“Latest Stem Cells News”

Aileen Anderson and Brian Cummings led the pre-clinical studies for the neural stem cell treatment

A therapy developed by Aileen Anderson and Brian Cummings of UC Irvine’s Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center in collaboration with researchers at StemCells Inc. will be the basis of the world’s first clinical trial using human neural stem cells to treat spinal cord injury.

Swissmedic, the Swiss regulatory agency for therapeutic products, has authorized a Phase I/II clinical trial for chronic spinal cord injury, cases in which inflammation has stabilized and recovery has reached a plateau.

The trial will utilize StemCells Inc.’s proprietary purified human neural stem cells and will be conducted at the University of Zurich’s University Hospital Balgrist, one of the world’s leading medical centers for spinal cord injury and rehabilitation.

It’s designed to assess both safety and preliminary efficacy in patients with varying degrees of paralysis who are between three and 12 months post-injury at the time of transplantation. Enrollment is expected to begin in early 2011.

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Hans Keirstead, a researcher at University of California, Irvine, is set to begin a small human trial of his embryonic stem cell treatment on patients with spinal cord injuries. The treatment is designed for patients within 14 days of suffering spinal cord injuries. In rat trials, paralyzed rats were injected with a stem cell formula. The paralyzed rats were able to walk six weeks later.

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Warnings are being issued by experts of the dangers of medical tourism saying that unproven stem cell therapy overseas could leave patients worse off.

Signing up for stem cell therapy is worth the risk for many people who are suffering with conditions like spinal injury, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron or Parkinson’s disease.

A medical journal reported earlier this year that an Israeli teenager developed brain tumors after experimental injections at a Russian clinic.

There are alternate reports also of patients contracting meningitis after treatments in China.

A handbook will be released by the Australian Stem Cell Centre to help patients analyze radial stem cell treatments abroad.

Experts, however, are warning patients against taking the risk with radical treatments abroad.

The Australian Stem Cell Centre Clinical adviser Dr Kirsten Herbert says that three patients contracted meningitis after stem cell treatment in China because of spinal cord injuries.

He also adds that cancer too is a possible side-effect although the likelihood is very rare.

It is important to not demoralize people who are seeking these cures but they must be helped in finding the right advice.

from http://topnews.us/content/28514-warning-issued-against-stem-cell-tourism-experts

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Dr. Robert Harman is a veterinarian, stem cell specialist and biotechnology entrepreneur

It may seem surprising, but more than 1,700 dogs in the USA with arthritis have already been treated with their own stem cells.

Remember the saying “Patient Heal Thyself?” We all — human and animals — carry around a stem cell repair kit that is used every day in helping heal the minor bumps, bruises, cuts and more serious injuries.

These stem cells are called “adult” stem cells and are found throughout the body. They sit there waiting for the signal that they are needed and they rush to the scene of the injury and begin the healing process.

So we really do heal ourselves with our own supply of stem cells (…)

How stem cell therapy works

So how does stem cell therapy really work in these conditions? The key appears to be getting a higher number of active stem cells placed at the injury site all at once.

To do that you need to collect stem cells from somewhere in the body, concentrate or expand them to obtain adequate numbers, and then inject them into the area of injury or disease (…)

Stem cell therapy on dogs and horses

In the U.S., more than 1,700 dogs and 3,600 horses have been treated for tendon, ligament and joint problems over the last six years with their stem cells from fat.

It’s not approved for us in humans yet, however we all carry around an enormous supply of stem cells in our storage tissue, fat. This is not an editorial on how fat our pets have become, but a scientific statement on the very large concentration of stem cells in fat.

This was discovered at the University of Pittsburgh in the late 1990’s and now in human clinical trials all over the world. Just Google “fat stem cell” and you will find thousands of articles on the research and clinical use of these incredible cells for treating joints, multiple sclerosis, and many other conditions.

The published results in dogs and horses indicate that more 70 percent of these pets have significant benefit and improved quality of life. This means they can return to running, jumping, swimming, or whatever their normal lifestyle might demand.

