ADULT STEM CELLS AND RADIATION?

The question of radiation during adult stem cell treatments came up today:

N says: “Touting adult stem cells as the way to salvation, even with donor human hematopoietic stem cells (hHESCs) (adult stem cells), used in the treatment of leukemia patients, a patient must undergo a radiation treatment to suppress their immune system prior to receiving the donor hHESCs. StemCellBlogger commented on the need for immunosuppression when using hESCs in clinical translational therapy. Given that a patient must receive a near lethal dose of radiation, knocking out their immune system BEFORE receiving hHESCs from a registered DONOR, flies in the face of reason when compared to the immunosuppression required for hESC infusion. A patient receivng either a liver, kidney, pancreas or dual kidney pancreas organ transplant receives immunosuppression in the form of Campath as a prophylactic prior to the transplant and then must either receive Prograf, Cyclosporin, or Sirolimus (depending on the tissue transplanted) in order to suppress the patients immune system, allowing the graft to survive while avoiding graft-vs-host rejection. If we are going to talk about translational therapies, then let’s get into the meat and stop chewing the fat.

My response: I’m not talking about bone marrow transplants for leukemia patients, I’m talking about adult stem cell treatments used in regenerative medicine.  For example, CBS who have called adult stem cells snake oil for years just did a very positive piece on a recent heart trial:

CBS VIDEO on Adult Stem Cell Success with Heart Disease

CBS ARTICLE on Adult Stem Cell Success with Heart Disease

“This study is still in progress. 16 patients were assigned to the treatment group and seven to the control group; no CSC-related adverse effects were reported. In 14 CSC-treated patients who were analysed, LVEF increased from 30·3% (SE 1·9) before CSC infusion to 38·5% (2·8) at 4 months after infusion (p=0·001). By contrast, in seven control patients, during the corresponding time interval, LVEF did not change (30·1% [2·4] at 4 months after CABG vs 30·2% [2·5] at 8 months after CABG). Importantly, the salubrious effects of CSCs were even more pronounced at 1 year in eight patients (eg, LVEF increased by 12·3 ejection fraction units [2·1] vs baseline, p=0·0007). In the seven treated patients in whom cardiac MRI could be done, infarct size decreased from 32·6 g (6·3) by 7·8 g (1·7; 24%) at 4 months (p=0·004) and 9·8 g (3·5; 30%) at 1 year (p=0·04).”

via Clinical Trial in The Lancet CBS Based Their Reporting On

While the study is still in prgress and the results are preliminary, I find it extremely ironic that CBS uses words like “breakthrough” and “first ever” and N acts as if he doesn’t know about the 443 clinical trials at clinicaltrials.gov with the keywords “stem cell” and “cardiac?,” over 2,000 completed Adult stem cell trials, thousands of patients treated safely and effectively around the world and over 5,170 peer reviewed published studies with the keywords “adult stem cell” and “cardiac?”

The results are great the history is extensive and no radiation is needed.In fact, even MS which used to need radiation to treat with adult stem cells no longer needs radiation.

Can MS be treated with stem cells?

For more information and to see if you are a candidate for adult stem cell treatment: http://bit.ly/PATIENTQUESTIONNAIRE

I did some digging and would like to present the preliminary results to answer the question:

Can MS be treated with stem cells?

SOME MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS CLINICAL TRIALS

• Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for multiple sclerosis – 2002 clinical trial based on data collected from TWENTY medical institutes around the world.  Conclusion: Autologous HSCT suggest positive early results in the management of progressive MS and is feasible – http://www.springerlink.com/content/1b19ldgyecqvny3w/
• Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation in Progressive Multiple Sclerosis, Sep 16, 1999  These results appear better than those achieved by any other treatment of progressive multiple sclerosis, including beta-interferon… – http://www.springerlink.com/index/H6X0866N90633266.pdf
• “Dose of stem cells reverses some MS” - January 31, 2009 – STUDY – “A dose of their own stem cells “reset” the malfunctioning immune system of patients with early-stage multiple sclerosis and, for the first time, reversed their disability, according to researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago. Three years after being treated, on average, 17 of the 21 patients had improved on tests, suffering fewer problems with their balance or vision, 16 had experienced no relapse, and none had deteriorated.  This marks the first “reversal” of neurologic loss caused by this disease, says Richard Burt of Northwestern University in Chicago.
• More – http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/multiple-sclerosis-and-stem-cells-need-more-info/

————————————-

Can MS be treated with stem cells?

