“Latest Stem Cells News”

Promising results from a small study may offer hope for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Researchers from the University of California – San Diego report dramatic improvement after treating MS patients with stromal vascular fraction (SVF) stem cells from a patient’s own body fat. They say the SVF therapy can limit the body’s immune system reaction and promote the growth of new myelin – the fatty “insulation” on axons in the brain, which breaks down in patients with MS.

“None of the presently available MS treatments selectively inhibit the immune attack against the nervous system, nor do they stimulate regeneration of previously damaged tissue,” Boris Minev, M.D., from the Division of Neurosurgery at UCSD, was quoted as saying. “We’ve shown that SVF cells may fill this therapeutic gap”.

Only three patients were treated in the study, but all three showed dramatic results following treatment, including improved balance and coordination and increased energy. They also say their frequent, painful seizures had stopped.

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A stem cell research study showing that Adult Stem Cells taken from a patient’s fat and then implanted back into that patient, helps improve their Multiple Sclerosis. The research study documented 3 case studies of Multiple Sclerosis patients.

Case Studies of Multiple Sclerosis Patients Implanted with Fat Stem Cells

Case Study #1- 50 year old man with Relapse-remitting MS:

Before the Stem Cell Therapy:

• Multiple Seizures
• Sexual Dysfunction
• Significant Memory Loss
• Taking Multiple Medications- Solu-Medrol, Baclofen,
  Provigil, Tegretol, Trileptal, Tysabri, Vitamins, Omega-3 and Zanaflex

After the Fat Stem Cells were implanted:

• No more seizures
• Improved Sexual Function
• Improved Memory
• OFF ALL MEDICATIONS

Case Study #2- 32 year old man with Relapsing-remitting MS

This patient reported after the stem cell therapy and treatment that he now has:

1. Better Balance and Coordination
2. His Depression is gone
3. Significantly improved overall condition

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SAN DIEGO – Novocell, a small, privately held San Diego company, may have found new ways to make money from its technique for coaxing human embryonic stem cells into insulin-producing pancreatic cells.
That’s good news in a field that has had trouble attracting investor funding. Many venture capital firms have been skittish because of politics and the nascency of the embryonic stem cell science.

The biotechnology company announced Tuesday that it received a patent that essentially gives it control over all endoderm cells made from human embryonic stem cells.
Endoderm cells are precursor cells that can eventually develop into cells of the pancreas, lungs, intestine, liver, thymus, bladder and thyroid.

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Fat around the waist is commonly seen as a contributing factor to heart attack. Ironically, a company is now testing whether adult stem cells from fat could help prevent long-term damage after a heart attack.

A new medical team is now investigating whether adult stem cells harvested from a person’s own fat, delivered shortly after a heart attack, could prevent some of the cardiac muscle damage that results from blocked arteries.

During a heart attack, blood vessels that deliver blood to the heart muscle are blocked. The lack of oxygen slowly kills the tissue. San Diego-based Cytori Therapeutics has developed a treatment that aims to prevent much of that muscle damage before it starts.

The procedure involves injecting concentrated slurry of adult stem cells and other regenerative cells isolated from the patient’s body directly into the heart’s main artery within 24 hours after an attack.

“Time is muscle. The quicker you get in, the better,” Christopher Calhoun, Cytori’s chief executive officer says. “You can’t do anything about dead tissue, but tissue that’s bruised and damaged-that’s revitalizable. If you can get new blood flow in there, that tissue comes back to life.”

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Dr. Amit Patel of the University of Utah is reporting that 3 out of 3 heart disease patients have improved in the initial stages of his stem cell research trial in which the cardiomyopathy patients had their own Adult Stem Cells injected back into their heart in a minimally invasive surgical procedure.

Dr. Patel presented the initial data at the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) annual meeting in San Diego, California.  The clinical research trial is treating heart patients with both ischemic cardiomyopathy and non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy and then injecting them with their own Adult Stem Cells.  There is a control group in the study as well. Translation-  some patients are not getting the benefit of the stem cells and receive a placebo.

Initial Data of Patients Treated with Adult Stem Cells

Here are the results so far (from the stem cell article)-

• 3 cardiomyopathy patients who received their own stem cells were followed up at 3 months.  They all improved on their New York Heart Failure Classes- all 3 going from a Class III to a Class II.  In contrast 2 out of the 3 who didn’t get stem cells , did NOT improve.
• Overall quality of life scores (Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire) improved in all 3 patients who received the stem cell therapy.  The physical and emotional well-being of all the patients who received the treatment also improved.  There was no consistent trend in the control group (the group that didn’t get the stem cells)

Millions Would Benefit With Use of Own Stem Cells

While these are positive results and I am happy for these patients, there are thousands of cardiomyopathy patients who are not able to receive this stem cell treatment.  Dr. Kit Arom of Vescell in Thailand, a former associate of Dr. Patel, is now treating these exact same patients with their own stem cells and none of these dilated cardiomyopathy and heart attack patients are in a “control” group ie. they are getting the exact same procedure and getting their own Adult Stem Cells that Dr. Patel’s trial is doing (sucessfully).

Dr. Kit Arom has been treating heart disease patients in Thailand since 2005 with this exact same procedure- and the USA has just done 3??? Is something wrong here?

The Debate on Stem Cell Research – A Smokescreen?

While there is the endless debate on Embryonic Stem Cell research vs. Adult Stem Cell research, is the debate just some  clever smokescreen thrown up by the drug companies, FDA, and cardiologists, none of whom will benefit from heart (or name your disease)  patients using their own Adult Stem Cells to help themselves?  Is this stem cell debate just a means to slow down the use of the patient’s own cells?  Remember, there are no side effects from using your own stem cells, either they help (most of the time) or they don’t (no harm done).

Are people getting so caught up on the stem cell research issue that we are ignoring the patients who are in need of help right now?  Are we so intent on 100% “cures” that we ignore stem cell treatments that are not “cures”, but do indeed help improve the quality of lives of the majority of patients right NOW.   I’m sure the patients who improved in the stem cell heart study above are very happy with their results.  Are their hearts 100% perfect now?  No,  it wasn’t a “cure”.  Does that mean it isn’t good enough?

Why do we have to go for the homerun on every at bat, when a patient would be grateful for a single or double?  Would Michael J Fox be happy if his Parkinson’s symptoms subsided for 5 years like this gentleman?  Or, I’m sure the heart patients are pleased that instead of getting short of breath from getting the mail, that they are probably now able to walk around their local mall with their loved ones.

I see endless articles and letters to the editor that support this research or that research, but rarely do I see an article or letter promoting USING the only treatment that works now- Adult Stem Cells.  In the end, with all this hoopla, we end up forgetting about what should be the reasons for the debates and research in the first place- the patients.

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A Richmond, Utah dog struggling for mobility is getting a new leash on life, courtesy of a new stem cell treatment for canines.
It’s not embryonic cells, but the dog’s own that are used in the treatment. North Logan vet Dr. James Israelsen of the Mountain View Veterinary Health Clinic performed the procedure on “Coty.”
Coty with Miller’s wife, Diane Bush.

“We have to harvest some fat from them to isolate the stem cells. And in her case, she’s a thin dog, so we actually harvested a little bit of abdominal fat just from the front of her abdominal cavity,” he explained.
Coty’s owner, Dan Miller, says it was hard to watch his Husky - once capable of 40-mile runs – lose mobility.
“Painkillers never really seemed to make a difference, at least in her stride, the limp in her stride,” Miller said.

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