Transplantation for Lymphoma: Good for the Brain as Well as the Body?

Primary central nervous system (CNS) non-Hodgkin lymphoma can involve the brain, spinal cord, meninges, cranial nerves, and eyes. Data from the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States indicate that approximately 2.4% of primary brain tumors are lymphomas. Read more

Stem Cells for Heart Cell Therapies

Myocardial infarction–induced heart failure is a prevailing cause of death in the United States and most developed countries. The cardiac tissue has extremely limited regenerative potential, and heart transplantation for reconstituting the function of damaged heart is severely hindered mainly due to the scarcity of donor organs. To that end, stem cells with their extensive proliferative capacity and their ability to differentiate toward functional cardiomyocytes may serve as a renewable cellular source for repairing the damaged myocardium. Here, we review recent studies regarding the cardiogenic potential of adult progenitor cells and embryonic stem cells. Although large strides have been made toward the engineering of cardiac tissues using stem cells, important issues remain to be addressed to enable the translation of such technologies to the clinical setting.Read more

Stem cells for heart failure in the aging heart

Despite a wide range of therapeutic interventions, the prognosis for most patients with heart failure remains poor. The identification of stem cells with the ability to generate cardiomyocytes and vascular cells and promote local repair and survival pathways has highlighted the ability of the heart to undergo regeneration and potentially provides a new therapeutic strategy for treatment of the failing heart. In recent years, however, clinical trials aimed at exploiting the beneficial effects of stem and progenitor cells to treat patients with cardiovascular disease have resulted in mild improvements at best, suggesting that these cells and/or the conditions in which they find themselves are not conducive to cardiac repair. Heart failure is most prevalent among older individuals, and a growing body of evidence suggests that with increasing age, cardiac stem and progenitor cells undergo senescent changes that impair their regenerative capacities. Moreover, environmental alterations over time appear to impact the capacity of these cells to improve cardiac function. Understanding these senescent changes may lead to the development of new and improved approaches to exploit the potential of stem cells to repair the aging heart. In this review, age-associated alterations in cardiac stem cell function are discussed, as well as strategies that are being investigated to promote cardiac regeneration in the patient with heart failure.Read more