You decide. Here are 11 articles from my blog,  28,000 from google news and there are a total of 20 clinical trials from clinicaltrials.gov

From my blog…

Autologous Stem Cell Transplants, Visible Progress in 8 of 10 Patients

***http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/ms-and-stem-cells-time-is-brain-in-ms/

*** http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/my-ms-pain-is-gone/

* * * http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/fat-derived-stem-cells-might-treat-ms-us-news-and-world-report/

* * * http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/britt%e2%80%99s-fight-against-multiple-sclerosis-hits-home-for-uncw-starnewsonlinecom-star-news-wilmington-nc/

* * * http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/04/09/stem-cell-breakthrough-may-lead-to-ms-treatments-forbescom/

* * * http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/my-battle-with-and-victory-over-ms-by-preston-walker-part-2/

* * * http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/my-battle-with-and-victory-over-ms-by-preston-walker-part-1/

* * * http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/study-stem-cell-transplants-could-reverse-ms-cloning-and-stem-cells-msnbccom/

* * * http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/foxnewscom-college-student-with-multiple-sclerosis-symptom-free-after-stem-cell-treatment-health-news-current-health-news-medical-news/

* * * http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/stem-cells-ms-multiple-sclerosis-cured-by-adult-stem-cells-video-stem-cell-research-and-stem-cell-therapy/

* * * http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/multiple-sclerosis-ms-stem-cell-trials-us-is-starting-to-%e2%80%9ccatch-up%e2%80%9d/

* * * http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/the-us-is-playing-catch-up-with-stem-cells-ms/

* * * http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/stem-cell-transplants-help-ms-victims/

…and about 28,000 scholarly papers/studys on “MS stem cell” here:
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=multiple%20sclerosis%20trial%20stem%20cell&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=ws\

…and 20 responses from clinicaltrials.gov on “multiple sclerosis stem cell”
http://clinicaltrial.gov/ct2/results?term=multiple+sclerosis+stem+cell

For more information and to see if you are a candidate for adult stem cell treatment: http://bit.ly/PATIENTQUESTIONNAIRE

Autologous Stem Cell Transplants, Visible Progress in 8 of 10 Patients

More evidence that Multiple Sclerosis is no match for adult stem cell treatments. – David

Autologous Stem Cell Transplants, Visible Progress in 8 of 10 Patients

- on 18 October 2011

Tags: Bone marrow, Broadway theatre, Building, Chicago, Health, Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, Immune system, Jimmy Osmond, Neurology, Northwestern University, Sears Tower, Skyscraper, Stem cell, United States.

Transplanting stem cells from one’s own bone marrow (autologous stem cell transplants) improves the symptoms of muscular sclerosis (MS), and in some cases the neurological disease actually regressed. These are the encouraging results obtained from a small study performed on 21 remittent MS patients by a group from the Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago and published in Lancet Neurology. “All of the patients,” said the neurologists, “witnessed an improvement in their conditions three years after the stem cell transplants were performed. Of these, 81pct benefited from visible progress, measured in terms of the scale of their disability.”

With these “encouraging” results, the researchers decided to perform another study involving more patients, and compared their results with traditional treatments. The experiment involved the removal and freezing of bone marrow after treating the marrow with drugs to remove the lymphocytes of the immune system which are responsible for attacking nerve system fibers in MS patients.

At the end of the process, doctors implanted stem cells, which proved to be able to give the MS patients a normally functioning immune system. The time factor, underlined neurologists, seems crucial in the efficiency for stem cells because “if we intervene quickly, we are able to exploit the body’s ability to repair itself, which in the long term is lost”. In any case, scientists say that “ it is not a definitive cure for muscular sclerosis”.

• MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS TREATMENT INFO
• TREATMENT INFORMATION REQUEST – PATIENT QUESTIONNAIRE

OPRAH, MICHAEL J FOX, DR OZ – STEM CELL DEBATE IS DEAD!

The debate ended 2.5 years ago but the battle still wages on! SO much has changed in 2.5 years  yet so much remains the same. 

The world has embraced the knowledge that adult stem cells can treat almost anything with safety and success but nobody in the USA knows about it because they are not available here and considered “unapproved by the FDA.”