San Diego is a hotbed of stem cell research in this category. Cytori Therapeutics is already in clinical trials using stem cells from fat in humans to treat heart disease, liver failure, and in plastic surgery!

The Burnham Institute and UC San Diego are deeply involved in the basic research of the use of stem cells in a wide array of diseases such as spinal cord injury, diabetes, Parkinson’s Disease and heart disease.

NovoCell, another San Diego star, is making progress in using stem cells to treat diabetes. This is an amazing consortium striving to bring this technology into the clinics and to begin treating real patients.

Vet-Stem, the veterinary stem cell company in Poway, is helping move the field ahead by sharing its data and experiences in treating real diseases in our animals.

For now, we know that our beloved pets with bad arthritis can be treated with their own stem cells. Your veterinarian may already be credentialed to offer this service or they can become credentialed through a training course.

Until next time, do your online homework and learn more about adult stem cells at the McGowan Institute and the Adult Stem Cell Research Network.

Read full article on SDNN

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Due to the wonders of Adult Stem Cell treatment, yet another spinal cord injury patient has improved his quality of life.  A young man in India who had lost all sensations from a car accident has been helped after receiving his own Adult Stem Cells and having them injected into his spinal cord where the injury occurred (C3-c4).

Before the Stem Cell Therapy

• Loss of bladder function and control
• Weakness in all both legs and arms
• Loss of feeling and sensations

After the Adult Stem Cell Therapy

• Regained bladder function- doesn’t need urinary catheter anymore
• Getting Stronger in all limbs
• Return of more feelings and sensations

Process of Stem Cells for Spinal Cord Injury

1. Bone Marrow taken from the hip
2. 6 weeks of cultivating the adult stem cells to increase total to 100 million +
3. Adult Stem Cells injected at injury site (C3-C4) in a surgical procedure

Dr. K Eliyas Basha of Salem Manipal Hospital in India was the stem cell doctor responsible for this success story.  He contacted various stem cell treatment centers around the world and exchanged ideas and techniques.

From the stem cell article:

“We have been screening and interacting with stem cell centres around the world to know further details regarding stem cell therapy directly at the C3- C4 cervical cord injury. The whole procedure was thoroughly studied and scrutinized by various committees of Manipal health systems,” Dr. Basha said.

Perhaps he consulted with this group in Ecuador- see this amazing stem cell for spinal cord injury video

While obviously not a cure, this stem cell therapy and treatment has   helped improve this young man’s life.  That is what Adult Stem Cells do- they repair damage and improve lives with no side effects.

What if we gave every spinal cord injury patient in the United States this stem cell treatment using their own repair stem cells?  Don’t you think that would help improve thousands of lives?

I do.   We have enough proof- it is safe and helps in most cases. Let’s make Adult Stem Cells available for treatment now!

original post by Don Margolis

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John Lawson Cullison Jr., an artist lost his ability to paint due to the effects of arthritis. This incurable condition is due to the degeneration in cartilage tissue and symptoms include: pain, tenderness in the joints, stiffness, loss of flexibility, bone spurs and severe swelling. Pain management and joint replacement surgery are the typical means to treating this condition.

RNL BIO, a South Korean adult stem cell therapy company, developed a method to take one’s own stem cells from fat tissue and make identical copies that have no genetic modifications and no cancer risks so that high doses of stem cells can be administered back into the body. The stem cells that come from fat tissue can easily form new tissues. Given that characteristic, the stem cells have the capacity to treat any tissue degenerative disease which includes, Parkinson’s Disease, Spinal Cord Injury, Renal Failure, among many. When Cullison heard of the treatment, he sent a small fat sample to RNL BIO, where the cells would be manufactured under the strictest safety and quality conditions.

A week after his injection, Cullison began to see small improvements and after two weeks, he no longer needed his cane to walk. He noticed that his joints were feeling better, his vision was improving to the point that his glasses were outdated, his eyes were getting bluer (eye pigmentation is often an indicator of good health) and his legs were getting stronger. “This is major improvement and it’s only been 2 weeks! Six months from now, I’ll be doing back-flips!” Only three weeks post treatment, Cullison reported that he was no longer taking any medication and back to painting his pictures.

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