Fat Stem cells

[Todd]

CNN


April 10, 2001
Web posted at: 12:21 a.m. EDT (0421 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Fat left over from cosmetic surgery may provide a new source of stem cells, which could then be coaxed into becoming bone, cartilage or skeletel cells, researchers announced Monday. Stem cells currently are taken from aborted fetuses or embryos left over after fertility treatments.

In a study published in the April issue of the journal Tissue Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles researchers separated stem cells from fat removed from patients undergoing liposuction and coaxed the stem cells to turn into four different types of cells.

The use of stem cells taken from embryos has been popular among researchers because they can turn into any type of cell. But the practice has been controversial.


That's why researchers have been trying to do the same thing with adult stem cells. Similar success has been reported using stem cells isolated from brain tissue, bone marrow, liver, and skeletal muscle. Monday's study was the first report of success using stem cells from fat removed during liposuction.

Stem cells are precursors to other types of cells. As a stem cell becomes a specific cell, like a fat cell, the genes that would turn it into any other cell are turned off. The stem cells from liposuctioned fat were harvested just before that would have happened. If they had been left alone, they would have turned into fat cells, the researchers said.

Instead, through laboratory techniques, they turned the stem cells that had been destined to turn into fat cells into bone cells, cartilage cells, and skeletal muscle cells.

Dr. Marc Hedrick, one of the UCLA researchers, said such stem cells appear to exist in every tissue and organ in the body.

Within a decade, scientists will master their knowledge of adult stem cells, Hedrick predicted. Once that happens, embryonic stem cells will no longer be needed, he said.

Dr. John McDonald, a stem cell expert from Washington University in St. Louis, said Monday's report should be viewed as a continuation of similar research. "It would be surprising if we could not get stem cells from almost any source that are capable of differentiating to other tissues," he said.

And there is an added benefit because if adult stem cells can be taken from the patient who will be treated, the possibility of rejection is nil, Hedrick said.

The next step is to test the cells in animals to see if they grow and function. If successful, human testing could begin within five years, he added.

However, other researchers who work with adult stem cells cautioned that successfully applying the technique to people will be difficult.

"This finding is just a beginning," said Helen Blau, chairman of the department of molecular pharmacology at Stanford University. "It is not so difficult to get cells to change their fate in a tissue culture dish. It is another thing to get them to do it in the human body and to do it correctly."

"Nobody really has shown this function in human adults" using stem cells from fat, she added.

The process is complicated, Blau said. Scientists will need to show that they can recruit cells derived from adult stem cells to specific points in the body, and then get those cells to function and communicate with other cells in that environment. Scientists also need to be sure the new cells only become the specific cells that are needed -- not other types of cells.

"Most important, you have to prove that they actually hook up and become a part of the tissue that you're trying to fix," Blau explained.

Still, Blau said the liposuction research is exciting because it helps scientists redefine what stem cells are.

"This is evidence that there is a remarkable degree of plasticity in cell fate and that adult cells can change their identity without any intervention," she said.

 

[Todd]

US News


Therapy by the pound
Human fat is a source of coveted stem cells
By Emily Sohn


Turning beer bellies into six-packs requires sweat and painful sacrifice. Or so we're told. But scientists now claim to have subbed petri dishes for StairMasters, transforming cells from unwanted fat into muscle, cartilage, and bone.


The discovery suggests that fat may be a rich source of so-called stem cells–unspecialized primordial cells that can be coaxed into becoming any number of tissue types. The procedure could offer a potential treatment for broken bones, damaged joints, and even life-threatening neurological disorders like Parkinson's disease. "It's hugely romantic and attractive to think you can go to the doctor's office and fix the hole in your knee while losing 20 pounds," says biologist Arnold Caplan of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.


Using a person's own stem cells for therapy would reduce the risk of immune-system rejection and disease transmission, while skirting the ethical controversy over using fetal cells from abortions, says plastic surgeon Marc Hedrick, who reported the findings last week in the journal Tissue Engineering. Other known sources of adult stem cells include bone marrow, skin, and muscle. But fat would make an especially tantalizing cell source because, as team member Adam Katz says, "It's cheap, it's structurally strong, and it grows all over the world." Fat is also relatively easy to get, says Hedrick. Bone marrow can be painful to extract and yields a minuscule measure of stem cell. But a typical liposuction produces 2 to 3 liters of fat tissue, which early evidence suggests has a much higher proportion of the treasured stem cells.