Maybe we can enlist the “Occupy Wall Street” peeps to make some huge needed changes in our health care and available treatments.  – David

Originally from: http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/oprah-michael-j-fox-dr-mehmet-oz-the-stem-cell-debate-is-over/

The Stem Cell Debate Is Over! ...sort of...

The Wisdom of Oz

Visualize the surreal image of Oprah Winfrey, Michael J Fox and Dr. Mehmet Oz, wearing purple surgical gloves, sitting on stage around a human brain. Dr. Oz explains the absence of Nigro-Striatal Neurons in the brain of Parkinson’s patients while lifting out partially dissected chunks of brain and placing them into Michael’s shaking hand.

The camera zooms in as Dr. Oz steadies Michael’s hand in his. Dr. Oz weaves an intimidating, steel needle between Michael’s gloved and trembling fingers and illustrates the procedure for injecting stem cells into the brain by plunging it both into and through the quivering cerebellum. Michael’s legs spasm and contort and my stomach clenches empathetically with what I sense is Michael’s extreme discomfort, but is really a symptom of his condition.

And yet, NOTHING could have prepared me for what happened next as Dr. Oz, unbelievably and without prelude or warning, makes the stunning statement:
“I think, Oprah, the stem cell debate is dead.”

“The problem with embryonic stem cells is that embryonic stem cells come from embryos, like all of us are made from embryos, and those cells can become any cell in the body, but it’s very hard to control them and so they can become cancer.”

While astonished by his public announcement, I soon began to wonder: “why did Dr Oz only briefly allude to the potential of iPS cells and the proven benefits of adult stem cell treatments?” And then it became clear.

Dr Oz recognizes that the average person on an American street is led to believe, “a stem cell is an embryo is a stem cell”. Due to years of misleading media saturation, as far most Americans know, there are no other stem cells besides embryonic. Walk down the street and ask someone “what is an adult stem cell…what is an iPS cell”, and your inquiries will surely be met by blank stares.

So in retrospect, what Oz DID do, was truly…amazing.

Shunning the history of the love/hate affair Americans have with Embryonic stem cell research and ignoring the majority of US media over the past 5 years, the decrees of President Obama’s funding policies, the positions of the FDA and AMA and the fruitless decade long public pursuit of embryonic cures undertaken by Michael J Fox (with the benevolent and optimistic spirit of Christopher Reeve hovering over him) and before the bewildered eyes of Michael, Oprah and ~7.2 million viewers, Dr Mehmet Oz nailed the coffin shut on ESC treatments:
“I think, Oprah, the stem cell debate is dead.”

With this one simple statement on national TV, Dr Oz has taken the first step towards educating the American public about the current insurmountable limitations of embryonic stem cells and cracked open the door to the American collective mind-set regarding the potential of iPS cells and the reality that Repair stem cells (RSC) have been treating diseases around the world successfully for a decade. Despite the fact that thousands of American doctors refer to RSC as “snake oil,” more and more American patients are realizing that the US medical system is faltering, dated and just not working while the greatest medicine the world has ever seen is available just beyond the borders of their own country.

The seeds planted by Dr Oz will take a long time to find purchase in the collective American mind-set. There is too much embryonic momentum, media and drama, and America loves drama. Embryonic stem cells will not go away and like Romeo and Juliet, this love/hate affair may have to run its course for most, despite Dr Oz stealing the “distilled liquor” and Romeo’s poison and dagger in an attempt to avoid all of the deaths at the end of this play.

To read more about this grim fairy tale: http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/a-grim-fairy-tale-americas-doomed-love-affair-with-embryonic-stem-cell-research-intro-the-romance-is-an-illusion/

One step at a time we will climb this mountain and slowly open American eyes to improve their knowledge of treatment options so all can intelligently exercise the freedom of choice in their individual medical care. One inch at a time, Oz wisely created a pathway to an amazing new world of available medical treatments for what were previously believed to be incurable diseases and are in fact treating patients successfully around the world.

Dr Oz took this first step and it was a HUGE first step!

So from where I am sitting, I would like to express my heartfelt and sincerest appreciation for Dr Oz’s bravery, statements and actions. Thank you, Dr. Oz and thank you Oprah; for allowing this sage doctor the forum to break the walls restricting millions of Americans from the knowledge of the medical treatment options they so unquestionably deserve.

Here is the actual transcript based on my ears and fingers and a lot of patient rewinding:

“I think, Oprah, the stem cell debate is dead.”

