Today's story is taken from the Peoples Daily - and English language newspaper from China, but probably not a site that most visitors reading this blog have bookmarked as a source of stem cell news.
The story itself provides a look at where researchers are going with stem cell treatments and the kind of therapies that could be available in the years to come.
They look no different to ordinary goats, but they carry a high number of human cells in their livers. Such goats could provide prenatal treatment for human genetic diseases. This is a study accomplished by professor Huang Shuzhen and her co-researchers of the Institute of Medical Genetics of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Previous research was usually done in a medium, professor Huang and her co-researchers has for the first time used goats as animal models and injected human CD34+ cells derived from cord blood (CB) into the goat fetuses via in utero at 45-55 days gestation under guidance of B-scan ultrasonograph.
The study provides a theoretical basis and new techniques for the treatment of many incurable congenital and hereditary diseases like haemophilia or mediterranean anaemia. Such diseases could be treated through the stem cell transplant.
One of the many useful applications that Google has come up with is the new 'Google Trands' service. This allows users to see how many searches have been done for the terms entered, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time.
So, if you had a company or business that provided a treatment for heart disease or was involved in stem cell therapy you could discover from which cities and regions Google searches for specific terms related to your service or product are being made from.
Entering 'Heart Disease' into the search field brings up the Philippines & India as the top two nations for searches for these terms. (The ranking is the highest ratio for number of searches on the specified topic relative to the total number of searches from the city or region.)
This indicates that there are a lot of people looking for information on heart disease in these countries. Now add a comparison to the number of searches for 'stem cell' and the Philippines drops well down the list, whereas India remains in second place.
So the question is: Given India's booming economy, highly educated workforce and apparently high interest in heart disease and stem cells, could India emerge as a big player in the field of stem cell therapy for heart disease?
An exciting development in stem cell therapy for heart disease. Researchers at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation have launched a study to examine whether administration of stem cells to first time heart attack patients can prevent the development of Congestive Heart Failure.
Currently, heart transplantation is the only available cure for CHF. However, researchers believe that patients' own bone marrow-derived stem cells can can improve cardiac function after a heart attack and fend off the development of CHF.
This first-of-its-kind study in the United States is randomized and placebo-controlled, involving 60 patients of which 45 will have their stem cells infused through a catheter in the region of their heart attack, and 15 will receive a placebo.
The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation is a non-profit organization, for more details on this story visit: www.mplsheartfoundation.org.
To round off a week where I've picked stories that featured various stem cell therapies, an article from 'Healthcare News' caught my eye. Or rather the attention grabbing headlne did.
'Embryonic Stem Cell Hucksters Exploit Misery'.
At first glance it would appear to be a rant solely aginst embryonic stem cells but this isn't the case. The author is Michael Fumento is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC. His reason for writing the article isn't to support a particular side in the adult vs. embryonic stem cell debate, but rather to rile against innacurate or misleading reporting in both fields. I.e. the type of reporting that can falsely raise hopes or whether, delibertely or through ignorance, purvey an incorrect, innaccurate message.
An example given in the article is from late March 2006 when German researchers announced they had isolated adult stem cells from mice testes; those cells appear to have tremendous potential to become all cells of the body. The Washington Post headline? 'Embryonic Stem Cell Success: In Mouse Experiment, Cells from Testes Are Transformed'
If even respected newpapers such as the Washington Post are getting confused, what hope is there for the average 'man in the street' when it comes to understanding advances in both types of research?
Here's an interesting advance in the treatment of cancer.
For many years cancer suffers have been treated with blood producing stem cells after the exisiting ones were killed during chemotherapy. Patients then receive replacement cells either from donors or they can receive their own stem cells - which were previously extracted prior to undergoing chemotherapy.
Both these methods carry some risk. In the first case, there is the possibility of rejection, a 'Graft Versus Host Disease' as it's known; and in the second case there's an underlying risk that some cancerous cells might be transplanted back into the patient.
However, a Canadian Company has now patented a method to kill any cancerous cells in the blood that is to be transplanted back into the patient. This method isnt new, but the form of treatment which eliminates the possibility of cancerous cells being reintroduced to the body has only just been patented. Therefore, I'd expect this type of treatment to be more widely available in the very near future.
The press release announcing the patent can be ead in full here.
It probably wont surprise you to learn that it's not only hospitals in western nations that are now offering stem cell therapies to patients.