Like other stem cells, those from fat appear to assume various identities under different chemical conditions. But it will be years before people can trade in their love handles for new hips or stronger hearts. First, scientists need to make sure implanted stem cells don't form tumors or revert back to their original form–turning bone to fat, for example. And other sources of stem cells are far from obsolete, Hedrick says. Unpublished evidence suggests that stem cells from fat might work better in some situations than others–for example, in breast reconstruction and joint or bone replacement. Says Hedrick: "We don't know how it's all going to shake out."

 

[Gabby McWeevils]

True Todd but everyone I've spoken to who was all sciencey said that embryonic cells have the most potential and would be the most valuable to the research.

 

[Todd]

CBS

(CBS) That spare tire around your waist could have some positive uses after all.

Researchers at UCLA and the University of Pittsburgh have isolated stem cells from fat sucked out of liposuction patients, a breakthrough that could lead to cures for a variety of illnesses.

Stem cells are those cells that haven't been "switched on" yet and have the potential to become almost any kind of tissue, reports CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales. Dr. Marc Hedrick, the lead scientist on the project, found that human fat was full of them.

The finding could allow for a more plentiful supply of the cells, paving the way for more medical research. Until now, there has been a scarcity of human stem cells for testing due to the medical and ethical controversy surrounding collection methods.

"Fat is perhaps the ideal source," said Dr. Hedrick. "There's plenty of it. It's easy and inexpensive to obtain. It even has a secondary cosmetic benefit. These cells already have the genetic information to become fat cells or bone cells or muscle cells or cartilage cells. The information's there."

"We don't yet know the limits for stem cells found in fat. So far, we have seen promising results with all of the tissue types we have examined," said Dr. Adam J. Katz, a member of the research team from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "This discovery could potentially obviate the need for using fetal tissue," a practice opposed by many.

Researchers say that stem cells have the potential to grow new heart muscles for people with cardiac disease and generate new nerve tissue for those with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. There is even hope for those suffering from spinal cord injuries.

"We hope one day to be able to remove diseased tissue or organs, harvest stem cells and replace the lost tissues on the same day during the same operation," said Hedrick. "There is potential for regenerating a lot of different tissues, perhaps some day solid organs, glands, nerves or brain tissue."

Fat is not the only potential source of adult stem cells. Dr. Ira Black of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School took stem cells from bone marrow and turned them into nerve cells — a possible therapy for spinal injuries and neurological diseases like Alzheimers. "The ultimate goal is to determine if these cells will be useful to replace damaged and dying cells in these diseases and hasten recovery of function."

Encouraging as the latest results with adult stem cells are, some researchers believe they will never match the healing potential of the other, controversial, source of stem cells — fetal tissue.

The study, published in the April issue of Tissue Engineering, had researchers take the fat and fluid drained from the hips, buttock and stomachs of liposuction patients.

The material was then washed, purified and treated with an enzyme to break down the matrix holding the cells together and compared to stem cells from bone marrow.

Scientists found that a half-pound of the fatty substance yielded as many as 50 million to 100 million undifferentiated stem-like cells.

Experiments were underway to see if the cells could be used to grow human bone and fat tissue in mice.

But with fetal tissue drawing fire and with an estimated thirteen thousand liposuctions done every week in this country, the fat Americans love to complain about may be a stem cell researcher's best hope.

 

[Todd]

CNEWS

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Scientists say human fat may be a potential source of stem cells, a breakthrough that could lead to a cure for numerous illnesses.

Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Pittsburgh used fat collected by liposuction to isolate the stem cells, which they said were then converted into bone, cartilage and muscle depending on the conditions in which they were grown.

Stem cells, which are the building blocks for all human tissue, have the potential to become virtually any type of tissue. They have been harvested previously from bone marrow, brain and fetal tissue.

