Adult Stem Cells still hold the best hope for EB

The University of Minnesota is several months into a new FDA approved trial for the treatment of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (EB), which is the most severe form.  The Edlings hope their son Daylon, scheduled to begin treatment this month, will benefit – even though the trial itself is risky. Daylon will receive a bone marrow transplant to trigger the  production of collagen VII. Of course, all of this is the “magic” of adult stem cells at work. We hope and pray the results will save Daylon’s life, and lead to the same life-saving therapies for others living with the most severe EB.  See the full story here.

See also: Cure Found for Child’s “Untreatable” Skin Disease! and Adult stem cells may help children with a severe skin disease

Lab grown windpipe: another adult stem cell success

CNN had this as their homepage featured story this morning . . . let’s hope the Obama admin health and science advisors will see it and draw the proper conclusions: more money for ethical research with adult stem cells that works, not embronyic stem cells.

Woman given windpipe

created in laboratory

LONDON, England (CNN) — Doctors have given a woman a new windpipe with tissue engineered from her own stem cells in what experts have hailed as a “milestone in medicine.”

The breakthrough allowed Claudia Castillo, 30, to receive a new section of trachea — an airway essential for breathing — without the risk that her body would reject the transplant.

Castillo was given the stem cell surgery, the controversial branch of medicine that some say could lead to human cloning, after suffering a severe lung collapse.

The condition, caused by long-term tuberculosis left Castillo, a Colombian now living in Barcelona, unable to carry out simple domestic duties or care for her two children.

The only conventional option was a major operation to remove her left lung, a risky procedure with a high mortality rate. continue

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.

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

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.

Hey Ladies Check it Out!

It turns out that there is more to the benefits of breast milk than we originally though. It appears that breast milk contains stem cells that aide the further development of the infant after birth (h/t Mary Meets Dolly):

“We already know how breast milk provides for the baby’s nutritional needs, but we are only just beginning to understand that it probably performs many other functions,” says Dr Cregan, a molecular biologist at The University of Western Australia.

He says that, in essence, a new mother’s mammary glands take over from the placenta to provide the development guidance to ensure a baby’s genetic destiny is fulfilled.

“It is setting the baby up for the perfect development,” he says. “We already know that babies who are breast fed have an IQ advantage and that there’s a raft of other health benefits. Researchers also believe that the protective effects of being breast fed continue well into adult life.

“The point is that many mothers see milks as identical – formula milk and breast milk look the same so they must be the same. But we know now that they are quite different and a lot of the effects of breast milk versus formula don’t become apparent for decades. Formula companies have focussed on matching breast milk’s nutritional qualities but formula can never provide the developmental guidance.”

Simply amazing. Women should never feel inferior to men. Honestly. Men play a major role in the creation of a new human being, but they surely can never boast of the amazing nurturing and life giving properties of the female body. Rejoice, therefore, for you are fearfully and wonderfully made!!

It is also true that women’s menstrual blood is rich in stem cells that even contain properties similar to embryonic stem cells.

A brilliant idea redux: hope for those needing transplants

Wow, while we are still waiting for that first ipsc therapy to come to be, and while we are still waiting for those promised embryonic stem cell cures, adult stem cells have done it again.

We learned earlier in the week that a rudimentary but beating heart has been generated in a University of Minnesota lab using a variety of adult stem cells from rats, which is awesome news because, if you’ll recall a previous post, while organ transplants may save lives, recipients have to contend with anti-rejection drugs with not-so-fun side effects for the rest of their lives.

Here come adult stem cells to save the day, again!  The New England Journal of Medicine reports that there may be a way to “trick” the recipient’s body into accepting an organ by transplanting bone marrow from the organ donor to the organ recipient. This has been tried before with little success. This time around, Dr. David Sachs suppressed the immune system of a soon-to-be recipient. After transplantation, the recipient was given an infusion of the kidney donor’s bone marrow, in essence creating a new immune system in the recipient.

If this isn’t real hope, what is? For more real hope for hearts, read here.

Editing to add – oops, forgot I blogged about ipsc’s as applied to sickle cell anemia – still no therapy, but probably not too far off, no?

Wayne State University Professor backs adult stem cell research

Commenting on her research using olfactory cells for spinal cord injuries, Professor Jean Peduzzi-Nelson believes that adult stem cells are both the safest and most effective for clinical treatments. Peduzzi-Nelson also appears in the Michigan Catholic Conference video, featured at left in our bookmarks. Read more.

Human fat source of potential nerve regeneration

None of this is “incredible” anymore – if it is, you’ve not been paying attention.

The researchers say this route for creating new nerves could be part of medical practice by the year 2011.

And if clinical trials on humans can proceed, probably sooner.

Stem Cells From Patient’s Fat Used To Grow New Nerves

Stem cells from a patient’s fat may be used to create new nerves that can repair severed peripheral nerves (nerves outside the spinal cord), say scientists from Manchester University, England. The researchers say this route for creating new nerves could be part of medical practice by the year 2011.

The scientists said their aim is to put the new nerve tissue inside a biodegradable plastic tube, insert in at the broken ends of the severed nerve, and rejoin them in a human. This procedure could help a considerable number of people. They say they have had promising results with rats.

You can read about this study in Experimental Neurology.

Current medicine offers very limited procedures to help restore peripheral nerves. Nerves from elsewhere can sometimes be used- however, the risk of additional damage is significant, and even when there are results they hardly ever restore perfect function, say the authors. continue