Main description:

It is my hope that subsequent volumes of the series will join this volume in assisting in the more complete understanding of the causes, diagnosis, and cell-based treatment of major human diseases and debilitating tissue/organ injuries. There exists a tremendous, urgent demand by the public and the scientific community to address to cancer diagnosis, treatment, cure, and hopefully prevention. Stem Cells are nature's indispensable gift to multicellular organisms, including humans. The contents of the volume are divided into six subheadings: Stem Cell Culture, Bone Marrow Stem Cells, Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Reprogramming and Differentiation of Stem Cells, Treatment, and Transplantation for the convenience of the readers.

Contents:

Preface.
I. Stem cell culture.
1 Stem cell culture: optimizing amidst the complexity
2 Development of defined culture conditions for expansion of human mesenchymal stromal cells for clinical applications.
3 Retention of stem cell properties post-expansion in myosphere culture
II. Bone marrow stem cells.
4 Role of reactive oxygen species formation form oxidized low density lipoprotein in bone marrow stem cells
5 The role of bone marrow-derived progenitor cells in tumor growth and angiogenesis
6 Myelodysplastic stem cells: gene expression profiling
III. Mesenchymal stem cells

7 Human mesenchymal stem cell transdifferentiation to neural cells: role of tumor necrosis factor alpha
8 Role of mesenchymal stem cells (msc) in hiv-1 associated bone and lipid toxicities
9 Mesenchymal stem cell therapy: immunomodulation and homing mechanisms
10 Mesenchymal stem cells: the role of endothelial cells and the vasculature
11 Use of cancer/testis antigens in immunotherapy: potential effect on mesenchymal stem cells
IV. Reprogramming and differentiation of stem cells
12 Regulation of self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells: role of natriuretic peptide receptor a
13 Reprogramming and pluripotency of epiblast stem cells
14 Epigenetic modifiers and stem cell differentiation
15 Enrichment and selection of stem cell-derived tissue-specific precursors
16 Differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into steroidogenic cells: role of sf-1 regulator
17 Human embryonic stem cell differentiation: role of glycosphingolipid structure
18 Differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into pancreatic endocrine cells
19 Transformation of vascular endothelial cells into multipotent stem-like cells: role of the activin-like kinase 2 receptor
V. Treatment
20 Colon cancer stem cells: a therapeutic target
21 Treatment of damaged brain following a stroke: new strategies
22 Parthenogenetic activation-induced pluripotent stem cells and potential applications
23 Neuroprotection for stroke using glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor/neural stem cells grafting
24 Derivation of germ cells from pluripotent stem cells: prospects and applications
25 Purinergic receptors in stem cell biology
26 Cancer stem cells of the head and neck
27 Functional restoration of salivary glands after radiotherapy: roles of wnt and hedgehog pathways
28 Neural stem cell migration: role of directional cues and electric fields
29 Abl-kinase mutations in progenitors and stem cells from chronic myeloid leukemia patients

VI. Transplantation
30 Treatment for erectile dysfunction after radical prostatectomy: transplantation of stem/progenitor cells
31 Collection of peripheral blood stem cells from healthy family and unrelated donors for haematopoietic stem cell transplantation
32 Effects of smoking on the outcomes of cancer patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
33 Ex vivo expansion of stem and progenitor cells using thrombopoietin