“Latest Stem Cells News”

A woman received a transplant of her own bone marrow stem cells, was able to avoid an amputation, and has started to walk again following an operation performed at Catholic University in Campobasso. This is one of the few such operations performed in Europe on the cardiovascular system using adult stem cells. The results were announced yesterday, about a month after the operation, and it is now clear that it will not be necessary to amputate the woman’s leg. “We can say that the operation was a complete success surgically,” said doctors that worked under Francesco Alessandrini, the director of the Cardiovascular Disease Department. It was a team effort thanks to the collaboration of the Hematology Unit led by Sergio Stroti, the Medical Images Department led by Giuseppina Sallustio, the laboratory led by Bruno Zappacosta, and the Anaesthesia and Intensive Therapy Unit led by Marco Rossi.

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After umbilical cord blood, the based LifeCell International is planning to save the umbilical cord tissue that is routinely discarded along with the placenta once a baby is delivered.

The cord tissue and cord blood are rich sources of stem cells.

LifeCell, which is into private banking, will start collecting umbilical cord tissue in the near future. It already collects and stores cord blood for private banking.
After a baby is delivered, the cord is first clamped before it is cut. Cord blood is collected and then the umbilical cord tissue is cut from the placenta to just above where it is clamped. About 20 cm of cord tissue is cut.

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Leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer, affects the blood-forming cells in the bone marrow. It is often treated with stem cell transplants that replace the patient’s bone marrow cells with stem cells donated by a healthy individual. Successful transplant depends on finding a donor who is a close genetic match to the patient. That’s a particular challenge for patients from racial and ethnic minority groups, who may die while waiting for a matching donor.

But a mostly-untapped source of genetically diverse stem cells is right under our noses: Blood left in the umbilical cord after a baby is born. Though it has typically been discarded as medical waste, this blood has real value, as a Packard Children’s press release explains:

With the right system in place, cord blood can be collected at no risk to a new mother and baby, and given to unrelated patients who need the stem cells. This public system is distinct from private cord blood banks, which charge families fees to collect cord blood and store it for their own possible use.

“The chance of needing banked cord blood for your own child is very remote,” said Maurice Druzin, MD, division chief of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Packard Children’s. Because blood cancers are so rare, very few families who privately bank cord blood use the cells, Druzin explained. “But these cells are potentially lifesaving for someone else.”

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Stem cells that could restore sight and hearing have been discovered in an experiment that has been performed successfully in animals. But according to two teams of scientists, it is an important step which will lead to future applications in humans.
A team from the Chonnam National University of South Korea was able to restore hearing in guinea pigs whose hearing was destroyed by chemical substances, using mesenchymal stem cells taken from human bone marrow. Other researchers at SUNY Upstate Medical University of Syracuse in the United States were able to restore sight in frogs using skin stem cells implanted into embryos.

Both groups of scientists revealed how “at the moment it is not possible to translate the results that they have achieved using animals into humans.
But the experiments were useful in shedding light on biological mechanisms that control sight and hearing, indicating new possibilities in regenerative medicine.” Anand Swaroop, a stem cell expert from the National Institute of Health in the United States also commented positively on the research saying that “the results are proof of the enormous potential offered by stem cells to cure mortal or debilitating diseases.”

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Human adult stem cells are being used to cure cirrhosis and other serious live diseases. Another 15 people in Brazil on the liver transplant waiting list have been treated by cellular therapy with encouraging results. “We are still in a strictly experimental phase” underlined Luiz Guilherme Costa Lyra, hepatologist and coordinator of the study performed by Sao Rafael di Salvador Hospital, collaborating with San Raffaele Hospital of Milan. “We must clarify that this therapy is not available for any patient outside of the experiment, so it is useless for anyone to write us asking to get into the study.”

He continued, “Furthermore we must admit that the results are decidedly interesting and we intend to continue along this path.” The project, after having passed clinical safety and efficiency tests on animals and clinical safety tests on human beings, entered into the clinical testing phase on humans three years ago. Specialists at Sao Rafael di Salvador experimented on a group whose only hope was a liver transplant, but probably would have never received one due to the length of the waiting list. Cellular therapy allowed for a significant improvement in their conditions.

FROM ANIMALS TO MAN

The story begins just after the year 2000 with experiments on mice and rats with serious liver diseases. Milena Soares, who led this phase of experimentation said, “We worked with animals affected by serious hepatic fibrosis caused by infection, toxic substances, or alcohol (hepatic fibrosis is a condition in which healthy tissue is replaced by fibrous tissue, which causes a loss in liver function and tissue disorganization which can result in hepatic cirrhosis, editor’s note). The animals were treated with non-embryonic stem cells and responded well to the therapy, showing a significant improvement in their condition.”

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Stem Cell Research Brings About Another Miracle

Korean doctors have apparently regrown a patient’s jawbone using the patient’s own Adult Stem Cells in yet another amazing miracle that Adult Stem Cell research has brought us.

An 18 year old Korean boy who had to have most of his jawbone and his teeth removed due to a tumor was the lucky recipient of this fantastic stem cell research victory.

The young man, who had been suffering confidence problems due to his appearance (missing his jawbone and teeth) is very happy now after the Adult Stem Cells worked their magic and regrew his jawbone so he looks normal in appearance now.

Process of Stem Cells

1. Adult Stem Cells were taken from the man’s bone marrow
2. They were then multiplied and “coached” into becoming an osteoblast- a cell responsible for bone formation
3. The new Adult Stem Cells were injected into the “damaged” area around the man’s jaw
4. 6 months-1 year the stem cells grow new bone to fill in the gap left when the jawbone and teeth were removed
5. Man’s looks better, has more confidence, happier

Stem Cell Case Study Presented at Conference

The results of the trial were published in the British medical journal BMC Medicine and it was also presented at the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons annual meeting (Those silly Maxillofacial surgeons must have forgotten my invitation)

Another Case of Adult Stem Cell Research Working Magic

This is just another instance in which the patient’s own stem cells were used to help. The patient had nothing to lose (no side effects because they were his own stem cells), and everything to gain. And gain he did with this miracle.

This reminds me of an amazing story in Germany a few years back in which they actually used a man’s back as an incubator and grew him a new jawbone

Click here to read the whole stem cell article

from Don Margolis

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