StemCell Therapy

Stem Cell Therapy: Repair and Regenerate Our Bodies

$USRM

Stem Cells 101: The primary purpose of stem cells is to maintain, heal and regenerate tissues wherever they reside in the body. This is a continuous process that occurs inside the body throughout life. If we did not have stem cells, our lifespan would be about 1 hour, because there would be nothing to replace exhausted cells or damaged tissue.

Notably: any time the body is exposed to any sort of toxin, the inflammatory process causes stem cells to swarm the area to repair the damage.

While it is easy to think of stem cell therapy as some sort of magic, it is wise to implement strategies that nourish and optimize the stem cells we already have in your body.

Dr. Kristin Comella, a notable Stem Cell innovator, writes: You have to create an appropriate environment for these cells to function in. If you are putting garbage into your body and youre constantly burdening your body with toxins, your stem cells are getting too distracted trying to fight off those toxins. By creating an appropriate environment, optimizing your diet and reducing exposure to toxins, that will allow the stem cells that were putting in to really home in and focus on the true issue that were trying to treat.

The other thing weve discovered over the years is that [stem cell therapy] is not the type of thing where you take one dose and youre cured forever. Your tissues are constantly getting damaged Youre going to have to repeat-dose and use those stem cells to your advantage.

When you think about a lizard that loses its tail, it takes two years to grow back the tail. Why would we put unrealistic expectations on the stem cells that were trying to apply to repair or replace damaged tissue? This is a very slow process. This is something that will occur over months and may require repeat dosing.

Stem cells historically were isolated from bone marrow, and have been used for bone marrow transplants for cancer patients since the 1930s. However, we can get stem cells from just about any tissue in the body, every tissue contains stem cells.

Actually our marrow has very low amounts of mesenchymal stem cells, which are now believed to be the most important, from a therapeutic perspective.

Mesenchymal stem cells help trigger an immunomodulatory response or a paracrine effect, which means they send signals out to the rest of the body, calling cells to the area to help promote healing.

What weve discovered in more recent years is that a more plentiful source of stem cells is actually your fat tissue. [Body] fat can contain up to 500 times more cells than your bone marrow, as far as these mesenchymal type stem cells go.

One thing thats also critically important when youre talking about isolating the cells is the number of other cells that are going to be part of that population. When youre isolating a bone marrow sample, this actually is very high in white blood cells, which are pro-inflammatory, Ms. Comella writes.

White blood cells are part of the human immune response.

When an injury occurs, or a foreign body enters our system, white blood cells will attack. Unfortunately, white blood cells do not discriminate, and can create quite a bit of damage as they clean the area out.

Stem cells, in particular the mesenchymal cells, quiet down the white blood cells and then start the regeneration phase, which leads to new tissue. Bone marrow tends to be very high in white blood cells and low in the mesenchymal cells.

So, isolating stem cells from fat tissue is preferred not only because its easier on the patient, but fat also contains a higher population of mesenchymal cells and fewer white blood cells.

The benefit also of isolating [stem cells from] fat is that its a relatively simple procedure. Theres typically no shortage of fat tissue, especially in Americans, Dr.. Comella says. Also, as you age, your bone marrow declines with regards to the number of cells in it, whereas the fat tissue maintains a pretty high number of stem cells, even in older individuals.

Fat can be successfully harvested from just about anyone, regardless of their age or how thin they are. The procedure is done under local anesthesia, meaning that the patient stays awake. We can harvest as few as 15 cubic centimeters of fat, which is a very small amount of fat, and still get a very high number of stem cells.

A stem cell procedure can cost anywhere from $5,000 15,000, depending on what one is having done, and rarely if ever will insurance cover it.

Still, when compared it to the cost of long-term medications or the out-of-pocket cost of getting a knee replacement, stem cell therapy may still be a less expensive alternative.

Also, a single extraction will typically yield enough stem cells for 20 to 25 future treatments, should one decide to store his/her stem cells for future needs.

I think its accessible for patients, Dr.. Comella says. Its an out-patient procedure. You plan to be in clinic for about two hours; no real limitations afterwards, just no submerging in water, no alcohol, no smoking for a week. But other than that, patients can resume their normal activities and go about their regular daily lives.

She notes that patients who eat a very healthy diet, focusing on Organic and grass fed foods, have body fat that is very hearty and almost sticky, yielding high amounts of very healthy stem cells.

