“Latest Stem Cells News”

Stem Cell Research Yields Benefits for Broken Bones

Stem Cell researchers have discovered that a drug for osteoporosis actually has a positive side effect- it can speed up the healing of bone fractures or broken bones by stimulating the patient’s own Adult Stem Cells.

Teriparatide- Now a Stem Cell Drug

The drug is called teriparatide (Forteo) and it is a “fragment of parathyroid hormone that contains 34 amino acids rather than the 84 found in the naturally occurring substance.”

Adult Stem Cell Research Results for Unhealed Bone Fractures

From the stem cell article:

In an observational study of 145 patients with slow-to-heal fractures, 93% had complete recovery within 12 weeks of starting treatment with teriparatide (Forteo), according to Susan Bukata, M.D., of the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y.

Within 12 weeks of starting treatment, 141 of the 145 patients no longer had pain at the fracture site, 135 had radiographic and clinical union of their fractures, and six had partial union of their fractures that clinically functioned as a healed fracture.

Only four had no improvement in pain or fracture union.

93%? Not bad.

You can find the full research paper on healing fractures here

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American Doctors and Patients Challenge the FDA to Save Lives Rather Than Allow Patients to Needlessly Die

A couple of weeks ago, the American Stem Cell Therapy Association (ASCTA) was formed by a group of doctors, not to debate the pros and cons of embryonic stem cell research and adult stem cell research, but to contest the FDA’s position that a person’s own Adult Stem Cells are to be classified as drugs and subject to the same regulations as Vioxx, Ritalin and thousands of other chemical deadly concoctions.

The FDA’s stance is that a person’s own stem cells must be tested as a new drug- ie. subject to 7-10 years of clinical trials and testing for each disease/condition it is used for.

As I have argued many times before, this stance is ridiculous and is costing millions of lives while sick Americans wait for the use of their own stem cells which would improve their quality of life.

Well, now a group of patients are now targeting the FDA as well.

And they have issued a press release:

A critical initiative for the ASCTA and the Safe Stem Cells NOW! movement is to bring public awareness to the FDA’s position so consumers, and those who stand to benefit from safe stem cell therapies, have the opportunity to be heard. “We get letters and calls every day from people suffering from a variety of conditions and diseases that have no known cure who are eager to access stem cell therapies.”, Hanson adds. “Many of them are forced to look outside the U.S. for treatment, which involves prohibitive travel and procedure costs.”

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Stem Cell Research Debate-Heart Disease Can Be Helped Now

While much of the United States is focused on the debate of Embryonic Stem Cell research versus Adult Stem Cell research, not much attention is given to patients benefiting from Adult Stem Cells right now. The number of patients helped by stem cell therapy for heart disease and angina in the United States is steadily increasing as more and more clinical trials are beginning.

Clinical Trials Difficult To Qualify For

David Leach of Minnesota was one of the few lucky people to actually qualify for a clinical trial. David had endured angina for the last 15 years. He tried multiple solutions including bypass surgery and taking nitro to ease the pain. However, nothing worked.

Angina and Heart Disease for 15 Years

David Leach had endured the pain of angina for 15 years because of poor blood flow feeding his heart muscle.
“It’s a lot of pressure on the chest and shortness of breath and just a sharp pain,” was how he described it.
David averaged about 2 painful episodes of angina per day as his quality of life was limited by his heart disease.

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In a stem cell research trial that isn’t getting enough news, liver patients are now being treated with their own Adult Stem Cells at Hammersmith Hospital in London, England. They have treated more than 30 patients now with “good results.” This is good news for those liver patients facing a transplant (and death).

I covered this stem cell story back in September 2008, and since then it seems they have treated more liver patients with their own stem cells with more good results. This excerpt is from the most recent stem cell article:

The stem cells help to grow new liver cells so that a damaged liver can begin to function normally again.

The team, which is based at London’s Hammersmith Hospital, has used the technique on around 30 patients so far with good results. They hope the treatment will become mainstream within three to five years.

It involves taking blood from patients, removing stem cells that circulate in the bloodstream and multiplying them in a laboratory. They are infused back into the liver via a main artery where they continue to multiply as liver cells.

The technique, which is undergoing trials, could revolutionise treatment of patients with liver failure. At present there is no method of keeping them alive as there is with kidney disease.

The Original Is Always Better Than the Sequel

However, the original post back in September 2008, had more details about this new stem cell treatment:

Administering autologous expanded mobilized adult progenitor CD34+ cells into the hepatic artery of patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis (ALC) leads to considerable benefit, researchers report in the September issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

“We are encouraged that the majority of patients in this study experienced a significant improvement in their liver functions,” senior investigator Dr. Nagy A. Habib told Reuters Health.

Dr. Habib of Imperial College, London, and colleagues studied nine ALC patients who had been abstinent for at least 6 months. The patients underwent granulocyte colony-stimulating factor mobilization and leukapheresis. Autologous CD34+ cells were then expanded in vitro by an average of 5 times and injected into the hepatic artery.

All patients tolerated the procedure well and over 12 weeks of follow-up there were significant decreases in serum bilirubin. A significant reduction in levels of alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase was seen 1 week after the transfusion and showed improvement through the study period.

Seven of the patients showed an improvement in Child-Pugh scores, and on imaging at 12 weeks, three patients showed a complete resolution of ascites and two had a significant reduction.