"We don't yet know the limits for stem cells found in fat. So far, we have seen promising results with all of the tissue types we have examined," Dr. Adam J. Katz, a member of the research team from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said in a statement released Monday.

The study was published in the journal Tissue Engineering.

The finding means a person's own fat could conceivably be used to provide the tissue needed to treat disease or repair injuries.

"We hope one day to be able to remove diseased tissue or organs, harvest stem cells and replace the lost tissues on the same day during the same operation," Dr. Marc Hedrick, the research team's primary investigator at UCLA, said in the statement. "There is potential for regenerating a lot of different tissues, perhaps some day solid organs, glands, nerves or brain tissue."

Stem cell research also holds promise toward finding cures for Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, cancer, Parkinson's disease, heart disease and spinal cord injuries.

Katz said the discovery could also potentially obliviate the need for using fetal tissue, a practice opposed by many anti-abortion groups.

President Bush has signaled he may block federal financing for research that uses fetal tissue. He wants scientists to focus only on adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells have generated the most scientific excitement because they appear to be the most flexible.

"This is extremely significant in terms of its potential," Dr. Michael T. Longaker of Stanford University, who was not involved in the study, told the Los Angeles Times. "Unfortunately, fat is a substantial natural resource in the USA. This is a great way to do something with it."

A separate team at Duke University has also produced similar results by turning stem cells from fat into cartilage.

"It's very important for different groups to reach the same conclusion with a study with this much potential impact," Farshid Guilak, who led the Duke study, told the Times.

Both groups are performing experiments with animals and predict it would take about five years before the first clinical trials are conducted on humans.

 

[Todd]

VOA

DATE=4-26-01
TITLE=SCIENCE REPORT- Stem Cells in Fat
BYLINE=Nancy Steinbach
This is the VOA Special English Science Report.

American medical researchers say they have discovered stem cells in human fat for the first time. Stem cells are able to develop into other kinds of cells, including nerve, bone and muscle cells.

Scientists have been studying the use of stem cells to treat and possibly cure many diseases. These stem cells have the power to grow into new heart muscle for people with heart disease. Or the stem cells can become new insulin-producing cells for people suffering diabetes.

Researchers have collected stem cells from the brain, bones and fetal tissue from unborn babies. Getting these stem cells for research purposes is difficult. And many people are opposed to using fetal tissue for research. The new discovery means that it might be easier to get stem cells for research and treatment of diseases.

Researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Pittsburgh carried out the study. They reported the results in the publication “Tissue Engineering.” The researchers took fat from the stomachs and legs of healthy adults in an operation known as liposuction. About six-hundred-thousand such operations are done in the United States every year. People choose to have liposuction to remove unwanted body fat.

The researchers treated the fat with a substance that separated out the stem cells. They found that about two-hundred grams of fat could produce as many as fifty-million to one-hundred-million stem-like cells. Then they used different chemicals to change those cells into bone cells, cartilage cells and muscle cells.

This is the first study to show that a person’s own stem cells in fat might someday be used to treat disease or repair injured body parts. This would solve the problems of rejection by the body because no foreign tissue would be used.

However, researchers say many questions must be answered first. For example, must the stem cells be treated in the laboratory before they are given to patients? Do the stem cells form tumors? Do the stem cells change back to fat cells?

Scientists are working to confirm the findings of this experiment. They are testing the stem cells in animals. If this is successful, researchers say human testing could begin in about five years.

This VOA Special English Science Report was written by Nancy Steinbach.

 

[Todd]

Wired News

LOS ANGELES -- Scientists say human fat may be a potential source of stem cells, a breakthrough that could lead to a cure for numerous illnesses.

Researchers at UCLA and the University of Pittsburgh used fat collected by liposuction to isolate the stem cells, which they said were then converted into bone, cartilage and muscle, depending on the conditions in which they were grown.

Stem cells, which are the building blocks for all human tissue, have the potential to become virtually any type of tissue. They have been harvested previously from bone marrow, brain and fetal tissue.

"We don't yet know the limits for stem cells found in fat. So far, we have seen promising results with all of the tissue types we have examined," Dr. Adam J. Katz, a member of the research team from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said in a statement released Monday.