We can grow much better and faster stem cells from that fat than [the fat from] somebody who eats a grain-based diet or is exposed to a lot of toxins in their diet, she says. Their fat tends to be very fluffy, buttery yellow. The cells that come out of that are not necessarily as good a quality. Its just been very interesting. And of note, patients that are cigarette smokers, their fat is actually gray-tinged in color. The stem cells do not grow well at all.

What has been described above is whats called an autologous donation, meaning a person is getting the stem cells from oneself. A number of companies provide non-autologous donations using cells harvested from other people, typically women, like amniotic or embryonic mesenchymal cells.

This is an important distinction.

There are now just a couple of studies that have been published comparing an autologous source, meaning cells from you own body, to an allogeneic source, meaning cells from someone else.

So far, what has been discovered is that the autologous cells will outperform somebody elses cells inside ones body. This is not fully understood yet. It may be that the environment that ones own cells function in, and that they used to that environment. They recognize it. It is the same DNA and they can function well there.

But, once the culture is expanded and a pure population of these mesenchymal cells, not necessarily the sample thats coming right off of the liposuction, but a sample that has been taken to the lab and grown, those cells will not elicit an immune response if you use them in someone else. You could scientifically and medically use those in an unmatched person. However, there are some regulatory aspects of that with regards to the FDA.

In the US, there are a variety of new stem cell products available, referred to as amniotic, cord blood products or placenta products, which are prepared at a tissue bank. Such facilities must be registered with the FDA, and the products must undergo additional processing.

For example, they must be morselized, or snap frozen or blended in some way. Such processing typically breaks the membrane, releasing growth factors, and the resulting products are called acellular, meaning there are no living cells remaining in the sample.

The amniotic products available in the US are not so much stem cell products as they are growth factor products.

Dr. Comella notes: They can be useful in creating an immunomodulatory response, which can help to promote healing, but that still differs from the living stem cell procedures that can be done by either isolating cells from your fat or bone marrow. As a general rule, you do not achieve the clinical benefits when using an amniotic product, primarily because they do not contain living stem cells.

I want to contrast that to what are called embryonic stem cells, Dr. Comella adds. The products obtained from cord blood, from women who are having babies, are not embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are when you are first bringing the egg and sperm together. Three days after that, you can isolate what is called an inner cell mass. This inner cell mass can be used to then grow cells in culture, or that inner cell mass could eventually lead to the formation of a baby.

Those are embryonic stem cells, and those are pluripotential, meaning that they have the ability to form an entire being, versus adult stem cells or stem cells that are present in amniotic tissue, [which] are multipotential, which only have the ability to form subsets of tissue.

When youre dealing with different diseases or damaged tissue or inflammation, mostly you want to repair tissue. If somebody has damage in their knee, they dont necessarily need embryonic cells because they dont need a baby in their knee. They need new cartilage in their knee.

A common question is whether stem cells can cause overgrowth, leading to cancer or tumor formation.

As noted by Dr. Comella, this is a problem associated with embryonic stem cells, which tend to grow very rapidly and can form a teratoma because of the rapid cell growth. Adult stem cells, the cells obtained from ones own body, have growth inhibitions and will not form teratomas.

The theoretical concern that has been addressed in animal models or in petri dishes is that if you take cancer cells that are growing in a dish and apply stem cells, it may make those cancer cells grow more rapidly. But this does not translate in-vivo to humans.

If there was truly an issue with applying stem cells to a patient who has cancer, we would know about it by now, because weve been dosing cancer patients with stem cells since the 1930s. The safety profile is strong and there are tens of thousands of patients documented with these treatments, Dr. Comella says.

Another useful therapy is platelet-rich plasma (PRP).

Our peripheral blood contains platelets, which act as 1st responders when theres an injury. They come in and start the clotting mechanism, thereby preventing one from bleeding to death. They also give marching orders to other cells.

For example: platelets can command stem cells to multiply and grow, or to differentiate and form new tissue.

These platelets also have many different growth factors associated with them, which can help to promote healing and stop inflammation. PRP involves taking a blood sample and then spinning the blood in a centrifuge to isolate the platelets. The platelet-rich plasma is then injected back into the area that is inflamed.

One of the most common uses of platelet-rich plasma or PRP is in a joint. Now, platelets are going to be most successful in something that is rich in stem cells [such as] an acute or a very recent injury.