“The problem with embryonic stem cells is that embryonic stem cells come from embryos, like all of us are made from embryos, and those cells can become any cell in the body, but it’s very hard to control them and so they can become cancer.”

“I can take a little bit of your skin, take those cells, get them to go back in time so they are like they were when you were first made, and then they will start to make that dopamine & I think those cells, because they won’t be as prone to cancer & because they’re your genes will be the ones that are ultimately used to cure Parkinsons.”

“I think we are single digit years away from making a big impact in the lives of Parkinson’s disease but also diabetics, heart disease, people who have had a lot of problems.”

To see the original video: http://www.oprah.com/media/20090319-tows-dr-oz-brain

Method weeds out best stem cells for MS

“The scientists then injected the cells into the brains of mice that were born without the ability to make myelin. Twelve weeks later, the cells had become oligodendrocytes and had coated more than 40 percent of the brain’s neurons with myelin—a four-fold improvement over their earlier results.”

This is why stem cell treatments for MS work! – David

Method weeds out best stem cells for MS

U. BUFFALO/ U. ROCHESTER (US) — Scientists have discovered a precise way to isolate the specific stem cells needed to treat multiple sclerosis and a variety of childhood diseases caused by the brain’s inability to make myelin.

Twelve weeks after scientists injected specific stem cells into the brains of mice that were born without the ability to make myelin, the cells had coated more than 40 percent of the brain’s neurons with myelin (areas in red)—a four-fold improvement over earlier results. (Credit: University at Buffalo)

Myelin is the crucial fatty material that coats neurons and allows them to signal effectively. The research, reported online in Nature Biotechnology, overcomes an important barrier to using stem cells to treat demyelinating diseases.

Until now, it has been difficult to separate out the right progenitor cells—the ones that will develop into cells that make myelin—says Fraser Sim, assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University at Buffalo and the study’s first and co-corresponding author. He conducted most of the work as a researcher at the University of Rochester.

Straight from the Source:Read the original study – DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1972

…Sim and Rochester graduate student Crystal McClain ran extensive analyses looking at gene activity in different types of stem cells, leading to the conclusion that stem cells carrying a protein known as CD140a on their surface seemed to be most likely to become oligodendrocytes—the type of brain cell that makes myelin.

The scientists then injected the cells into the brains of mice that were born without the ability to make myelin. Twelve weeks later, the cells had become oligodendrocytes and had coated more than 40 percent of the brain’s neurons with myelin—a four-fold improvement over their earlier results.

…“These cells migrate more effectively throughout the brain, and they myelinate other cells more quickly and more efficiently than any other cells assessed thus far. Now we finally have a cell type that we think is safe and effective enough to propose for clinical trials.”

…The new approach may also be applicable to Krabbe’s Disease, Sim says, which also involves the breakdown of myelin. Sim, who came to UB in 2009, is actively collaborating on related work with researchers at the Hunter James Kelly Research Institute, a partnership between UB and the Hunter’s Hope Foundation and located in UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences.

The work was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the New York State Stem Cell Research Board, the Adelson Medical Research Foundation and the Mathers Charitable Foundation.

NEW MS TREATMENT INFO!!!

NEW MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS TREATMENT INFO!!!!

For those interested, I just received 13 pages of Stem Cell Treatments of MS info. There is editing and translation and I am trying to get fully substantiated results for these treatments. I will have it to those of you who are interested shortly.

MS MS MS MS MS MS MS MS MS MS MS

some info on stem cell treatments for MS.

• http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2011/09/17/stem-cells-for-ms/

• http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/adult-stem-cells-help-patients-with-aggressive-multiple-sclerosis/

• http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/multiple-sclerosis-and-stem-cells-need-more-info/

I can tell you where to go, costs, protocols, etc. No charge for my help, just trying to give you some info.

STEM CELLS FOR MS

MORE CONFIRMATION IT WORKS!

Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2011;111(2 Suppl 2):72-6.

[Transplantation of mesenchymal

stem cells in multiple sclerosis].

Abstract

To assess safety and tolerability of treatment with autologic multipotent mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in multiple sclerosis (MS), we have obtained autologic red bone marrow-derived MSC from 8 patients. Proliferation, immunophenotype and caryotype of MSC, their sterility, the absence of hemopoetic cells, chromosomal aberrations and signs of aging were controlled during the cell growth. The inverse injection of MSC in patient’s blood was conducted in accordance to the elaborated protocol in a short intravenous infusion in dose 2.0 x 10(6)/kg of body mass once in 30 days.

• The duration of treatment was from 4 to 8 months.
• The efficacy of treatment was assessed after 4, 8 and 12 months.
• All patients tolerated repeated intravenous infusions of autologic MSC well with no significant side-effects as in the early as well in the remote periods of treatment.
• The distinct positive effect was seen in some cases 2 months after the beginning of treatment.
• The improvement of 0.5 point on EDSS was seen in 5/8 patients after 4 months.
• After 12 months, the improvement of 0.5-1 point on EDSS was seen in 6/8, stabilization in 1/8, progression in 1/8.
• These results revealed the safety of the elaborated protocol of treatment and the moderate clinical efficacy of treatment in non-curable patients or those with poor response to treatment that suggested continuing the study and enrollment of new patients.

Adult Stem Cells Help Patients with Aggressive Multiple Sclerosis

Adult Stem Cells Help Patients with Aggressive Multiple Sclerosis
by David Prentice – March 22, 2011

A team of scientists from Thessaloniki, Greece, have shown that chemotherapy followed by adult stem cell transplant can stop progression of aggressive multiple sclerosis (MS). The team observed a group of 35 patients who received transplants of their own bone marrow adult stem cells after being treated with chemotherapy to wipe out the rogue immune cells that were attacking their nervous system and causing their MS. An average of 11 years after their transplants, 25% of the patients in Greece have not seen their disease progress, the researchers report. Among patients with active lesions on MRI scans before their transplants, indicating that they were in an inflammatory phase of the disease, 44% have not progressed. For 16 people, symptoms improved by an average of one point on their disability scale after the transplant, and the improvements lasted for an average of two years. The participants also had a reduction in the number and size of lesions in their brains. But two patients died from transplant-related complications. The results are published in the journal Neurology, the journal of the American Association of Neurology. Co-author Dr. Vasilios Kimiskidis said:

“Keeping that in mind, our feeling is that stem cell transplants may benefit people with rapidly progressive MS. This is not a therapy for the general population of people with MS but should be reserved for aggressive cases that are still in the inflammatory phase of the disease.”

Other researchers not associated with the current study commented that this was still a big step forward in the use of adult stem cells to treat MS Dr. Richard Nash of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle noted:

“This is the first long-term paper that’s being published on this.”

Nash is part of a National Institutes of Health trial of stem cell transplants for MS, but he was not involved in the Greek study.

Dr. Richard Burt, Chief of the Division of Medicine-Immunotherapy for Autoimmune Diseases at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, points out:

“It’s the only therapy to date that has been shown to reverse neurologic deficits. But you have to get the right group of patients.”

Burt published a study in 2009 in The Lancet in which 17 out of 21 patients with relapsing-remitting MS improved after stem cell transplants.

In a gentler method of treatment, Prof. Neil Scolding and colleagues published positive results in 2010 for stabilization of MS patients using their own adult stem cells.

Adult stem cells continue to lead the way, showing published evidence of positive benefits for thousands of patients with dozens of diseases and conditions.

FRC Blog » Adult Stem Cells Help Patients with Aggressive Multiple Sclerosis.

Babies Can Be Treated With Adult Stem Cells, Even in the Womb | LifeNews.com

This is AWESOME!

They’ve been trying to treat fetuses in the womb with stem cells for awhile now (adult stem cells, NOT embryonic!  embryonic can cause tumors!)  In the past, they tried to use the baby’s own stem cells…with mixed results.

“But despite the fact that the immature immune system of an unborn baby can tolerate donor transplants, with little risk of graft rejection, most previous attempts to transplant blood stem cells into a human fetus have been unsuccessful…”

BUT

“When transplants were matched to the mother rather than the fetus, the transplants were accepted!…Transplanting stem cells harvested from the mother makes sense because the mother and her developing fetus are prewired to tolerate each other.”

IMAGINE!

‘in-the-womb treatments for “everything from neurological disorders to muscular disorders before birth.”’

Babies Can Be Treated With Adult Stem Cells, Even in the Womb | LifeNews.com

Two recent stories are exciting about the possibility of treating young children, even in the womb, with adult stem cells. One study shows that cardiac adult stem cells can be isolated from young children with heart problems, even as young as one day old…