“Latest Stem Cells News”

In a recent published clinical stem cell research study, adult stem cells were shown to help delay Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) progression and improve an ALS patient’s quality of life. This research study was believed to be the first published study comparing ALS patients who had their own stem cells injected into their brain vs a control group.

Thank you very much to ALS Worldwide for providing us with this exciting stem cell research breakthrough in humans- not mice! Any clinical studies like this in the United States? I can’t hear you….

Without further ado- here is the published stem cell research study on ALS: Stem-cell transplantation into the frontal motor cortex in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients

Summary of Adult Stem Cell Therapy for ALS Study

This summary is provided by the good people at ALS Worldwide as well as they went to observe this tremendous stem cell treatment using Adult Stem Cells!

HOSPITAL SAN JOSE TECNOLOGICO DE MONTERREY STEM CELL PROCEDURE

The initial two year clinical test study results of the stem cell procedure instituted by Hospital San Jose Tecnologico de Monterrey, was published in Cytotherapy, February, 2009. Positive results were confirmed through both clinical observation and MRI tractography. It is considered by many within the international neurological community to be the foremost procedure available for minimizing or abrogating ALS symptoms and extending the lifespan of ALS patients. The procedure is a state of the art use of autologous CD-133 (+) stem cells injected into the frontal cortices for the effective replacement of motor neurons.

Representing the ALS WORLDWIDE patient community, we were at Hospital San Jose Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico from June 6-14 to observe the hospitalization and procedures for the first two international patients being provided this stem cell therapy. In a sentence, the official message delivered is clear: “This stem cell procedure is not a cure. We offer nothing more than the promise of stability and extended life expectancy. The opportunity, however, exists for improvement. “

Process of Stem Cells for Lou Gehrig’s Disease

The stem cell preparation procedure is sophisticated and complicated but in the simplest terms, the patient’s blood is purified, extracted and cleansed. Stem cells are extracted and then the one kind of stem cell that can be best coaxed into becoming a neuron is injected into two places in the brain. The patient experiences no pain and very little discomfort during the procedure. A mild sedative is provided and within hours, the patient is back in his or her room, enjoying dinner.

The team effort at Hospital San Jose Tecnologico de Monterrey embraces a cooperative spirit that pervades every aspect of their efforts. Patients and their families are treated with the highest level of concern, respect and support. The hospital itself resembles the finest hotel and provides exemplary care. A more detailed, scientific explanation of the Monterrey experience is currently being prepared and will be posted to ALS WORLDWIDE within the next week.

I hope to post these updates on this breakthrough in stem cell research as well.

original post by Don Margolis

Kim and Jay Case with their dog, Shiloh, at Citizen's Lake Campground in Monmouth on Wednesday morning. Kim won her battle with cancer because of an adult stem cell transplant

When Kim Case was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, doctors told her she had little chance of survival.

Months later when she was recovering from the disease, they changed their tune.

“The doctors called me their miracle patient,” Case said.

Case, who lives in Gaston, Ore. with her husband, Jay — who’s originally from Monmouth — was diagnosed in August 2004 with a rare form of cancer called NK T-cell lymphoma.

“I’m the only caucasian American to have had it,” said Case, a secretary and former substitute teacher.

The form of cancer is more common in Asia and the survival rate is minimal.

After radiation treatment and three rounds of chemotherapy, Case said the only option left was a stem cell transplant.

“I was willing to do anything,” Case, 48, said.

Stem cells serve “as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive,” according to the National Institutes of Health.

After a spinal tap that was testing a mini transplant with her own stem cells, doctors found the cancer had spread to other parts of her body. An adult stem cell donation was the next option.
Adult stem cells have been identified in many organs and tissues, according to the NIH. They can remain dormant for long period of time, “until they are activated by a normal need for more cells to maintain tissues, or by disease or tissue injury.”

The biggest worry for Kim and her family was finding a donor.

“These things usually take six months to a year,” she said. “I had found a donor within a week.”
Doug Cokinis, a 42-year-old married father from North Aurora, had seen a sign asking for donations and was a 100 percent match for Kim.

Kim, Jay and her caregiver, her 21-year-old son Bobby, had to move to Seattle, Wash. for the transplant.

She stayed at the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center at the University of Washington Hospital for 52 days.

Jay, a semi-retired contractor, bought a new truck and was making the three and a half hour trip back and forth from Oregon to Seattle every weekend for a three-month period.

“I put about 12,000 miles on the truck during that time,” he said.

After another chemotherapy session, the stem cell transplant took place in October 2004.

It took about a month before Kim re-gained some strength.

“It was a gradual, slow process,” she said. “I had to walk three or four times around my room without stopping before being allowed to leave the hospital.”

Able to leave the hospital after 52 days, Kim stayed in Seattle to go back in for occasional tests.

“They gave her a list of things she’d have problems with for the rest of her life,” Jay said.

