“Latest Stem Cells News”

A clampdown on unproven and potentially unsafe stem cell research is being called for by an expert group.
Bionet, a group of expert Chinese and European doctors, lawyers and bioethicists, says countries throughout the world must develop more effective regulation for this emerging science (…)

They had provided a wealth of anecdotal evidence about their concerns that stem cell research was being moved too rapidly into clinical practice without proper study.
He said: “The key is informed consent. Doctors should be able to tell the patient about the short-term and long-term prognosis and the things we don’t know about the risks.”

Bionet is recommending that the safety and efficiency of stem cell treatments is investigated through state-of-the-art clinical trials before they are offered to patients (…)

And there should be quality standards for stem cells used in clinical practice.
These should include the bacterial and viral contamination applied during the production of the stem cells.

China introduced new regulations in May calling for clinical trials before stem cell treatments were offered to patients.
Professor Qui Renzong, vice-president of the ethics committee at the Chinese Ministry of Health, said: “In China there are about 150 institutions now providing stem cell therapy for diabetes through to spinal injuries.” (…)

“When stem cell ‘treatments’ are based overseas, regulatory oversight and jurisdiction is particularly problematic.
We take this very seriously and strongly encourage anyone considering participating in overseas stem cell ‘research trials’ or buying internet treatments to talk to their doctor and follow health guidelines.”

from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8234206.stm

Incoming search terms:

Dr Foteini Hassiotou has discovered stem cells can be obtained from breast milk

Serious and fatal diseases such as pancreatic cancer, Parkinson‘s disease and diabetes may eventually be treated using stem cells from breast milk following a remarkable discovery at the University of Western Australia.

UWA PhD student Foteini Hassiotou has potentially broken through the greatest hurdle in stem cell research – the ability to ethically obtain stem cells in a non-invasive manner.

Her finding that stem cells from breast milk can be directed to become other body cell types such as bone, fat, liver and brain cells, could reduce the need to use embryonic stem cells and therefore fast-track future therapies.

Dr Hassiotou’s research follows the 2008 discovery by a team of UWA scientists that breast milk contained embryonic-like stem cells.

Her work was boosted on Sunday when she won the AusBiotech-GlaxoSmithKline national student excellence award. She will now present her findings at an international conference.

Incoming search terms:

A children’s book about a little stem cell named Doris who is transformed into a Super Stemmy to fight her adversarys!
This is the first children’s book in the world about ADULT STEM CELLS!

Doris is a repair stem cell with some very remarkable qualities. Her will and persistence is vigorously challenged during her quest to overcome adversity and improve the health of an ailing heart.
Come join the adventure and discover the natural healing capabilities of the repair stem cells residing in all of us. Don’t wait! Dive right in to the exploits of Doris and the Super Cells!

Incoming search terms:

Stem cell therapy holds promise for the treatment of almost all human diseases, from spinal cord injuries to damage caused by heart attacks. Stem cells are the cells in our body that have the potential to “grow up” to be any type of cell in the body. But organs are more than just collections of cells. They’re highly organized collections of a multitude of cells.

All treatments with stems cells are still experimental, and therefore the risks of this treatment are not completely understood. Clinical trials are monitored in the United States by academic and government agencies to help protect research subjects. We are not familiar with the safety measures in place to protect research subjects in the Dominican Republic, and I am unaware of a stem cell pulmonary hypertension protocol in the Dominican Republic. Information about research protocols from around the world and information on how to enroll in such a trial can be found at http://clinicaltrials.gov.

from USnews

Incoming search terms:

It has been about 3 months since I last updated you on Preston Walker and Richard Humphries, the two Multiple Sclerosis Stem Cell Research pioneers who received their own Adult Stem Cells to improve their MS.

Since then, both have returned to Costa Rica to receive a second helping of their own Adult Stem Cells- a second stem cell therapy.   Let’s check in with their stem cell blog and see what they have to say.

Update from Stem Cell Research Blog

First is this July 7th post from adult stem cell recipient, Preston “An Energetic Day“-

I am not sure how to describe what happened today other than that I have a LOAD OF ENERGY!!

To let everyone understand this, I documented today’s events in the following information:

I invited my son to a bike ride. We rode twenty miles and returned home. Instead of wanting to sleep, I started looking for other things to do!! I found that my lawnmower needed the rear wheel removed and replaced.

It was quite a day of doing little things, but it would have been very taxing several weeks ago.

It’s now 9:00 p.m. and I am still full of energy!! There is only one reason for this turn of events. It is God’s good grace through the injection of ADULT STEM CELLS. GO STEM CELLS GO!!

In Him, Preston

Adult Stem Cells Enable Multiple Sclerosis Patient to Deal With the Heat

And this is from Richard Humphries, MS patient treated with Adult Stem Cells Twice:

June 30, 2009
Dealing with the heat

Heat intolerence is associated with every MS patient. With the heat we are having all of us have this intolerance.

