STEM CELLS FROM FAT: INTERNATIONAL FAT APPLIED TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY MEETING PITTSBURGH OCT. 4-5

[Faye]

Contact: Lisa Rossi Patients and medical professionals may call 1-800-533-UPMC (8762) for more information.
Telephone: 412-647-3555
Fax: 412-624-3184

STEM CELLS FROM FAT FOCUS OF INTERNATIONAL FAT APPLIED TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY MEETING IN PITTSBURGH OCT. 4-5

Highlights of Meeting Include Studies that Suggest New Uses, Early Results of Only Human Trial and Consensus Statement Defining Clinical Applications with Most Promise

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 27, 2004 - Researchers from around the world are gathering in Pittsburgh Oct. 4 - 5 to discuss the potential therapeutic uses of stem cells derived from fat - the kind discarded everyday from tummy tucks, liposuction, body contouring and other common cosmetic procedures.

At the Second Annual Meeting of the International Fat Applied Technology Society (IFATS), being held at the Sheraton at Station Square, scientific sessions will explore how adipose tissue, or fat, can be an abundant source of stem cells that could be used for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. An important outcome of the meeting will be a consensus statement that will define key scientific questions for future study and determine the field's most promising clinical applications.

"Targeting Fat for Therapy: New Opportunities for Translational Research and Clinical Treatment" will be a forum for new research findings, including reports that demonstrate for the first time that adipose-derived stem cells can become bone marrow and smooth muscle cells, and preliminary results from what is believed to be the only human clinical trial using fat stem cells. The study, taking place in Spain, involves Crohn's disease patients who received their own cells to promote closure of a fistula, an external opening leading from the small bowel.

The use of stem cells to treat disease or regenerate tissue is believed to hold promise because of their potential to develop into different specialized cell types. While many ethical and legal issues currently limit investigating

the possible merits of embryonic stem cells, which are limited in supply, much focus has fallen on adult stem cells from bone marrow, peripheral blood and other sources, including fat, which offers an almost unlimited source.

In 2001, researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Pittsburgh first reported that stem cells could be isolated from adipose tissue removed during liposuction. Since then, researchers in the laboratory have suggested adipose-derived stem cells can be coaxed into new fat tissue, bone, cartilage, nerve, muscle and endothelial cells. In animal studies, these cells show potential for treatment of heart attack, stroke or bone injury.

While such studies have been encouraging, several questions remain. Among the key questions even those in the field are asking and that will be discussed at the meeting are: Will success in the lab necessarily mean successful outcomes for people? Are these cells isolated from fat really stem cells? Is all fat the same or does one kind offer a better source of cells than others?

To assist reporters interested in covering the meeting, a staffed press room will be available on site and informal press briefings will be scheduled as follows. Please note that reporters may participate in Tuesday's 12:15 p.m. briefing via conference call.

Monday, Oct. 4

10:30 a.m.
Where's the proof: Can fat-derived stem cells repair nerves and treat neurological disease?

· Henry Rice, M.D., Duke University - fat stem cells and their differentiation into neurons
· Kacey Marra, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh - fat stem cells for peripheral nerve repair
· Kenneth Lee, Ph.D., University of Virginia - fate of cells in the central nervous system

1:30 p.m.
New findings: Studies indicate differentiation into bone marrow and smooth muscle cells

· Rei Ogawa, Ph.D., Nippon University, Tokyo - first demonstration of differentiation into bone marrow and the potential for treating blood and bone marrow diseases
· Rong Zhang, Ph.D., UCLA - first demonstration of differentiation into smooth muscle cells and the potential for treating urinary incontinence
· Adam Katz, M.D., University of Virginia - perspectives and significance

Tuesday, Oct. 5

10:30 a.m.
Potential for cardiac repair: Treating heart attacks with stem cells from fat

· Marc Hedrick, M.D., MacroPore Biosurgery - pre-clinical studies of cardiovascular applications
· Kai Pinkernell, M.D., Tulane University - bone marrow versus fat stem cells - pre-clinical studies

12:15 p.m.
Where is the greatest promise for fat stem cells?
IFATS consensus statement and report on the only human trial

· J. Peter Rubin, M.D., University of Pittsburgh - moderator
· Patricia Zuk, Ph.D., UCLA - biology of fat-derived stem cells
· Jeffrey M. Gimble, M.D., Ph.D., Louisiana State University - research methods and design
· Keith March, M.D., Ph.D., Indiana Center for Vascular Biology and Medicine - clinical opportunities
· Prof. Damian Garcia-Olmo, University of Madrid - phase I trial for the treatment of Crohn's fistula

NOTE: This briefing is available via conference call. Dial 800-860-2442 and indicate to the operator that you wish to participate in the "fat stem cell briefing."

IFATS, the only interdisciplinary fat tissue society, is dedicated to facilitating the development of new technology derived from and directed toward adipose tissue. The society's current scientific areas of interest include facilitating the development of treatments for excess body fat, generation of new fat tissue for reconstruction after cancer or birth-related defects and the use of adipose tissue as a source of stem cells that have the potential to regenerate and repair different tissues in the body.


J. Peter Rubin, M.D., assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, co-director of the Aesthetic Surgery Center and director of the Life After Weight Loss Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, is the society's current president. The scientific program chair is Adam Katz, M.D., assistant professor of plastic surgery and director, Laboratory of Applied Developmental Plasticity, at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

# # #

NOTE TO EDITORS: The scientific program is available at http://www.ifats.org. To receive additional information, including abstracts, or to register as press, please contact Alan Aldinger at aldial@upmc.edu or Lisa Rossi at rossil@upmc.edu, both of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's News Bureau, or call the News Bureau at (412) 647-3555.

"We have a chance to take a giant stride forward for the good of all humanity" in the next election. "We can choose between the future and the past, between reason and ignorance, between true compassion and mere ideology."- Ron Reagan Jr.

[golanbenoni]

There was a recent article posted concerning circulating mononuclear cells in obese individuals on ScienceDaily Headlines. Could this be a precursor?

---

Source:

University At Buffalo
Date:

2004-09-23


Circulating Mononuclear Cells In The Obese Found To Be In Proinflammatory State, Contributing To Diabetes And Heart Disease

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Endocrinologists from the University at Buffalo are providing one more link in the growing chain of evidence pointing to chronic cellular inflammation as the precursor of heart disease and diabetes.

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In research published in the Sept 21 issue of Circulation, the researchers show for the first time that circulating mononuclear cells -- the body's monocytes (the largest type of white blood cell) and lymphocytes -- exist in a proinflammatory state in obese persons known to be at increased risk of developing diabetes, heart disease or both.

"These cells are creating a lot of nuisance in the obese," said Paresh Dandona, M.D., Ph.D., head of UB's Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism and senior author on the study. "They enter the artery and set up atherosclerosis. They activate fat cells to produce more proinflammatory factors. They interfere with insulin signaling, causing insulin resistance. They even enter the brain."

Husam Ghanim, Ph.D., research associate, is first author on the study.

The good news, said Dandona, is that, based on these findings, the status of mononuclear cells from one blood sample could serve as an easy early-warning system for the risk of developing insulin resistance and circulatory problems.

The research was conducted using fasting blood samples from 16 normal-weight subjects with an average body mass index (BMI) of 22.6 and from 16 obese subjects with an average BMI of 40. All participants had similar glucose levels and were taking no anti-inflammatory medication. The research was conducted at the Diabetes-Endocrinology Center of Western New York located in Kaleida Health's Milliard Fillmore-Gates Hospital.

Mononuclear cells were isolated, and proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory factors within the nucleus and the cell were assayed. The researchers also calculated an insulin-resistance index for each participant, using a standard formula.

Results showed that measures of proinflammatory factors were significantly higher in blood samples from obese subjects than the average weight subjects, while levels of factors that normally inhibit inflammation were significantly lower.

"This proinflammatory state may contribute to insulin resistance," said Dandona, "because the cytokines produced may interfere with insulin action." The index of insulin resistance in the obese subjects was nearly three times higher, on average, than that of the normal subjects, findings showed.

To remedy the inflammation, persons must either change their diet or take medication or both, Dandona said. His laboratory currently is conducting studies with obese subjects to determine how much these remedies are able to reduce cellular inflammation.

In addition to Dandona, UB Distinguished Professor in the Department of Medicine, UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Ghanim, researchers involved in the study, all from the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, were Ahmad Aljada, Ph.D., Deborah Hofmeyer, Tufail Syed, M.D., and Priya Mohanty, M.D.

Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here .

[Wise Young]

Golan, there are indeed some hematopoietic stem cells and possibly pluripotent mesenchymal stem cells that circulate in adult blood. These cells are generally mononuclear. Few people have successfully cultivated the latter and we still don't have markers for these cells. But, it is indeed possible. As this symposium announcement suggests, there will be people who will be trying to use possible mesenchymal stem cells from fat for therapeutic purposes.

I have been thinking recently that the Proneuron treatment using activated macrophages may include some potential stem cells. After all, they are isolated mononuclear cells from blood and transplanting them to the spinal cord.

Wise.

[rvr]

ah good - I can get liposuction AND my "cure" at the same shop...from chicken nuggets to chicken dancing - fast food can help cure paralysis...sorry, time to fix the blood sugar levels...but it undoubtedly would sound more appealing to some than anything w/the dreaded "E" word...

rvr