renal transplant patients, a
complement to Genzyme’s work in immune-mediated diseases.
Genzyme plans to pursue a broader indication for Thymoglobulin
in the United States and to capitalize on FDA clearance to
initiate new studies of Thymoglobulin in living donor kidney
transplant patients and bone marrow transplantation.
|
| |
| |
|
Association
News |
| |
ASBMT observes 10th anniversary on September 7
This week, ASBMT will be observing its 10th anniversary. It
was Sept. 7, 1993, that the Society was incorporated in the
District of Columbia as a not-for-profit scientific and
educational organization. Signing the original articles of
incorporation were Richard Champlin, M.D.; Keith Sullivan, M.D.;
Richard O’Reilly, M.D.; Robertson Parkman, M.D.; and Bruce
Mackler, Ph.D.
Registration is open for 2004 Tandem BMT Meetings
Register online for the 2004 Tandem BMT Meetings that will
be held Feb. 13-17 at the Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando,
Fla. Registration fees and housing costs are the lowest in
several years. Early registration deadline is Oct. 20.
Tandem BMT Meetings abstract
deadline is October 20
The deadline for online submission of abstracts for the 2004
Tandem BMT Meetings is Oct. 20. Scientific program time slots
have been set aside for oral presentation of 66 submitted
abstracts, as determined by the Abstract Review Committees.
Other abstracts will be presented in two poster sessions.
3rd Nonhematopietic & Mesenchymal Stem Cell Conference set for
October 9-11
Mesenchymal stem cell biology, stem cell plasticity and cell
therapy for cardiac, pulmonary and neurologic diseases will be
addressed in the 3rd Annual Nonhematopoietic & Mesenchymal Stem
Cells Conference Oct. 9-11 at the Hotel Monteleone in New
Orleans. ASBMT is a co-sponsor.
New investigators eligible for $5,000 editorial awards
Each year ASBMT presents two editorial awards to new
investigators published in Biology of Blood and Marrow
Transplantation, the Society’s monthly peer-reviewed journal.
The awards recognize the best basic science and the best
clinical research articles.
ASBMT membership fee waived for trainees
Post-doctoral fellows and physicians-in-training for blood
and marrow transplantation are eligible for free membership in
the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation.
Annual dues will be waived through October for new trainees who
apply for membership in the Society.
|
| |
| |
|