The Hyderabad-based multi-organ transplantation specialist centre, Global Hospitals, has now forayed into adult stem cell therapy.
Initially, Global Hospitals intends to focus on spinal cord injuries and cardiac dysfunction, in cases where alternative treatment is usually not available to sufferers. Indian patients will be charged,on average, 30,000 Rupees for a cardiac treatment 70,000 Rupees for the treatment of severe spinal cord injuries.
Take a look at the Business Standard online news site for more details of this story.
Interesting stem cell stories are often like buses . . . . you wait an age for one to come along and then several do all at once. Yesterday, I mentioned an article on new research which has been conducted in Austria regarding adult stem cell teatment for incontinence
However, it also appears that very simliar treatments are being developed elsewhere. One site being the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in the USA. (Incidentally, this is also home to a center for Cardiac Cell Therapy which is recognised world wide as a leading establishment in researching stem cell therapy for heart disase.)
The new study indicates that an injection of stem cells from a patient's own muscle can help restore control of a leaky bladder.
Stress incontinence symptoms improved in five out of seven women who got the experimental treatment, said senior investigator Dr. Michael Chancellor, a urologist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. None of the women had serious side effects. According to Dr Chancellor, the aim o the treatment was simply "We just wanted to prove that it's feasible and safe, and to find improvement was terrific. It's like a bonus."
In the protocol, a pea-sized biopsy of thigh muscle was taken from each participant. The sample was sent to Pittsburgh, where the stem cells were isolated and grown and finally, about 20 million cells were then sent back to Toronto to be injected into the patient.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel yesterday carried an interesting story on a new type of adult stem cell treatment which is being pioneered in Austria.
Doctors say they were able to cure urinary incontinence in the vast majority of patients who were treated with injections of their own stem cells. The research has the potential to help over 15 million Americans who suffer from this troublng condition.
The researchers described the treatment as a cure, meaning the patients did not need to wear pads after they were treated. "It's highly effective and it's much more effective than we previously thought," said lead author Hannes Strasser. "If somebody had told me it would have worked so well four years ago, I would not have believed it."
Some of the first patients to undergo the technique remained continent four years after the treatment, said Strasser, an Associate Professor of Urology at the Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria.
In addition to curing the incontinence, the patients also had a dramatically improved quality of life, he said.
The treatment involves harvesting muscle cells taken as biopsy from the patient's upper arm. Those cells are grown in a laboratory for seven weeks and a small amount of collagen is mixed in. What is not known is whether the new cells become functioning muscle, as is theorized, or whether the injections are just providing bulk, as is the case with other treatments.
The extracted cells become both 'myoblasts', or muscle cells, and 'fibroblasts', a type of connective tissue cell. The fibroblasts are injected into the urethra, the canal that carries urine out of the bladder. The myoblasts are injected into the rhabdosphincter, a ring of muscle around the urethra that acts as a valve. Imaging shows that the thickness of the urethra and rhabdosphincter were increased and the contracting ability of the rhabdosphincter was improved.
The cure rate cited by researchers of more than 80 percent is about twice that for other injectable treatments.
Having featured stories from Barbados, Wales, Thailand and Australia this week it's time to complete our virtual circumnavigation with a story from the US.
The article below concerns a patient of ours, David Foege of Naples, Florida, and his recovery after receiving VesCell therapy. His cardiologist is quoted as saying that he thinks this type of treatment for heart disease will "be the most exciting face of medicine that we'll be going into."
Florida Man's Treatment Could Help Change Medicine
David Foege of Naples doesn't take no for an answer. Today, he's up and walking after being told he had no hope. "You can bet I was gonna die," he recalls.
But Foege knows something about determination. Three years ago, after doctors gave him little chance of recovering from heart failure, Foege started seeking out experimental stem cell treatments. After two failed procedures, he traveled to Bangkok, Thailand in March.
Doctors harvested his own stem cells, then injected them back into his heart to improve it's function. He's one of a handful of people in the world to undergo the treatment.
"It re-grows your heart," Foege says of the stem cells therapy. "Your own cells go back and are injected to the parts (that are) not functioning and the cells have your initials on it, your DNA on them." In short, the heart helps repair itself.
Foege was so close to death, he suffered a heart attack moments before he had the stem cell treatment. Twenty five days after undergoing the treatment, Foege says his heart function has improved by 50%. He hopes in the coming months, he will be fully recovered.
Not bad for someone who was told to find a hospice three years ago. "I was in the 30 day range for morbidity," he says. Foege's cardiologist, Dr. Carlo Santos admits stem cell therapy is promising. But he has concerns about the experimental treatment.
"I would want to know what the long term effects are and what the risks are before I can prescribe to patients," Dr. Santos says, noting the treatment is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. "Once that's figured out, I think that'll be the most exciting face of medicine that we'll be going into."
David Foege is excited too. "There are hundreds of diseases that can be cured with this therapy," Foege says. Stem cell therapy is believed to be beneficial for patients with cancer, Parkinson's disease, or who have suffered from stroke.
Foege hopes his treatment plays a small role in improving medicine for millions of people.
This article originally appeared on WINK TV news' website.
On April 24 I added an update from Peter, a 64 year old Australian who underwent VesCell therapy in early October 2005.
In his email Peter touched upon the fact that doctors and researchers don't exactly know how stem cell therapy works, therefore one patient should not automatically expect to see the same results as another. Some notice a general improvement in their well being within a couple of months, others such as Peter, see a more gradual improvement over time.
However, this past month has seen Peter's health improving by leaps and bounds as he explains in this recent email to TheraVitae's Co-Founder Don Margolis:
Hello Don,
I am very well now, walking for 1 hour every morning with no difficulty and the heart beat has become regular after years of irregularity . . . This last month or so has shown vast improvement, looks like it takes 6 months to really work . . . Have not had M.R.I. or Echo since December but I know it is better . . . I'm due to see a Cardiologist in August so will try to get one then.
Siriraj Hospital was the only hospital in Asia picked to send images of heart surgery to a conference of over 15,000 doctors, nurses and technicians which has been taking place in Paris, France.
Siriraj Hospital was chosen to transmit a live percutaneous coronary intervention to the EURO Palais de Congres 2006. The live procedure will be broadcast between 2pm and 3.30pm on Friday 19 May.
The EURO-PCR 2006 has chosen only 14 live transmission centres, and has included Her Majesty's Cardiac Centre in the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok.
Dr Damras Tresukosol, heads the endovascular-intervention unit at the centre, which during the past year alone, has treated 1,400 heart patients - the most in the country.
Dr. Tresukosol is also working with TheraVitae in conducting a clinical trial using autologous adult stem cells from peripheral blood to treat angina pectoris in patients suffering from ischemic heart disease. The interim results of this trial were presented at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting in Dallas last year.
The May 17th edition of Thailand's Nation newspaper carried the full story.
This week looks like turning into an around the world trip via news stories on stem cells. From Barbados, we move onto somewhere with slighty less sunshine . . . Wales.
As in many countries parents are deciding to have their childrens' umbilical blood cells cryogenically preserved for future use. It's interesting to read that although the article focuses on the work of a private company, the same serice is offered by four hospitals in the UK on the Naional Health Service, i.e. as a free service provided by state hospitals.
Welsh parents stem cell gamble
May 14 2006 , Marc Baker, Wales on Sunday
More than 400 parents in Wales have paid £1,000-plus to freeze their babies' umbilical blood to preserve stem cells, which could one day be used to cure medical problems.
The growing trend for 'mother nature's health insurance' comes as scientists work on new ways to treat conditions from paralysis to Alzheimer's through the use of stem cells.
However, medical experts say the conditions that cord blood-harvested cells can treat are so rare and treatments at such an early stage, it is not yet worth mums and dads spending the money.
Smart Cells International, the leading private provider of the service, said 416 parents in Wales - compared to 92 in Scotland - had already paid £1,375 to have their child's umbilical cord frozen for up to 25 years. In the UK as a whole, the company has frozen 3,500 stem cell samples.
Only four British hospitals - but none in Wales - offer a similar service for free on the NHS.
Sun, Sea, Sand. Now add stem cells. This may soon be how Barbados' tourism is promoted according to a report in Barbados' Nation News website.
This report comes in the wake of the hundred of thousands of dollars earned last year by hotels and the hospitality sector from patients and their loved ones who came here for stem cell treatment at the Institute of Regenerative Medicine (IRM) in St John.
The Institute treated over 40 patients last year and each stayed typically for a week at hotels. In addition many brought their family or close friends and spent between US$10,000 to US$20,000 during their time on the island.
The Institute's MD is bullish about the future potential for a large scale health tourism industry on the island. The treatment provided varies from procedures to help suffers of MS to cosmetic anti-aging treatments
Read the full story online at the Nation News site.
To round off the week I found a post from the 'The Hill Blog'. This blog is written by, and for, members of the US Congress and so contains posts on many subjects and topic matter. (Take a look and see what your lawmakers are saying to each other.)
In the post, added by New Jersey GOP Representative Chis Smith on 10 May, he provides readers with reasons why he supports research into adult stem cell treatments. Of course, the title 'The Truth About Stem Cells' is the truth as he, a pro-life supporter, sees it. But, regardless of his politics, it is good to see a member of the US Congress giving their support and backing to adult stem cell research and also helping to highlight medical advances and the wide range of diseases and disabilities which doctors are currently using adult stem cells to treat.
The Truth About Stem Cells
One might think that advances in adult and cord-blood stem cells would silence or at a minimum refocus those who insist that taxpayer dollars be used to subsidize the killing of human embryos. Strangely, the obsession to use federal taxpayer dollars for what could very well be a decades long process (where failure remains a strong possibility) remains.Despite many important advancements in adult and cord-blood stem cell research, media hype continues to focus on embryonic stem cells with little regard given to the fact that nearly 70 human clinical applications using adult stem cells have been published in peer reviewed journals.
In fact, I recently read about new developments in the adult stem cell field. In April, doctors at Wake Forest constructed new bladders for seven patients with bladder disease using the patients’ own stem cells. In March, British doctors reported treating five patients with liver failure with the patients own adult stem cells. Four of the five patients showed improvement and two regained near normal liver function. Late last year, Swedish researchers successfully used adult stem cells to generate functioning human brain cells, a procedure that may lead to treatments for spinal-cord injuries and neurological damage and diseases. International researchers also developed embryonic-like stem cells from umbilical-cord blood, a remarkable development that should end the practice of killing perfectly healthy human embryos to derive stem cells.
The misconception that the United States is falling behind or losing scientists because of the current embryonic stem cell policy is simply unsubstantiated. There is no statistical evidence that scientists are leaving the country due to the current policy.
In comparison to the progress achieved by researchers in adult and cord-blood stem cells, developments in the field of embryonic stem cells are disappointing. Despite years of research in animal embryonic stem cells and nearly eight years in the human-embryonic variety, research in embryonic stem cells have often resulted in failure and has a troubling tendency for these cells to form tumors. As experimental failures mount, predictions of eventual success have quietly changed from years to decades.
Illinois is one of only four American states whch has earmarked public funds for stem cell research. A total grant of US$10 million has been made available and will be divided amongst 10 researchers at hospitals and universities statewide who will benefit from this Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute program.
It's expected that Illinois will dedicate more funds to stem cell research within the next fiscal year. However, broader suport would require a referendum. Both embyonic and adult stem cell researchers have received grants.
Amongst those pursuing research in the field of adult stem cells are Dr. Dorothy Sipkins, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the U of C Hospitals (UCH), Chicago. Her research centers on looking at cells on the molecular level and investigating both normal and cancerous stem cells derived from adult bone marrow, in order to observe how the normal cells are affected by malignant growth. Once this process is understood, the search for cures or methods to prevent cancerous tumours can begin.
Yesterday, TheraVitae issued the following press release concerning breakthroughs in blood-borne stem cell research made by TheraVitae's R&D team which were presented to delegates at last week's International Society for Cellular Therapy Annual Meeting in Berlin, Germany.
+++
TheraVitae Presents Blood-borne Stem Cell Research Innovations at International Society for Cellular Therapy Annual Meeting in Berlin, Germany
Dr. Yael Porat, Vice-President of Research & Development, TheraVitae Ltd., delivered two poster presentations outlining the latest advances in its ongoing research into blood-borne stem cell biology and its clinical applications at the 12th International Society for Cellular Therapy Annual Meeting held in Berlin, Germany.
Berlin, Germany May 9, 2006 -- Dr. Yael Porat, Vice-President of Research & Development, TheraVitae Ltd, TheraVitae, producer of VesCell™ -- adult stem cell therapy for heart disease, presented the latest advances in its ongoing research into blood-borne stem cell biology and its clinical applications at the 12th International Society for Cellular Therapy Annual, which recently took place in Berlin from 4-7 May 2006.
The two poster presentations showcased the discovery of unique stem cell populations, which TheraVitae scientists have successfully isolated from human blood, and their potential to turn into different tissues in-vitro. The ability to obtain this population directly from blood using a simple, painless and rapid isolation process constitutes a major breakthrough in adult stem cell research and builds on the clinical success that VesCell™ has already demonstrated in the treatment of severe heart disease.
Remarking on the ground breaking developments made by TheraVitae’s R&D team, Dr. Porat stated “TheraVitae’s goal is to help patients suffering from hitherto untreatable diseases, and the new advances we are presenting at the ISCT meeting constitute another step towards achieving the development of additional autologous adult stem cell therapies.”
"Blood cells are a very accessible source of progenitor cells. Furthermore, their potential to generate a variety of cell types appears endless. Our goal is to push the boundaries of stem cell science by constantly developing new therapeutic cellular products.”, she added.
The first presentation ‘Synergetic Cell Population: A Multipotent Human Blood-Derived Cell Population as a Potential Source of Therapeutic progenitor Cells’ described the use of TheraVitae’s core technology. The simple, robust and rapid method of isolation of this distinctive cell population residing in the peripheral blood can lead to the development of treatments for a variety of diseases using autologous (the patient’s own) cells.
‘Adult Human Blood-Derived Leukocytes: An Efficient Source For Tissue Committed Neural Progenitors’ illustrated the development of neural-like cells from blood cells, and gives results from in-vitro and in-vivo preliminary experiments. Results show that the generation of therapeutically significant numbers of functional neural cell precursors from peripheral blood is feasible.
Dr. Valentin Fulga, CEO of TheraVitae commented: “We are proud with the fact that ISCT accepted two abstracts describing our scientists’ findings and that TheraVitae’s research results are being recognized by the scientific community. It is thanks to Yael, and her team’s efforts and skills that our company could achieve those results. I am sure that their continuous hard work and dedication will lead TheraVitae to additional accomplishments for the benefit of patients suffering from severe diseases.”
About the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT)
The ISCT is the professional organization for those working or interested in cell-based research, processing, manipulation, and clinical translation. Established in 1992, the Society provides a global forum for communication, education and training; performance of collaborative scientific studies; development and validation of standardized technology; representation of the membership to other professional organizations and regulatory and governmental bodies.
TheraVitae patient Bob Grinstead was the subject of a news report on Atlanta's 11 Alive TV News program and is also feaured on the 11alive.com website. The article covering Bob's story is below. However, you might also want to see and hear Bob, and his wife, talking about how VesCell therapy transformed their lives life. Take a look at the news coverage of Bob's story.
Saving Lives With Adult Stem Cells
A Roswell man gave up on living, content to sit down and wait for his heart to kill him.
His family was not content. They searched and found something -- it would be a big gamble, but now the family says the payoff is nothing short of a miracle. Bob Grinstead has traveled six months of the past year. He can clean the pool; he can do what he wants. His wife, Barbara, calls that a miracle.
“You reach over at night, and aren’t sure he’s alive to be there for you,” said Barbara Grinstead. A year ago Bob had given up on living. “I had basically decided I was going to read until I died,” said Bob.
Bob had four heart attacks; couldn’t raise his arms above his head; needed to sit to take a shower. “He was dying. It was painful to watch,” said Bob’s daughter, Darla McKenzie. Then Bob made a life-or-death gamble with a lot of money. “When you put out $39,000, you hope it’s not a scam,” Bob said.
He had heard about a stem cell procedure in Bangkok. What grabbed his attention -- it used his own stem cells. Daughter Darla went with her Mom and Dad to make sure they didn’t get ripped off. Bob’s blood was drawn, sent to Israel where his stem cells were multiplied, then injected into the worst parts of his heart.
“It basically changed my life. I can do what I want to do,” Bob said. Doctors say it caused small veins to grow so more blood can flow to his heart. Bob was the first person in the world to fly to Bangkok to have the procedure done. “I’m still lazy,” Bob said. “I don’t exercise, but I could. That’s the good part.”
Bob is going to windsurf next month on a beach vacation.
The more controversial embryonic stem cells can be used to do more things. Adult stem cells are particularly effective around the heart.
Visit for 11Alive.com website to read the original article.
I chosen the article below, from the BBC News, as it's a good example of a balanced report on one type of experimental stem cell therapy. The lengthy article covers one woman's search for a cure for MS from various points of view- her own, the Dutch company that offers the therapy and also from an eminent stem cell researcher at the UK based MS Society.
MS woman in stem cell therapy hope
Patricia Frost is a desperate woman. The multiple sclerosis she has fought for 14 years has slowly taken over her body and speech. The 66-year-old has not been able to walk for a decade and lost the use of her arms within the past year - leaving her unable to feed, wash or dress herself.
After being told there is nothing more her British doctors can do for her, except to help ease her pain, Patricia decided to take a huge gamble with her health. Along with her husband, Michael, she has taken a loan of more than £12,000 to go to the Netherlands to be injected with stem cells - the subject of much controversy - and a procedure that is unlicensed in the UK.
The couple, from Hythe near Southampton, live on benefits and despite help from family, friends and businesses over the past few months, there is still a lot to pay back. As Patricia waits in a hotel room the night before her treatment at the private Preventative Medicine Clinic (PMC) in Rotterdam, she explains how her MS controls her body.
"I can't read a newspaper unless somebody's turning the pages for me. I can't eat - somebody has to feed me. I can't even cuddle the grandchildren, which comes quite hard as you can imagine." She adds: "I have spoken to people who have had this treatment that have improved even slightly. And even if I can get the use of my hands and arms back, it would make life much easier."
It is agreed in conventional medical circles that stem cells have the potential to evolve into other cells - and they could be used in the future to treat diseases - a potential repair kit for the human body.
The Department of Health acknowledges that stem cells have the potential to revolutionise healthcare in the future and is investing £100m in stem cell research over the next two years. But it urges caution against seeking treatment or procedures that have not been subjected to rigorous clinical trials.
It told the BBC News website: "Much stem cell research is still in its infancy, and there is a long way to go before treatments are developed, but it has the potential to revolutionise medicine in this century in the way that antibiotics did in the last."
The Dutch clinic where Patricia will have her treatment is the subject of much controversy because it offers the procedure to patients as an experimental therapy. They do not use embryonic stem cells - the subject of much ethical debate - but umbilical cord blood stem cells, which they say is taken from full-term babies with the parents' consent.
Doctors at PMC claim cord blood stem cells can help repair and regenerate nerve damage caused by MS. They say they have an 80% success rate at achieving some noticeable improvements in their patients' various conditions and claim they have never seen harmful side effects.
But they are being investigated by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport after top neurologists in the Netherlands complained about their work. The allegations include accusing the clinic of not having submitted proposals to carry out clinical trials to any research ethics committee in the Netherlands.
There is also controversy over how the cord blood stem cells are supplied. A Swiss company, Advanced Cell Therapeutics (ACT) based in Zurich, harvests them for PMC and almost a dozen other clinics around the world.
British stem cell scientists such as Professor Neil Scolding of Bristol's Frenchay Hospital, who carries out research for the MS Society, says ACT "refuses to give any scientific details of how they prepare the cells". BBC News approached ACT seeking information about their procedures, but it failed to respond despite saying it would. Besides this, there is doubt over whether stem cells can help MS sufferers at all.
Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, a stem cell scientist at the National Institute for Medical Research, told BBC News: "I've been racking my brains trying to think how this sort of treatment could work. "Because as far as I'm aware there is no sound scientific reason to propose that it would have any beneficial effect on MS."
All this is causing a huge storm in the medical world, but for Patricia the treatment offers some hope and she is prepared to take the risk. Patricia arrives at PMC in Rotterdam, where she finds the staff are friendly and welcoming. She has spent two days in the city of Eindhoven having optional pre-treatments, which the clinic says will help detoxify her body.
For the first hour she is given a drip of Mannitol solution, which PMC says will "prepare the nervous system for taking up the stem cells". She then has about one million cord blood stem cells passed into her body via the drip and a series of injections into her neck, back and navel, while she remains in her wheelchair.
Anneke Matthijssen, the doctor administering the cells, says: "Afterwards you can say it was wrong, it was this or it was that, but at this moment it's our purpose to give people a chance who have no chance at all." The treatment is all over after four hours.
And after three exhausting days in The Netherlands, Patricia is ready to go home. On the way back to the airport, she is astounded by what happens next. As she sits in the taxi, she moves her neck to the side, "which I couldn't do before", she said. She also lifts her arms up slightly, something she says she was also previously unable to do.
The sudden change is a lot for her family to take in. Her son-in-law Kevin Wade, who has accompanied her on the trip, is close to tears. "It is absolutely unbelievable. Look, it's not even an hour since the stem cells went in," he says.
Whatever has or has not caused the change - it has given Patricia new hope and she has been told by the clinic it may take three months before the real benefits can be seen.
Click here to read the article, which includes photos, on the BBC News site.
Berin, Germany will be the location for any scientist, reaearcher, business leader or investmnet professonal who are interested in the advances in stem ell treatments. Berlin is playing host to the 12th International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) annual meeting.
The ISCT is the professional organization for those working or interested in cell-based research, processing, manipulation, and clinical translation.Established in 1992, the Society provides a global forum for: communication, education and training; performance of collaborative scientific studies; development and validation of standardized technology; representation of the membership to other professional organizations and regulatory and governmental bodies.
The 12th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Cellular Therapy is currently taking place, May 4 – 7, 2005 in Berlin. With the explosion of research, clinical trials, and general interest in the basic science and therapeutic applications of all types of cell, gene, and tissue-based technologies, ISCT 2006 provides participants with a unique opportunity to interact with researchers, laboratory professionals, physicians, regulatory specialists, business leaders and investment professionals all working, or interested, in various types of cellular therapy research.
If, like me, you've lost track of how the debate regarding the use of embryonic vs. adult stem cells actually began and long forgotten most of the major milestones along the way, America's National Public Radio has just published a handy timeline which should help refresh your memory.
Do you remember Richard Seed's dramatic announcement in January 1998 that he was establishing the first human cloning clinic?
Or how in August 2000, President Bill Clinton supported the National Institutes of Health's guidelines that allowed federal funding of embryonic stem-cell reserch, only for incomeing President George Bush to put funds on hold six month's later?
How many times have you seen headlines like the one above? And how many times have they been related to embryonic stem cell research? I'd guess your answer to the first question would be "Too many to count." and the answer to the second "Just about all of them."
And that's why it's good to read that the Australian government are bucking recent trends and pushing forward with federal funding for an adult stem cell research centre.
The funding for a new adult stem cell research centre in Brisbane was announced recently and the research centre at Queensland's Griffith University is believed to the first in the world dedicated to adult stem cell research. It will focus on diseases of the brain and spine, including Parkinson's, schizophrenia and motor neurone disease, but will not conduct research using embryonic stem cells.
Last year Australian scientists showed that stem cells from the olfactory mucosa - the organ of smell in the nose - could be grown in the laboratory into different types of cells, including heart, liver, muscle, kidney and blood cells. The researchers would not be drawn on the effectiveness of adult stem cells compared with embryonic stem cells, but said that their studies had shown that using adult cells was an efficient process.
Why push forward with adult stem cell therapies when elsewhere in the world funding for embryonic cell research is grabbing all the headlines? This quote from Professor Mackay-Sim, who is in charge of the centre, provides the answer "The main aim here is clinical outcomes."
Some companies, it seems, will go to any lengths in order to avoid/evade obeying with the laws governing stem cell research in a particular country. The company invovled in the following story which appeared on numerous websites last weekend is not currently breaking any laws, but going to extreme lengths to find a way around them in order to keep operating.
The company in question has now gone so far as to use a ferry, located in International waters to avoid Ireland's limits on experimental stem cell therapy treatment.
The company uses adult stem cells and are hyping a potential cure for repairing the spinal nerve damage that causes MS, an experimental treatment which does not have government approval. This treatment was originally offered at a clinic in Cork, Ireland. However, following complaints the Irish Medicines Board acted to stop it.
Now it appears that company officials are looking to use a boat to take patients into international waters 12 miles away from the Irish coast , and that whilst initial consultations will take place in Cork, the administration of stem cell therapy will take place in international waters aboard the ferry.
Yesterday's Sunday Times carried a story on Ireland's first human trial of stem cells on heart patients which will commence shortly.
10 patients suffering from chronic heart conditions will have stem cells grafted on to their hearts, to see if this helps to repair the organs. The hope is that the patient's own stem cells can repair the damaged area, avoiding the need for a transplant.
In order to obtain stem cells, bone marrow will be extracted from patients’ pelvises and over three to six weeks hundreds of millions of cells will be grown in the laboratory from a base of 50,000. They will then be grafted into the patients’ hearts.
It is hoped that gene therapy will prove so successful that it will eventually do away with invasive operations and organ transplants.
I will stop there because, as you probably know, this procedure is already being carried out around the world and is hardly a new form of treatment. However, it goes to show that there are still a huge number of people out there who don't yet realise that stem cell therapy is alreadya viable option for some 'no-option' heart patients.
Read the full article in 'The Times' newspaper online.
Site Feed