Stem Cell Therapy for Liver- Faster Please

This is fantastic news for cirrhosis patients, as well as Hepatitis C patients.  However, once again, the stem cell therapy isn’t getting to the patient fast enough.  The stem cell research trial seems to have been going on for more than 1 year, yet only 30 liver patients have been treated.  Think about all those liver patients who can probably be improved by this and safe as well- nothing to lose.

(original post by Don Margolis)

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Look what we have here- another stem cell research trial for heart disease (congestive heart failure) and another heart patient has his life improved. This time, at the University of Louisville, the first heart failure patient treated with his own Adult Stem Cells has improved already, just 2 week after his stem cell treatment.

Adult Stem Cells Result in 30% Improvement

Michael Jones, a contractor in Louisville, was the first congestive heart failure patient to take part in this stem cell research trial. Here is more from the stem cell article:

His severe congestive heart failure was treated with the stem cell treatment. The procedure involved injecting his own cardiac stem cells into his damaged heart muscle. It was done on July 17. He shows already had 20-30% improvement of his heart function since the treatment.

Congestive Heart Failure Kills Millions Every Year- US Does Nothing

Heart failure is a leading cause of death in the United States, affecting some 6 million Americans a year. Half of the patients die within one year. Doctors have had little to offer patients with late-stage heart failure. With major muscle damage to the heart, patients have the option of a heart transplant or implantation of a mechanically assisted heart device.

What About The Millions Who Can’t Get Stem Cell Treatment?

This is good news right? Well yes and no. Yes, I am happy for Michael Jones as he is a lucky man to receive stem cell treatment using his own adult stem cells and unsurprisingly it has worked.

No, because what about the other millions of Americans who aren’t able to receive this stem cell treatment. The Fight Aging Website has a post on this:

It is only in the last couple of years that clinical trials have started for autologous stem cell therapies in the US. Or, to put it another way, for some time now unelected and largely unaccountable employees of the US government have forbidden US residents – on pain of criminal prosecution – from offering or making their own decisions about a medical technology commercially available elsewhere in the world. All the while, these bureaucrats impose vast costs on medical development concerns by insisting on largely pointless trials, continuing far past any reasonable trade-off between risk and reward, thereby greatly postponing the commerical introduction of these technologies in the US.

Do you have responsibility for, or even the ability to make your own medical choices? Not according to people in positions of power at the FDA. Regulation in medicine has largely become an exercise undertaken for its own sake, as is the end result of any centralization of power. No-one’s interests are being served save for those of the career bureaucrats in charge of forbidding new things. Everyone else gets to suffer due to the ball and chain shackled to medical progress, and due to being forbidden the basic, fundamental freedom to choose how to treat their own medical conditions.

Now ask yourself, why can’t anyone with heart disease and the necessary funds just up and do the research on the treatment and choose to try this within the borders of the US? Because a faceless bureaucrat has decided that it is forbidden, and that anyone who offers this treatment must be jailed. Welcome to the land of the free.

This is similar to what I argued here in this stem cell research post

Stem Cell Treatment Information

For treatment information, please fill out this stem cell treatment form- and one of the Repair Stem Cell Institute’s staff will provide you with more information – free.

For full information, write me at donmargolis@gmail.com and just put “Treatment”  in the subject box. Or, if you want to start the process to treat a loved one now, fill out this stem cell treatment form and one of the Repair Stem Cell Institute’s staff will provide you with all the help you need -free.

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In a new stem cell research study presented at the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) annual meeting last week, a dermatologist presented a new clinical research study in which children with Alopecia Areata were treated for baldness with their own Adult Stem Cells.

Adult Stem Cells for Alopecia Areata

Dr. Marwa Fawzi, a dermatologist at the University of Cairo, treated 8 children who were suffering from Alopecia Areata and thus were balding. Alopecia Areata is a condition that causes hair loss and can happen at any age. People (children and adults alike) with this condition are often teased and shunned and many have low self esteem.

Process of Stem Cells for Baldness

1. Small amounts of skin were removed from the scalps of the children
2. The hair follicle stem cells that stimulate hair growth were isolated and then multiplied in a lab
3. After one month, the children’s own Adult Stem Cells were injected back into their scalps where the baldness was occurring.

Stem Cell Research Results

6 months after the stem cell treatment, 5 of the 8 children had at least a 50% increase in the amount of hair on their heads.
2 of the children had a small increase in the amount of hair and 1 child had no change.
Not bad for a simple procedure with no side effects or down side.

From the stem cell article:

She also took new skin samples and examined the hair follicles themselves and could see that the injected stem cells had migrated into the follicles. There, the stem cells stimulated the follicles to transition from a dormant phase to a hair-generating phase, Fawzi said.

In a poster that she presented at the meeting, she showed photographs of an 8-year-old boy named Mahmoud who was almost completely bald before the treatment and had a nearly full head of hair afterward.

Mahmoud was socially isolated before and always wore a hat to hide his baldness, she said. He now calls her almost every day to talk and thank her for the treatment.

Adult Stem Cells- improving more lives each day.

A similar stem cell research study for Alopecia Areata in adults is also going on in the United States now too.  Hopefully, we can expand this into treating male pattern baldness as well.  Why not?

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