The study was published in the journal Tissue Engineering.

The finding means a person's own fat could conceivably be used to provide the tissue needed to treat disease or repair injuries.

"We hope one day to be able to remove diseased tissue or organs, harvest stem cells and replace the lost tissues on the same day during the same operation," Dr. Marc Hedrick, the research team's primary investigator at UCLA, said in the statement. "There is potential for regenerating a lot of different tissues, perhaps some day solid organs, glands, nerves or brain tissue."

Stem cell research also holds promise toward finding cures for Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, cancer, Parkinson's disease, heart disease and spinal cord injuries.

Katz said the discovery could possibly obliviate the need for using fetal tissue, a practice opposed by many anti-abortion groups.

President Bush has signaled he may block federal financing for research that uses fetal tissue. He wants scientists to focus only on adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells have generated the most scientific excitement because they appear to be the most flexible.

"This is extremely significant in terms of its potential," Dr. Michael T. Longaker, a Stanford University researcher not involved in the study, said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. "Unfortunately, fat is a substantial natural resource in the USA. This is a great way to do something with it."

A separate team at Duke University has also produced similar results by turning stem cells from fat into cartilage.

"It's very important for different groups to reach the same conclusion with a study with this much potential impact," Farshid Guilak, who led the Duke study, told the Times.

Both groups are performing experiments with animals and predict it would take about five years before the first clinical trials are conducted on humans.

 

[Todd]

Nature Science Update

Stem cell research gains yet more momentum this week with the announcement that unwanted human fat can be turned into muscle, bone and cartilage in the lab.1But while US researchers are trumpeting a source of stem cells everyone would long to donate, sceptics question whether the claims are flabby.

Excitement over adult stem cells continues to grow. Blood into muscle, nerves into blood -- recent discoveries show that stem cells from diverse sources can give rise to different cell types to repair the body.

Growing replacement tissues for diseased or damaged ones from a patient's own stem cells would avoid rejection of transplanted tissue -- and side-step moral objections raised to use of human embryonic stem cells.

"In future the limiting factor will be the availability of cells," says Adam Katz of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, a reconstructive surgeon involved in the latest findings. He thinks fat could be the answer.

Unlike bone marrow cells, another promising source, fat is "abundant, expendable and easy to harvest," Katz says. "We can take litres and litres -- most people are more than willing to part with it."

His group sucked out human fat cells by liposuction. "You get an unappealing slurry of tissue and juice. Usually we just throw it away," he explains. Instead, they threw in a cocktail of growth factors. Later, testing for specific cell markers, they identified bone, muscle, and cartilage cells.

Stephen O'Rahilly, an obesity researcher at the University of Cambridge, UK questions whether the group has discovered anything new. Many teams have pushed fat stem cells down different pathways before, he says. "The plasticity of these cells has been known for a long time."

Every handful of fat tissue contains a few undifferentiated stem cells, explains Helen Blau, who works on adult stem cells at Stanford University School of Medicine. In the embryo, these 'mesodermal' cells produce muscle, blood and cartilage. The fact that they can do so in the adult is not that surprising, says Blau, because the cell types are closely related.

"People have gone a bit wild now -- looking in places they wouldn't have before," says Blau. "But finding that there is plasticity in adult cells and that these cells are not rare is real."

There is a way to go before such cells could be put to therapeutic use: the stem cells in fat need to be identified and, most importantly, shown to restore function of damaged tissue. "Getting them to do what we want is more difficult," says Blau.


References
Zuk, P.A. et al. Multilineage cells from human adipose tissue: implications for cell-based therapies. Tissue Engineering 7, 211 - 228 (2001).

 

[Gabby McWeevils]

Or, you know, you could just keep posting things that all say the same thing.

 

[Expertise]

Still the fastest cutter and paster in the east eh big fella.

 

[Todd]

Stem Cell 9

FAT SEEN AS PROMISING SOURCE OF STEM CELLS

By Ronald Kotulak
Tribune science reporter

Chicago Tribune
April 11, 2001

Americans spend billions of dollars annually to get rid of fat, but adipose tissue is turning out to be a surprisingly rich source of stem cells, the wonder cells that can be converted into different types of body tissue.

