“Latest Stem Cells News”

Following up on eight acute and chronic spinal cord injury patients who were injected with bone marrow stem cells two years ago, researchers say that the therapy proved safe and effective in improving their quality of life.

DaVinci Biosciences undertook the study in Ecuador and have now issued a follow-up report claiming that MRIs have revealed “noticeable morphological changes within the spinal cord after administration of autologous bone marrow derived stem cells.” There was no tumor formation, increased pain or deterioration of function following administration of the stem cell treatment.

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Hundreds of thousands of people suffer from hereditary diabetes, a condition that destroys cells in the pancreas and leaves the body unable to regulate blood sugar levels.
Sufferers are forced to inject themselves with insulin everyday and adopt special diets to cope with the irreversible condition.

But now scientists claim a cure could be developed after cells in the liver were converted to insulin producers in research on mice.
They believe the process, described in the journal Developmental Cell, could one day lead to a permanent one-off cure for the disease.

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Yesterday morning the President of the Pontifical Council for Health, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan confirmed the Church’s position against embryonic stem cell research and for the use of adult stem cells. The cardinal touched upon the topic while responding to a question about the choice of the new American president to use federal funds to finance embryonic stem cell research. Cardinal Barragan, who was presenting the international conference, ‘The Church in the Cure of Sick Children’, which will take place at the Vatican from November 13-15, did not directly argue against President Obama “or give him advice” and only confirmed the Vatican’s position. Embryonic stem cells, said the cardinal, “are not useful and until now they have never cured anything.” The cardinal also underlined the Church’s favorable opinion of adult stem cells taken from the umbilical cord. Obama, like rival John McCain, made embryonic stem cell research a point on his platform approved by U.S. voters.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY TORN BETWEEN SECULARISM AND CLERICALISM

Moral issues are a point of reference for the Partito Democratico (Democratic Party), now at risk due to this ethically sensitive issue. Barack Obama announced his intention to eliminate some of the Bush administration’s decisions, including restrictions on the use of stem cells in federally funded research, and immediately the Vatican protested. Italian democrats mainly ex-populists voiced their initial criticisms after debates that started regarding possible new alliances: “Obama is not our (party) secretary,” observed Margherita Miotto.

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A Swiss company present in Italy that collects and stores umbilical cord stem cells, about 10,000 Italian mothers by the end of the year will have deposited their children’s umbilical cord stem cells in foreign banks, double compared to 2007. They said, “Just two years ago about 1,500 families decided to deposit their children’s umbilical cord stem cells in banks. In 2007, requests for this service tripled, reaching 5,000 and in 2008. There will be about 10,000 new cryostorages in order to make stem cells available in the future (illegal in Italy). Managing Director Jean Charles Janni said, “Northern families, mainly in Lombardy and Piedmont, have substantially increased in this practice.” He added, “but numerous requests are also coming from Rome, Emilia Romagna, and Campania.”

The following is a statement from Donatella Poretti, a Radical Democratic Party Senator:
We are still waiting for the current government, like all the previous ones, to decide to eliminate an absurd ban on biobanks in Italy and allow the private conservation of one’s own umbilical cord stem cells, and Italian mothers are doing the best they can, meaning they are sending their children’s umbilical cords abroad.
We have learned that this year exports increased to about 10,000 with authorization requests which must be sent to the National Transplant Center.

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It’s the same umbilical cord that helped to bring Jakob Bielskis a baby brother three weeks ago.
Now, that cord and its treasure trove of genetic material may bring Jakob a clear view of his younger sibling in the future, as doctors use cord-blood stem cells to reverse the blindness the older boy was born with.

That’s the hope of Jakob’s mom and dad, Dawn Villeneuve and Richard Bielskis, as they go through the first frazzled weeks with a new baby — like any infant, Jaxon Bielskis is wide awake at 1:30 a.m., and asleep during the day.
“He’s doing great — he can see already. He’s focusing, and everything,” said Villeneuve.

That wasn’t the case with Jakob, whose vacant eyes led his parents believe something was amiss, even in the first few weeks of his life.
They were right, and doctors confirmed Jakob was afflicted with a rare condition known as optic nerve hypoplasia, where the brain has failed to develop a connection to the eyes.

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According to a recent article in Lancet magazine, the first “engineered” transplant in the world was a success. For the first time, a trachea was “tailored” to the patient before being implanted. 30 year old Colombian Claudia Castillo who suffered damage to her trachea due to tuberculosis was the patient in an operation that was particularly interesting for Italy, since the operation was performed in June by an international medical team led by Paolo Macchiarini, the head of Thoracic Surgery at the Clinic de Barcelona, in collaboration with specialists from the Milan General Hospital, and the Universities of Bristol and .

During the transplant, her own stem cells were implanted into the donor trachea in order to avoid using traditional anti-rejection therapy based on immunosuppressant drugs. In order to allow the patient’s immune system to accept the trachea without having to use anti-rejection therapies, doctors resorted to a tissue engineering technique. The result was a sort of hybrid organ between the donor and the patient. Basically, the donor’s organ was used, but it was cleaned of its own cells which were then substituted with stem cells from the patient. This allowed doctors to perform the transplant without using immunosuppressants. The therapy used was only tested on pigs and is still in its experimental phases.

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