If you just hurt your knee, the first thing you should do is get PRP, because its going to help promote healing, and those platelets will attach to the surface receptors of the stem cells that are already going to the area to promote healing. It would be like putting fertilizer on your seed, which are the stem cells.

If you have something more chronic, this tends to be a stem cell-poor environment. In other words, you have osteoarthritis or youve got knee pain thats 5 years old and its been there for a long time; just putting PRP in it would be like putting fertilizer on dirt without planting a seed first.

The beauty of stem cell therapy is that it mimics a process that is ongoing in the human body all the time. Our stem cells are continuously promoting healing, and they do not have to be manipulated in any way. The stem cells naturally know how to home in on areas of inflammation and how to repair damaged tissue.

All were doing is harnessing the cells from one location where theyre sitting dormant and relocating them to exactly where we want them and we need them to work, Dr. Comella says. Basically, anything inside your body that is inflamed, that is damaged in some way, that is lacking blood supply, the [stem] cells can successfully treat.

That means orthopedics, knee injections, shoulder injections, osteoarthritis, acute injuries, anterior cruciate ligament tears in the back, back pain associated with degenerative disc disease or damaged tendons or ligaments, herniated and bulging discs. You can also use it in systemic issues, everything from diabetes, to cardiac, to lungs, any tissue organ inside your body that has been damaged.

Autoimmune diseases can also be treated. The stem cells are naturally immunosuppressant, meaning they can help quiet down an over reactive immune system and help the immune system function in a more normal way. Neurological diseases, traumatic brain injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinsons. All of these have to do with tissue thats not functioning properly. The cells can be used to address that.

It is very impressive, the list of different diseases that could benefit from this intervention.

Again, it is not magic, but one can dramatically improve the benefits of this intervention by combining it with other healthy lifestyle factors that optimize mitochondrial function, such as eating a healthy Real food diet, exercising, sleeping well, avoiding toxins and detoxifying from toxic influences.

Stem Cells for Anti-Aging: Stem cells can also be used as part of an anti-aging program.

Dr. Comella has used stem cells on herself for several years, and report feeling better now than she did 10 year ago.

She writes,The ability to reduce inflammation inside your body is basically making yourself live longer. Inflammation is what kills us all. Its what makes our telomeres shrink. Its what causes us pain and discomfort. Its what makes the tissues start to die. The ability to dose yourself with stem cells and bring down your inflammation, which is most likely caused by any sort of toxin that youve been exposed to, breathing air is exposure to toxins, this is going to lengthen your lifespan.

I typically will do a dose every six to 12 months, regardless of whats going on. If I have anything that is bothering me, if I tweak my knee at the gym, then I absolutely will come in and do an injection in my knee. I want to keep my tissue healthy for as long as possible.

I want to stay strong. I dont want to wait until something is wrong with me. I think that this is the future of medicine. This is what were going to start to see. People will begin to get their regular doses of [their own] stem cells and itll just be common practice.

Keep in mind theres a gradual and progressive decline in the quality and the number of stem cells as we age, so if considering this approach, it would be to your advantage to extract and bank your stem cells as early on as possible. US Stem Cell provides a stem cell bank service, so one can store them until a later date when you might need them.

Your stem cells are never as young as they are right now. Every minute that you live, your telomeres are shrinking. The ability to lock in the youth of your cells today can be very beneficial for you going forward, and for your health going forward. God forbid something happens. What if you have a heart attack? Youre not going to get clearance to get a mini-lipo aspirate procedure.

If you have your cells waiting in the bank, ready for you, it becomes very easy to pull a dose and do an IV delivery of cells. Its almost criminal that were not doing this for every single one of our cardiac patients. This should be standard practice. We should be having every single patient bank their stem cells at a young age and have them waiting, ready and available. The technology is there. We have it. Im not sure why this technology is not being made available to everyone, she says.

I think stem cell therapy is very different than traditional medicine. Stem cell therapy may actually make it so that you dont have to be dependent on pharmaceutical medications. You can actually repair the tissue and thats it. This is a very different way of viewing medicine.

For a Physician in your area providing the service, you can go there. US Stem Cell can help you locate a qualified doctor.

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Stem Cell Therapy: Repair and Regenerate Our Bodies - Live ... - Live Trading News

New York Post

Stem cell therapy will attempt to bring the dead back to life New York Post Attempts to bring people back from the dead could start in a few months, it's been reported. Bioquark, a Philadelphia-based company, has revealed it will start new stem cell therapy trials in an unidentified country in Latin America later this year.