Two independent groups of researchers have confirmed that the fat that resides around the waist, thighs and other areas of the body may provide the most abundant supply of stem cells that are the easiest to obtain--a discovery that scientists say could help speed the development of the new field of stem cell medicine.

In only two years, stem cells have become one of the hottest topics in medicine because of their potential to build new cells to repair damaged or diseased organs.

"It is clear that stem cells could lead to a profound reshaping of modern medicine, which could have as big of an impact as the discovery of penicillin," said University of Chicago molecular geneticist Harinder Singh, who did not participate in the fat stem cell research.

Both groups of researchers used human fat stem cells to make bone, muscle and cartilage in the laboratory, but both also emphasized that years of research will be needed before their work could be tested in patients.

"It is very likely that within the next 5 years humans will be treated with their own fat-derived stem cells," said Dr. Mark Hedrik of the University of California at Los Angeles.

Hedrik and Dr. Adam J. Katz of the University of Pittsburgh reported in the current issue of the journal Tissue Engineering that they were able to treat fat stem cells with hormones and enzymes to coax them into becoming different tissue.

Scientists at first thought that stem cells were specific for each organ.

Indeed they have been found in muscle, blood and brain tissue.

But researchers have been surprised to discover that a stem cell from one organ can make the cells of another organ if placed in the chemical environment of the second organ. Researchers, for example, showed last year that they could convert human blood stem cells into brain cells.

Initial research with fat stem cells suggests that they can be converted into many other types of body tissue, possibly including nerve cells.

The possibility that fat stem cells can make all these other tissues may make it less likely that scientists will have to rely on the controversial use of human embryonic or fetal stem cells to usher in the new era of stem cell medicine.

Many people are opposed to using tissue from human embryos or aborted fetuses for research purposes. Supporters of using human embryonic cells, which are known to be capable of making all the other cells of the body, contend that stopping such research would limit knowledge about what these cells can do for human health.

"This [discovery about fat] sort of changes the dynamic of the embryonic stem cell debate," said Hedrik. "If we are carrying around our own reservoir of stem cells in our fat, then you can make the argument that we shouldn't be using human embryos."

A remarkable feature of stem cells is that they can make copies of themselves, as well as spin off cells that can change into the tissue of specific organs.

Farshid Guilak, director of orthopedic research at Duke University Medical Center, who first announced the conversion of fat stem cells into cartilage in February, has now implanted converted human cartilage into mice.

"One of the concerns about this type of therapy is that the cells might revert back to fat cells," Guilak said. "So far our results show that once the fat stem cells have been converted into cartilage, they stay that way."

Despite these early successes, scientists have a long way to go to understand stem cells. For one thing, they have not been able to isolate and identify individual stem cells.

Typically they make a concentrated solution of tissue--whether it's of blood, muscle or fat--then expose it to a variety of hormones and enzymes. When these solutions start producing cells from other tissue, there is a presumption that the solution contains stem cells.

So far the only stem cells used for therapy are bone marrow stem cells. These cells are given back to cancer patients undergoing toxic chemotherapy, which destroys their own bone marrow.

Giving these patients their own marrow or marrow from a donor rebuilds their ability to make blood.

 

[tmuyo]

dang....

ok, i'll sum it up for all the non-science people and not make them read 100's of articles.

stem cells are cells which are locate throughout existing things. humans have some.

what stem cells do are produce needed tissues, such as bone cells, blood cells, muscle cells, and brain cells.

each stem cell is capable of making every type f tissue cell that ur body needs. meaning 1 stem cell can make bone, muscle, blood, brain cells.

however, we have a a few stem cells that are locked into one role. the stem cells found inside of bones (the marrow portion), create blood cells, and are the actual vital part of a marrow donorship.

these cells although they live forever under proper conditions, they degrade when not in the specific laboratory conditions. this explains why humans degrade and become old fogey's and eventually die.


now see, was it that hard to explain without cutting and pasting a thousand and one articles todd? informing people is good, but confusing them doesn't help, and it doesn't make u seem intelligent or well read just because you post so many artcles.

