New Developments in Stem Cell Biology and Therapy: Meeting Report from the Working Group of the German Society for Hematology and Oncology
January 2005
in “
Cytotherapy
”
TLDR The meeting highlighted important advances in stem cell research and its potential for creating new medical treatments.
The 2005 meeting of the German Society for Hematology and Oncology's working group on stem cell biology and therapy discussed a range of topics, including embryonic stem cells, hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), and clinical applications. Key findings included the role of Nodal signaling in maintaining undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells, the identification of genes associated with HSC self-renewal, the effects of HOXB4 overexpression in cord blood cells, and the involvement of Notch signaling in certain cancers. Hermann Eichler's team showed that up to 63% of 59 low-volume umbilical cord blood units could yield MSC-like cells, and Hans-Dieter Kleine's group treated 31 patients with AC133+ cells for myocardial infarction. Juergen Thomale's research suggested that reduced DNA repair capacity in CD34+ cells could be mitigated by gene transfer, a technique demonstrated by Thomas Moritz in mice. The meeting underscored the importance of stem cell research for developing new therapies.