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Stem cell therapy will attempt to bring the dead back to life - New York Post

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Abused pup receives cutting-edge stem cell therapy | fox5sandiego ... fox5sandiego.com The abused orphan pup "Dwyane" who has severe disfigurements is on the road to recovery due to stem cell therapy. by Vet Stem, out of Poway. Severely abused dog receives stem cell therapy - CBS News 8 - San ...CBS 8 San Diego all 2 news articles »

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Abused pup receives cutting-edge stem cell therapy | fox5sandiego ... - fox5sandiego.com

A Philadelphia-based company along with an Indian orthopedic surgeon has said it will start a new type of stem cell therapy that claims it can bring people back from the dead.

Bioquark, led by chief executive Ira Pastor, said it will begin conducting trials of the therapy later in the year in an undisclosed country in Latin America, according to a New York Post report.

Pastor and Indian orthopedic surgeon Himanshu Bansal had initially hoped to run tests in India in 2016 but the Indian Council of Medical Research pulled the plug on their plans and asked them to take the trials elsewhere, the Post reported.

Most countries officially declare someone dead when there is irreversible loss of brain function. The Bioquark therapy boasts it can reboot the brain.

The company said it will begin testing on humans, with no plans to experiment on animals.

Scientists plan to examine individuals aged between 15 and 65 who have been declared brain dead from a traumatic brain injury, the report noted, citing a published study.

The three-stage process starts with harvesting stem cells from the patients own blood before injecting them back into their body. Next, the patient is given a dose of peptides injected into their spinal cord. The final step is a 15-day course of laser and median nerve stimulation while monitoring the patient with MRI scans.

Bansal practices in New Delhi.

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Bioquark Hopes to Bring Dead Back to Life Using Stem Cell Therapy - India West

A US company has revealed it will start tests in an unidentified country in Latin America later this year

ATTEMPTS to bring people back from the dead could start in a few months, its been reported.

A US company has revealed it will start new stem cell therapy trials in an unidentified country in Latin America later this year.

Getty Images

In the majority of countries, to be officially declared dead requires an complete and irreversible loss of brain function.

But Bioquark says it has developed a series of injections that can reboot the brain and bring people back to life, according to MailOnline.

CEO Ira Pastor revealed the firm will begin testing itsmethod on humans and have no plans to try it out on animals first.

Pastor and orthopaedic surgeon Himanshu Bansal initially hoped to carry out tests in India last year.

Butthe Indian Council of Medical Research pulled the plug on their plans and asked them to to take the trials elsewhere.

In details published on a clinical trials database, scientists plan to examine individuals aged between 15 and 65 who have been declared brain dead from a traumatic brain injury.

They intend to use MRI scans to look for possible signs of brain death reversal before carrying out the trial, which will happen in three stages.

The first step involves harvesting stem cells from the patients own blood before injecting them back into their body.

Then the patient would be given a dose of peptides injected into their spinal cord.

Getty Images

Lastly they would undergo a 15-day course of laser and median nerve stimulation while monitoring the patient with MRI scans.

Consent is likely to be an issue for the researchers as technically all of the patients will be brain dead.

However the study detail states that it can accept written informed consent from the legally acceptable representative of the patient.

The Bioquark trials are part of a broader project called ReAnima, of which Pastor is on the advisory board.

The project explores the potential of cutting edge biomedical technology for human neuro-regeneration and neuro-reanimation.

Speaking to MailOnline last year, Pastor said: The mission of the ReAnima Project is to focus on clinical research in the state of brain death, or irreversible coma, in subjects who have recently met the Uniform Determination of Death Act criteria, but who are still on cardio-pulmonary or trophic support a classification in many countries around the world known as a living cadaver.

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Scientists set to trial new stem cell therapy to 'reawaken' the brain ... - The Sun

Commentary by Dmitry M. Arbuck, MD, President and Medical Director, Indiana Polyclinic

We are at a truly revolutionary time in health and medicine. The introduction of stem cell technology represents innovation on the same level as the development of antibiotics or the invention of modern imaging (MRIs, etc.). Stem cells are already changing the way medicine is delivered, increasing lifespans and saving countless lives.