So, the short period of time after that was nothing short of remarkable.

She was able to return home in February 2005, cancer free. She regularly had blood draws to make sure the cancer had not returned.

By June 2005, she was able to stop taking medication for side effects from cancer. She hasn’t taken any medication since then – something unheard of in cancer patients.

Kim maintained a positive attitude during her fight to conquer the disease.

“I really didn’t feel sick … I wasn’t ready to die,” she said.

The attitude had an effect on the nurses taking care of her as well.

A nurse brought her gifts one day because she “was always smiling.”

Kim and Jay encourage people to donate adult stem cells if they’re able. They said the process is easy. Those interested in donating should contact the main chapter of Red Cross (800) 733-2767.

“It’s an easy process,” Kim said. “They take blood to test for diseases. Once that’s clear, they put you on a list. Once they find a match, they give you shots to take for the cells to reproduce at a faster rate … most don’t know what to an adult stem cell transplant is, it’s not like a bone marrow transplant.”

Though adult stem cells differ from embryonic stem cells, Kim was supportive of embryonic stem cell research.

“I think the research is helping,” she said. “It’s amazing what it could do.”

She was also able to meet her donor recently.

“He started e-mailing me and we talked on the Internet for awhile,” she said. “We finally met in person. His daughter calls me Aunt Kim … he and his family are planning to visit us in Oregon sometime, too,” she said.

Considering all that had happened to her, Kim took no time in answering whether or not she thought her experience was, in fact, a miracle.

“One hundred percent miracle,” she said.

from Review atlas

The Pisa University Hospital has become part of the international network of hematopoietic stem cell transplant facilities (meaning they produce various blood components). The hospital was recently accredited by the Italian registry of bone marrow donors, which is part of the international network.

Pisa has become an important center for bone marrow collection for all potential donors in northwestern Italy.
On 20 April 2009, the first donation was carried out for a patient at the Udine University Hospital, and a second donation is being organized for a patient being treated at the Montpellier Hospital (France).

The hospital in Pisa received the prestigious recognition thanks to the positive results they have obtained over the past years in the hematology and oncology- hematology units.

On May 6, France’s Council of State (the highest administrative court and legal advisor to the executive branch) declared that it was against the practice of “renting out one’s uterus” and in favor of the permanent authorization regulations for embryo research and embryonic stem cell research under certain conditions. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon had asked the court for its opinion, in a reexamination of a 2004 bioethics law.

-Considering the interest of the child and the mother carrying the child and basic underlying principles of the present ban, we hereby recommend to not legalize the practice of using a surrogate mother.

To provide a solution to the current situation, documentation of the paternal relationship and the request of a written authorization for the mother “of intention” to agree upon the actual parental authority are recommended.

-Regarding research on the embryo and embryonic stem cell research, we suggest the creation of a “permanent authorization regulations”, under defined conditions, which specify how the possibility of authorization is a power and therefore the right of authorization need not be provided.

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“Stem cells are no longer only the future of aesthetic surgery, they are the present,” said Alessandro Gennai, an associate plastic surgeon at the European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery (EAFPS). For the past year, Gennai has been using a modified technique used to preserve stem cells in lipofilling procedures. “I have already performed numerous operations, with excellent results and without side-effects,” said the surgeon from Bologna, “therefore I can say that lipofilling is the best solution for someone who wants to eliminate wrinkles before the summer. The procedure lasts 30 minutes, it is done under local anesthesia, recovery occurs in two to three days time, and the procedure does not have contraindications.”

Lipofilling, which can be performed alone of together with an endoscopic lifting, consists of removing adipose tissue from one part of the body with a very thin cannula to prepare it in order to avoid breaking the adipocytes, and to guarantee the preservation of the stem cells. Then, with another cannula the cells are injected into the face to restore volume and tone.
“The addition of stem cells regenerates the skin, making it more beautiful and vital, especially before the summer, the time of year when the epidermis is more stressed due to prolonged exposure to the sun,” explained Doctor Gennai. There are numerous stem cells present in adipose tissue, which are able to differentiate into adipocytes or other types of cells if necessary. About a year ago, we modified a facial transplant technique to preserve these extremely delicate cells. We avoid centrifuging and manipulating them to reduce trauma and to keep as many alive as possible.

Various studies demonstrate that these stem cells normally present in adipose tissue make lipofilling more efficient, improving the rooting of adipose tissue in the implant site and the quality of facial skin, which appears smoother, shinier, and younger. Recent studies have advanced the idea that stem cells the only cells responsible for the filling effects of the lipofilling process, and that adipocytes are reabsorbed completely.
As demonstrated by Coleman, the ‘father’ of lipofilling, adipose tissue implants, after a short while, are indistinguishable from tissue that is normally present at the site of the implant, guaranteeing a physiological result that is impossible to obtain with other fillers.

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