This week in Wichita Falls I was in the 100-degree heat for over 8 hours on back to back days. This was not even possible after the first stem cell treatment but after a 4-month regeneration from the second stem cell treatment, not only is it possible but reality.

Even Dr. Thomas Ichim, a stem cell expert from the University of California-San Diego is in amazement.

I just keep getting blessed.

Richard

Richard of course was Case Study #1 in a recently published stem cell research clinical paper.  And I’m not sure, but  I believe Preston was involved in the research paper as well (either Case Study 2 or 3)

Incoming search terms:

If you have done any research on stem cell treatments abroad, you will undoubtedly read negative articles like this one on CNN from the mainstream media saying these companies are promising cures and are preying on the desperate, that these companies are selling “snake oil”   Nothing could be further from the truth.

The stem cell companies and stem cell doctors that are part of the Repair Stem Cell Institute offer patients a good chance at an improvement in the patient’s quality of life- they don’t offer nor promise cures.  Patients going to these stem cell therapy treatment centers abroad know this.

Unfortunately, the United States and their FDA don’t give these patients any other options.  Are they able to use their own stem cells to help their multiple sclerosis or heart disease-  Stem Cells that have been proven safe in thousands of studies? No.  What is one to do then?  These patients must go abroad for the only treatment that can help their disease or condition.

Here is a sampling of what some of these companies  affiliated with the Repair Stem Cell Institute tell their patients:

From Stem Cells China:

It’s not a cure. It’s about quality of life. Every day I see inquiries begin like this: “Can stem cells cure…?” Everyone should know the answer to that one right away. No. No known therapy utilizing stem cells can cure any medical condition. Not one.

A cure would rewrite the broken code of your genome. A cure would rewind the debilitating progression of a neuro-degenerative disease to the moment before onset. A cure would fix all the wrongs of a baby’s challenged birth. We eagerly await the development of cures and their accessibility to patients in need.

So why are people receiving stem cell therapy today? Therapies involving adult stem cells today are providing quality of life improvements for many patients. It’s no cure. Just as painkillers are not a cure for pain. They improve our quality of life if we feel pain.

But who would deny that painkillers are still worthwhile for extreme pain? Many doctors in the West are saying that they don’t have enough proof that stem cells are improving quality of life for patients. In the meantime, patients are busy coming to China and China’s stem cell clinics are busy offering the chance for quality of life improvements where none else would exist. We encourage you to explore the therapies being offered today.

From Dr. Shimon Slavin, Israel, helping people like Louis Zylstra and Arndt Roehlig

However, we have some positive and most encouraging evidence that the cells we inject may be of benefit, especially as evidenced in some patients with multiple sclerosis as well as based on the first patient we treated with spinal injury that seemed to have somewhat improved. The good news is that there are no side effects at all so there is no risk and nothing to lose (except money…). I would like to stress that since we are in very early stages of our research, nothing can be said about the clinical efficacy of our approach.  However, on the other hand, I do understand that patients in need cannot wait for all the answers to be solved and this is why we agree to offer experimental procedures for patients that understand the experimental nature of our program and consent to try and explore new treatment options.

From Dr. Roberto Fernandez Vina– For doctors who say that current stem cell therapies are “unproven,” Dr. Fernandez Viña has the following response:

“How many patients must to be treated to say this is a cure? How many patients must die waiting for the word “cure?”

A lot of diseases are not totally cured with drugs but the laboratories talk about curing (HIV, Tuberculosis and a lot of malignant deseases). They say that the drugs “cure” but in reality the drugs improve the quality of life. Stem cells “cure” in the same sense. If a person is dying of diabetes and we improve the prognosis and he no longer needs insulin injections, we increase the C peptide, decrease the HbA1c, decrease protein in the urine, decrease the risk of amputation or kidney failure, in my book that is a “cure.”

From Richard Humphries, with multiple sclerosis and a stem cell recipient from Cell Medicine in Costa Rica:

I’m case study #1 in the paper (Multiple Sclerosis Study) just released and have had two stem cell treatments in Costa Rica where they promise nothing but deliver wonderful results. Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis patients can’t wait on historical data. Time is not on our side but stem cells improved my quality of life and the follow up MRI looks excellent.

From the X cell Center in Germany:

Even if not all of the interactions have been conclusively researched to date, the status of the current medical insights has indeed reached a level that allows the non- hazardous treatment with adult stem cells and puts medical professionals in a position to assume responsibility for its use.

Given the proven treatment success of regenerative medicine, the question of whether more research is needed prior to therapeutic use has already been answered.

Those who nevertheless demand stem cell therapy be postponed until we know more about it are taking away patients’ rights to make their own decisions as they search for medical solutions – for the kind of help stem cell therapy does offer.

Incoming search terms: