“Latest Stem Cells News”

Scientists have taken the first steps toward producing the “heart patch,” a design for a medical implement used to repair damage from heart disease, a new study suggests.

Last week, researchers from Duke University presented the results of a study which, using mouse embryonic stem cells, examined the way these cells develop into heart muscle, HealthDay News reports (…)

from http://www.privatemdlabs.com/news/Heart_Health_and_Cholesterol/Mouse-stem-cell-study-examines-heart-repair$19405309.php

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Transplanting own stem cells into heart of severe angina patients lessens their pain and improves their ability to walk, a new study has revealed.

The largest national stem cell study for heart disease showed that transplant subjects also experienced fewer deaths than those who didn’t receive stem cells.

In the 12-month Phase II, double-blind trial, subjects’ own purified stem cells, called CD34+ cells, were injected into their hearts in an effort to spur the growth of small blood vessels that make up the microcirculation of the heart muscle (…)

He also said that this study provides the first evidence that a person’s own stem cells can be used as a treatment for their heart disease. However, he cautioned that the findings of the 25-site trial with 167 subjects, require verification in a larger, Phase III study.

The stem cell transplant is the first therapy to produce an improvement in severe angina subjects’ ability to walk on a treadmill. Twelve months after the procedure, the transplant subjects were able to double their improvement on a treadmill compared to the placebo group (…)

from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/Your-own-stem-cells-can-help-treat-heart-disease/articleshow/5242519.cms

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James Eilert went on a 20-mile bike ride the other day! Why is that amazing?

Because18 months ago, the thought of getting on a bicycle was too much exertion for the Michigan native. In 2006, at the young age of 34, James suffered a major heart attack, which damaged his heart muscle.

The heart damage left James fatigued, exhausted and short of breath. It was increasingly difficult to meet the demands of his job as an automotive engineer. He was gasping for breath and sweating all the time. His ejection fraction (EF) had sunk to 20-25%. Feeling depressed, James had given up hope of ever improving his quality of life. However, hope was restored when James found Vescell ™ adult stem cell therapy on the internet.

“I was in Class III congestive heart failure and had given up, but the amount of research and patient success stories I found on Vescell™ gave me new hope. I contacted them immediately,” James said.

On November 14, 2007, James flew to Bangkok, Thailand and received 41 million of his own stem cells via catheter to heal his ailing heart muscle. James exclaimed, “I didn’t feel a thing, it was just a simple catheterization!”

James raved about his experience and the care he received in Bangkok, “I have never been so well cared for in all my years going in and out of multiple hospitals for congestive heart failure. The doctors really listened to me and gave me confidence that they were my partners in improving my heart.”

After the treatment, James was thrilled with the results of the Vescell ™. “I had an echocardiogram only 2 weeks after my stem cell therapy and my completely dead apex was beating again. I was shocked and ecstatic at the same time.”

Since then, James has continued to improve and 18 months after treatment, he says, “I can do anything, the sky is the limit. I am now in Class I heart failure. My ejection fraction is at 50% and my doctors have lifted all restrictions.”

Today, James devotes his spare time to help other patients, as a patient volunteer, “I shudder to think how my life would have turned out if I hadn’t found the Vescell website. I was lucky. I want others to get the same second chance that I had.”

James is one of more than 500 patients who have had the Vescell ™ treatment. VesCell™ harnesses and enhances stem cells’ unique abilities, enabling the patient’s own body to heal itself.

from TransWorldNews

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Sierra Fedelem may look like any other 20-month-old, but her parents are doing everything they can to make sure her life is just like that of any other healthy human being.
Stem cell research has stirred quite the controversy in the United States, and though the current administration’s recent policy reversal on the issue could open the markets to treatments and commercialization, it’s still an option unavailable for American patients, like Sierra, unless they’re willing to travel across the world.

“The first time the neurologist said, ‘No, you don’t realize it, she’s never going to be able to walk, talk and see, and she’s always going to be at the mental level of a 4-month-old’,” Rosetta Fedelem said. “We were just shocked.”
The Fedelems hadn’t realized the extent of the brain damage Sierra suffered during birth.

“We said ‘We’re not going to stop, we’re going to start doing as much as you can for her’,” Rosetta said. “So we started praying and researching.”
Their research landed them in China, where Sierra received several treatments of adult stem cells extracted from somebody else’s umbilical cord. Adult stem cells differ from embryonic stem cells, in that they can be retrieved from adult organs or tissue.

While leading U.S. experts say the possibilities are far-reaching, the quality of overseas studies remains uncertain.
“It’s very hard to tell which is a good place, and which is not,” Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine Institute for Regenerative Medicine Director Dr. Darwin Prockup said. “But of course, patients get to be desperate, and you can’t blame them for trying.”

Dr. Prockup said better adult stem cell treatments in the United States are coming. In March, President Barack Obama signed an executive order, reversing Bush administration policy, to allow scientists to continue stem cell research on ongoing projects. The results of the research will determine when the United States will open its doors to treatment.
“Of course there’s always danger with any therapy, so you have to be very careful, there’s always a risk-benefit you have to weigh carefully,” Prockup said. “That’s done in good medical centers. That’s why we’re a little slower.”

The Fedelems said they did weigh the pros and cons.
“I don’t accept new things easily, but when there’s enough evidence of results, I’m willing to try them,” Jason said. “And that’s exactly what happened here.”

In the three weeks they’ve been back from China, Sierra can sit up on her own for a few seconds, do an army crawl, and stand up for more than twice the amount of time she could before. Plus, her parents say she’s more alert and vocal.
Rosetta and Jason say they want Sierra to be able to walk, talk and see.

“Now we don’t know exactly which of those goals she’ll reach,” Rosetta said. “Our goal is, as parents, to push her to achieve her greatest potential, whatever that is. We’ll love her no matter what.”
The Fedelems said they spent more than$23,000 on treatments in China, but they raised $45,000. The rest of the funds went to a hyperbaric chamber, and other treatments Sierra will receive in Florida in two weeks.

To learn more about Sierra and how you can donate to help the family with medical expenses visit SightForSierra.com.
Dr. Prockup said the institute will be working on four clinical trials. By the end of the year he expects they’ll begin one with adult stem cell research for treatment on knee cartilage repair. The institute also plans to conduct stem cell research on diabetes, heart disease and strokes.

from News 8 Austin

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Concha Herrera Arroyo, from El Pais

The Cardiology department and the Area of Cell Therapy of Cordoba hospital Reina Sofia are carrying out clinical tests with patients who have suffered from a severe heart attack. With the implantation of the patient’s stem cells, the heart regenerates thus improving its wall motion, that is, its cardiac performance.

Indeed for the last four years, the Area of Cell Therapy of Cordoba hospital, led by haematologist Dr. Concha Herrera, has been implementing a therapy program with adult stem cells in patients with heart-related problems. However, this therapy is not a service the hospital offers yet. More specifically, at the end of 2007 the hospital ended a clinical test with patients who had suffered a severe myocardial infarction, that is, an obstruction of one of the main coronary arteries that stops the blood pump to the heart.

The test consisted of treating 30 people split into three groups of ten each at random. The first group was the control group, where patients received standard treatment for acute myocardial infarction; the second group was treated with stem cells directly implanted into the coronary artery affected using a catheterization; the third group was treated with a medicine called G-CSF, which makes cells move from the marrow to the blood, so that they get to the heart in a natural way, without having to do so through a catheter.

At the end of the test, the results revealed that the two groups treated without cells improved slightly, whereas patients transplanted with stem cells through the coronary arteries (vessels which bring the blood to the Herat muscle) did improve their ventricular function much more. This was interpreted as a significant decrease of the cardiac failure symptoms such as pain, fatigue and breathlessness when making small efforts.

Moreover, with this process it is possible to prevent some acute arrhythmias (change or irregularity in the rhythm of the heartbeat), which in many cases could result in the patient’s death. ‘However, it does not prevent a future heart attack’, Dr. Herrera assures.

In short, the stem cells transplanted from the marrow into the heart muscle have a double function: on the one hand they regenerate the heart cells, the cardiomiocites. In addition to this, they segregate a series of proangiogenic factors that produce blood vessels (angiogenesis) and can also produce the recruitment of stem cells that are in the myocardium itself.

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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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