{"70916":{"#nid":"70916","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Cell Therapy for Diabetes Neurovascular Complications:  NIH $6.1M Grant Funds New Studies","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EATLANTA\u2014Two of the most common and debilitating complications of diabetes are the subject of new NIH-funded studies at Emory University School of Medicine.  Researchers are working to re-program cells taken from the bone marrow or peripheral blood of patients with diabetes to treat neurovascular complications such as peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and diabetic neuropathy (DN). \u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded the research team, consisting of investigators at Emory, Georgia Tech, University of Alabama and University of California at San Diego, a $6.1 million grant.\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EPrincipal investigators of the study, called \u201cCell therapy for diabetic peripheral neurovascular complications,\u201d are Young-Sup Yoon, MD, PhD, director of stem cell biology and associate professor of medicine (cardiology) in Emory School of Medicine, and Xiaodong Cheng, PhD, professor of biochemistry in Emory School of Medicine and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. \u0026nbsp;Andres Garc\u00eda, professor in the\u0026nbsp;George W. Woodruff School of\u0026nbsp;Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, is the investigator for Georgia Tech.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EPatients with diabetes are frequently affected by PAD and DN, but despite the increase in incidence of diabetes, no current treatments effectively treat these conditions, notes Yoon. \u201cEven after patients achieve glucose control, diabetes can lead to long-term complications,\u201d he says.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EPatients with PAD experience blocked arteries in the legs and feet, which can lead to leg amputation in advanced cases. Because advanced PAD in diabetes frequently affects small vessels, conventional intervention and surgical treatment are ineffective in many cases. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EDN, which damages the neural vasculature and neuronal cells, is the most common complication of diabetes, affecting 60 percent of patients. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EGrowing evidence has shown that cells taken from a patient\u2019s own bone marrow, called bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), can be effective in treating various cardiovascular diseases and diabetic neuropathy by repairing blood vessels. Thus far, however, EPCs derived from diabetic patients have been only modestly effective for these autologous (self-directed) therapies. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe Emory research team, based on earlier findings, believes epigenetic changes in the EPCs of diabetic patients may be at fault. Epigenetic factors direct genes to be either expressed or silenced, but they don\u2019t affect the underlying DNA sequence of an organism. Epigenetic alterations in the chromatin of the EPCs of diabetic patients seem to be the culprit. Chromatin is the packaging mechanism for DNA in the nucleus of cells.\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cWe plan to investigate epigenetic chromatin changes in diabetic EPCs, and to reprogram or re-engineer these EPCs with small molecular epigenetic regulators and biomaterial to enhance or restore their function,\u201d Yoon explains. \u201cOther research has shown the ability of small molecules to induce chromatin remodeling of affected genes and alter gene expression, and we believe this is a promising approach.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe research team will use animal models to test the therapeutic effects of the reprogrammed cells for PAD and DN. The next step will be a pilot clinical trial in human patients with complications of diabetes.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/emoryhealthnews.com\u0022\u003EEMORY Health Sciences News\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.stemyoon.org\/zbxe\/\u0022\u003EYoon lab\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/garcialab.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGarcia lab\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Researchers re-programming cells to treat neurovascular complications"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECell Therapy for Diabetes Neurovascular Complications: \u0026nbsp;NIH $6.1M Grant Funds New Studies\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearchers re-programming cells to treat neurovascular complications\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers re-programming cells to treat neurovascular complications"}],"uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2011-10-05 12:07:11","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:10:26","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-10-04T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-10-04T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"70918":{"id":"70918","type":"image","title":"Young-sup Yoon, PhD","body":null,"created":"1449177328","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:15:28","changed":"1475894625","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:45","alt":"Young-sup Yoon, PhD","file":{"fid":"193472","name":"youngsupyoon-smaller.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/youngsupyoon-smaller_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/youngsupyoon-smaller_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":53644,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/youngsupyoon-smaller_0.jpg?itok=_letFhmv"}}},"media_ids":["70918"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/emoryhealthnews.com\/","title":"EMORY Health Sciences News"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.stemyoon.org\/zbxe\/","title":"Yoon lab"},{"url":"http:\/\/garcialab.gatech.edu\/","title":"Garcia lab"},{"url":"http:\/\/ibb.gatech.edu\/","title":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:hkorschun@emory.edu\u0022\u003EHolly Korschun\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-727-3990\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["hkorsch@emory.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}