Arbuck

Scientists and researchers have been studying the benefits of stem cells for more than 30 years. They have found that these special cells provide great benefits all over the body, from muscles and joints to chronic diseases, to growing new teeth. You may have read about athletes treated with stem cells to speed healing after an injury or about burn victims who use stem cell therapy to minimize scarring.

Stem cells used to be associated with embryos, but this is no longer the case. Today, live cells for treatment are either adult stem cells or umbilical cord blood stem cells. Adult stem cells are most likely extracted from tissue, like bone marrow or fat, which can be a painful and invasive process. Additionally, as we age, so do our stem cells, which become less potent and productive over time. Like every other tissue in our bodies, they are exposed to the toxins, radiation and other pollutants in the environment. Umbilical cord blood stem cells are collected from the donated cord blood and placenta of healthy newborns. The cells are then screened for disease and genetic problems. These umbilical stem cells are vibrant, vital and healthy.

When umbilical cord stem cells are infused, they carry a whole host of immune stabilizing factors throughout the body and work to repair the immune system. This is likely why stem cells are so helpful in the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohns disease, dermatitis and myasthenia gravis. Other things that may be successfully treated with this therapy include MS, lupus, graft vs. host disease and other immune conditions.

The future is today. For more, visit StemCellsIndy.com.

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Column: Stem Cell Therapy A medical revolution - Current in Carmel

A promising new method for regenerating bones using the body's own stem cells may possibly eliminate the need for bone grafts.

When a fracture will not heal, people are typically left with two options.

One is bone grafting, the other is surgery.

A new treatment that uses gene and stem cell therapies could promise success with a less-invasive procedure.

Researchers led by a team from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, tested the therapy on laboratory animals and found that it triggered bones to regrow their own tissue.

If it is found safe in humans, the process could replace bone grafting as the gold standard treatment.

We are just at the beginning of a revolution in orthopedics, Dan Gazit, co-director of the Skeletal Regeneration and Stem Cell Therapy Program in the Department of Surgery and the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, said in a statement.

The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Bone grafts can result in gaps between fracture edges, and often require surgery to relocate bone from other places in the body to fill in the spaces.

Bone can come from the patient or a cadaver.

But healthy bone isnt always available, and surgeries can lead to other complications.

Read more: First aid for broken bones

The new method involves implanting a collagen matrix made up of bone-inducing genes into stem cells.

It is inserted into the gap over a two-week span. An ultrasound pulse and microbubbles help the matrix get into the cells.

Our method relies on the bodys own repair cells [stem cells], Gadi Pelled, senior author, and an assistant professor of surgery at Cedars-Sinai, told Healthline. We recruit them to the injury site and then activate them to regenerate bone in an efficient way.

The uniqueness of our method is that it is injectable and minimally invasive, Pelled said.

Researchers found that the fractures were healed eight weeks after the procedure. The bone that grew into the empty space was as strong as surgical bone grafts.

We showed that our method was equivalent, in terms of fracture healing, to the use of an autograft [bone graft obtained from the patients own body], which is the gold standard today, Gazit said. Our method does not require the harvest of bone, which often leads to prolonged pain and hospitalization and risk of infection, and that is our advantage.

Read more: Get the facts on broken bones

Because the process uses stem cells from the patients body without external manipulation, it may not face many of the hurdles that other stem cell treatments come up against.

But obviously we will need to show that our method is not toxic and is safe to use in people before it is approved for use in the clinic, added Zulma Gazit, PhD, co-director of the Skeletal Regeneration and Stem Cell Therapy Program in the Department of Surgery and the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute.

Read more: Stem cell research advancing rapidly

In cases where there are large gaps or fractures unable to heal, the method can be repeated to grow more bone.

Thats something that will need to be reproduced in additional studies, but the latest study is the first to show that this ultrasound-mediated gene delivery can be used to treat nonhealing bone fractures, Pelled added.

David Forsh, an assistant professor of orthopedics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and chief of orthopedic trauma at Mount Sinai St. Lukes, said the breakthrough needs to be reproduced before it goes mainstream.

Similar research has been conducted in the past, but the way this was done is something new, according to his knowledge.

It sounds good, Forsh told Healthline. Its very promising that they were able to achieve this.

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Using Stem Cells to Heal Broken Bones - Healthline

ByNEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

DOCTORS Hospital plans to launch stem cell therapy and enter the primary healthcare market during its current financial year, after profits for the year to end-January 2017 increased five-fold.

The BISX-listed healthcare provider said it planned to launch both initiatives at its Bahamas Medical Centre facility on Blake Road, having received the necessary approvals for one stem cell programme and another in its final stages.

Doctors Hospitals 2017 annual report did not identify the types of stem cell treatment involved, but said: It is envisioned that stem cell therapy will occur at the facility [Bahamas Medical Centre] in fiscal 2018, with one programme already receiving the necessary approvals and the second programme in its final stages of assessment and approval......

We anticipate that in fiscal 2018 we will launch one of our primary care centres at this location, supported by increased specialist services to best serve the neighbouring communities.

Joe Krukowski, Doctors Hospitals chairman, told shareholders via the annual report that the launch of primary care services will be a vital component in the continuum of care we provide.

We will seek to provide our customers with multiple entry points for this level of care, he added.

Doctors Hospitals stem cell initiatives, in particular, represent a potential boost to the Bahamas national effort to make greater inroads into the medical tourism market while also exploiting legislation passed by the former Christie administration.

The healthcare providers move into primary care will effectively create a fully-integrated model, combining with its core business in secondary and tertiary care provision to potentially make Doctors Hospital almost a one-stop shop for all medical needs.

The expansion comes after Doctors Hospital saw total comprehensive income for the year to end-January 2017 grow by 409 per cent or more than five-fold, from $702,790 to $3.578 million year-over-year.

The growth was driven entirely by the companys main Collins Avenue facility, where profits more than doubled, increasing by 157.4 per cent to $4.778 million compared to $1.856 million the year before. The Bahamas Medical Centres net loss increased slightly compared to the prior year, rising from $1.153 million to $1.2 million.

An improved top-line drove Doctors Hospitals improved profitability, with patient services revenue up $3.65 million or 7.4 per cent at $52.713 million.

Patient days increased by 6 per cent from the previous year, the annual report said of the main Collins Avenue hospital. Increases in the Intensive and Intermediary Care Units accounted for 37per centof the change, and the balance in medical surgical and maternity.

Total admissions to the facility were 4,114 in fiscal 2017 compared to 4,063 in fiscal 2016. The continued flat admission numbers and increased patient days are indicative of the trend toward a rising severity of illness. The average daily census increased to 33 patients per day from 31.2 in the previous year.

Doctors Hospitals total expenses grew by $818,452 or 1.7 per cent year-over-year, with salaries and benefits rising by $1.176 million or 5.6 per cent to $23.209 million. Due to the top-line growth, these fell as a percentage of patient net revenue from 44.3 per cent to 43.5 per cent.

At Bahamas Medical Centre, revenues rose by $28,015 or 1.9 per cent to $1.462 million. This slightly outpaced the increase in expenses, which jumped by 1.5 per cent or $43,479 to $2.819 million as a result of rising medical supplies costs.

Doctors Hospital is budgeting $7 million for capital spending projects in its financial year to end-January 2018, a sum more than double the prior years $3.1 million, as it bids to upgrade facilities and replace equipment.

Bad debt expense, as a percentage of patient service revenues, decreased to 2.6per centfor the year ended January 31, 2017, compared to 3.4per centthe previous year, Doctors Hospital said.This represented a decrease of $316,808, or 18.8per cent. This decrease is a result of a write-off of third-party receivables.

The number of days revenue in accounts receivable at year-end (AR Days) for fiscal 2017 stand at 51 compared with fiscal 2016 at 43 days, and net receivables as a percentage of net patient revenue increased to 14.1per centfrom 11.8per cent. These increases area result of high activity in the months of December and January, and payments not received until after year-end.

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Doctors Targets Stem Cell Therapy Launch - Bahamas Tribune

by Michael Locklear, News 4 San Antonio

Stefanie Cowley of Helotes testified in favor of the bill. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2007, was told she was a no-option patient in 2011 and in 2014, she began the therapy that required her to travel to Mexico. (Photo: Sinclair Broadcast Group)

SAN ANTONIO Some terminally and chronically ill patients are eagerly awaiting the governors signature on a bill they believe will help thousands of Texans.

HB 810, known as Charlies Law, would allow access to adult stem cell therapy for certain sick people.

Stefanie Cowley of Helotes testified in favor of the bill. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2007, was told she was a no-option patient in 2011 and in 2014, she began the therapy that required her to travel to Mexico.

Cowley said a Houston company, