Human Patients Treated for MS With Adult Stem Cells

After immunosuppressive therapy fifty-six human patients with Multiple Sclerosis received autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (h/t Wesley Smith). Tatiana Ionova, MD, PhD, Department of Haematology, Pirogov National Medical Surgical Center, Moscow, Russia reports that “All patients appeared to respond to treatment.” From the release:

Improvement was seen in 62.3%, and stabilisation occurred in 37.7% of patients. Progression after improvement occurred in 7.1% and progression after stabilisation in 11.8% of patients.

There were no deaths during the course of the study.

Out of 26 patients included in the quality-of-life analysis, 24 exhibited a response and preserved a good quality of life during the follow-up. No unexpected treatment-related adverse events were observed.

Dr. Ionova concludes that this treatment is a safe and effective therapy for MS.

Meanwhile a woman in the UK is fighting for the right of her and her husband to travel to Switzerland for an assisted suicide after she can, “no longer bear being alive.” Tragic.

New Hope for Parkinson’s

According to a Griffith University study, published last Thursday in the journal Stem Cells, there is evidence that stem cells taken from a patient’s nose could produce dopamine-producing brain cells when transplanted into the brain. It has been a success in mice anyway.

I find this study particularly interesting because just a few years ago human spinal cord injury patients were also treated with stem cells from their own noses and every one of the seven patients showed improved ASIA motor scores, among other improvements (Read testimony from patient Jacki Rabon, or watch video).

Previous posts:
Stem Cells Treat Parkinson’s Disease
Ethical Life Science News (see last paragraph, story “Cell-based Therapy Shows Promise In Patients With Parkinson’s Disease”

Catholic Answers Action Project: Stem Cells, New Danger, New Hope

Karl Keating and Catholic Answers have come up with an important “state of stem cells” educational bulletin insert which we can all help fund and disseminate. They aim to send Stem Cells, New Danger, New Hope to every parish in the U.S., and even to each member of Congress before November.

That’s right folks, November. Are we really that pessimistic? Well no. But even if Senator Obama is not elected, there is still so much at stake - possibly many of the life-saving and life-affirming legislative gains regarding the funding of stem cell research put in place by President Bush. Some believe that recent iPS breakthroughs have undermined the demand for embryonic stem cell lines . . . but there is little evidence to support this idea.  Well, read all about it at Catholic Answers, and consider how you can help get this bulletin everywhere it needs to be read . . . and soon!

Bill talks with Don Margolis about a new stem cell org

While BOGO may be winding down (though there is some inventory still available, folks!), Bill Schneeberger is still out there doing his part to promote adult stem cell research and therapies. He will be talking with Don Margolis about The Repair Stem Cells Institute. Listen in on Walking on Water Radio on Thursday,  June 12th.

Friendly Fire: Dawn Eden reports on the ANT debate

It’s one I’ve been interested in for awhile, but with the recent iPS breakthroughs, concerns about ANT seemed to have taken a back seat in the world of Catholic bioethics. Dawn’s article is a great read not only for those who may not be familiar with the concerns surrounding ANT and its federal funding under the umbrella of pluripotent stem cell research, but also for those of us who have been wondering “what’s up with that?” of late.

Check it out at Inside Catholic: Friendly Fire: The Rough and Tumble World of the Stem Cell Debate

Cure Found for Child’s “Untreatable” Skin Disease!

Two year old Nate Liao is the first person to be successfully treated with cord blood and bone marrow stem cells to correct his epidermolysis bullosa (EB). Now doctor’s say they have set the path for a cure for his painful genetic skin disease. Those who suffer from this disease experience a life of chronic pain, blisters, sores, amputations, infections and it can eventually lead to cancer. Nate received the stem cells from his healthy brother last October. Nate’s brother Jacob, who also has the disease, received a cord-blood transplant from an unrelated donor on May 30. Watch video

While scientists back off claims that embryonic stem cells will ever treat human patients, ethical “adult” stem cells continue to impact the lives of many.

Previous ASCA post:
Adult stem cells may help children with a severe skin disease

Stimulating Stem Cells to Treat ALS

Some Canadian researchers say it might be possible to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by stimulating the body’s own stem cells:

The idea is to use a growth-factor stimulant to increase the number of stem cells in the body, in the hope they will travel to the site of motor-neuron injury and slow down the disease’s progression, says [team leader] Dr. [Neil] Cashman.

After successfully completing a small trial with eight patients, Dr. Cashman is now building support for a trial involving ALS centers all across Canada.

Read more

Enzyme Induces Adult Stem Cells to Grow Bone

So far scientists have had a hard time making human adult stem cells produce bone, but some researchers are closer to solving this problem:

Researchers at the University of Twente have shown that if the enzyme PKA is previously activated in the stem cells in the lab, following implantation this results in substantial bone formation. This opens up new ways of repairing bone tissue using cell material from the patient. The researchers are publishing their work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Read more

Fr. Berg fighting for even-handedness at Empire State Stem Cell Board

Last year Fr. Thomas Berg, founder of the Westchester Institute, was appointed to the ethics committee of the newly formed Empire State Stem Cell board. I wondered (aloud) if he would be able to be a positive influence as a voice not just for alternative sources of stem cells, but for the larger field of adult stem cell research. Well, now we know! Kudos to Fr. Berg for this National Review article, “New York’s $600 Million Dollar Question” :

My intense exposure to the field of stem-cell research over the past eight years has too often revealed a largely unsubstantiated bias favoring work on human embryonic stem cells over other types of research — especially work on adult stem cells. And today, this is a bias turned scientific and political ideology, one that too often dominates the imaginations of those who hold the purse strings on private and State funding.

Editing to note that Don Margolis has blogged this article, too. For those looking for sickle cell anemia news, it’s worth your while to check out Fr. Berg’s article for information about Dr. Lubin’s research. As a carrier of this trait, I know that adult stem cell therapies are “where it’s at” for sickle cell disease (and so many others) . . . but apparently CIRM can’t absorb that inconvenient truth.

Judie Brown not happy with language in WI bishops’ stem cell letter

Recently the Catholic bishops of Wisconsin released a pastoral letter entitled, “Serving All and Sacrificing None”.  Judie Brown of American Life League finds the language used in the document “sloppy”. Catholic Exchange has Judie’s full commentary here.

She finds fault, for instance, with the bishops’ wording:

We know many struggle with official Catholic teaching that a small group of cells invisible to the naked eye deserves the same protection as the life of a baby in the womb. . .

She may have a point. Professor Diane Irving is also unhappy with this language. On the other hand, it is important to convey to those who are sincerely confused (or just plain obstinately wrong) that we do understand why they do not see what we see. They see individual cells, we see the early stages of an already existent human being. If we cannot show them that we see what they see, they will not even begin to try to see what we see. Perhaps it would have been better not to omit or change the words “a small group of cells”, but to add to them, ‘which is already a human being with an inherent right to life”.

Is this just tit for tat, dotting “i’s”, etc? I don’t know. In my work, I do know that language is powerful. Judie’s point is true, a concession of a word here or there can have difficult consequences. On the other hand, there are ways to use language which can build bridges and invite opportunities for understanding . . . and that is, I think, the goal of a pastoral letter. What do you think?