 

[Todd]

Re: dang....

now see, was it that hard to explain without cutting and pasting a thousand and one articles todd? informing people is good, but confusing them doesn't help, and it doesn't make u seem intelligent or well read just because you post so many artcles.

I wasn't trying to seem intelligent, cause I am not just ask any of the bystanders. Yes, I read, yes too much.

I just wanted to post the opposing view that is not geenrally prevelant. I didn't want to hi jack anybodies elses thread. Also My posts kill threads, so better than kill the vlicques thread, which has good discussion I just posted my own thread for it to frift of into never never land

 

[tmuyo]

ah

now i understand...ok, good job.

maybe you should pm, thebrat.

she feels that she is a thread killer, maybe you two should srp somewhere...lol.

 

[Todd]

My threas postings die because I am to Riech Wing for everyone, they would rather I become more centered and be a good non-questionings submissive to giovernment Democrat.

 

[Thomas Paine]

My threas postings die because I am to Riech Wing for everyone, they would rather I become more centered and be a good non-questionings submissive to giovernment Democrat.

Or maybe we're just ignoring you.

Oh, and Todd, I thought CBS and CNN (Clinton Network News, I believe you called it) were agents of the devil. Funny how they're suddenly credible...

 

[Todd]

Oh, and Todd, I thought CBS and CNN (Clinton Network News, I believe you called it) were agents of the devil. Funny how they're suddenly credible...

Not really but most here don't accept anything thats not off of CNN, CBS or Democrat.com so I thought I would quote those for thier benefit.

 

[Pyper]

Hey now people. At least he's keeping his cut-and-paste to one thread. Good job, Todd.

 

[Problem Child]

Re: dang....

ok, i'll sum it up for all the non-science people and not make them read 100's of articles.

stem cells are cells which are locate throughout existing things. humans have some.

what stem cells do are produce needed tissues, such as bone cells, blood cells, muscle cells, and brain cells.

each stem cell is capable of making every type f tissue cell that ur body needs. meaning 1 stem cell can make bone, muscle, blood, brain cells.

however, we have a a few stem cells that are locked into one role. the stem cells found inside of bones (the marrow portion), create blood cells, and are the actual vital part of a marrow donorship.

these cells although they live forever under proper conditions, they degrade when not in the specific laboratory conditions. this explains why humans degrade and become old fogey's and eventually die.


now see, was it that hard to explain without cutting and pasting a thousand and one articles todd? informing people is good, but confusing them doesn't help, and it doesn't make u seem intelligent or well read just because you post so many artcles.

And why should we take your word for this?

Todd is verbose, but at least he gives us links or cites the article(most of the time) so we can check things out for ourselves.

 

[lavender]

 

[tmuyo]

lavy i guess ur right...

wow, i feel honored. so much attention...

pc, go read a genetics book and look up in the index stem cells.

i was in an advanced genetics course in my junior year of high school, and we did applied genetics in my senior year, such as running gel electrophoresis labs in which we did a few patrnity tests, sizing dna, and many other fun things that would be over ur head....

i've also only recently left my biotech major (basically genetics but more specialized) for international relations and chinese (not just the language).

if you'd like i can email my teacher from high school and get the authors of the university level accepted text book we used...?

otherwise, neener neener neener, don't be jealous that other people know things that you don't. lol. sorry for being a punk but that warranted it.

lavy, hopefully we (me and you) can be friends, eh, maybe pc after he's done with my baptismal of fire through the lit general board. i'm migrating to cover this and the srp section now.

 

[Problem Child]

wow.

I'm fucking impressed.

 

[tmuyo]

lol

somehow i felt a thick slab of sarcasm with those words.... lol

pc, i find you to be an ass, but a very funny and cynical one at that

and maybe when u accept me i'll feel more a part of this board as well...lol

 

[Thomas Paine]

Not really but most here don't accept anything thats not off of CNN, CBS or Democrat.com so I thought I would quote those for thier benefit.

Bullshit.

 

[lavender]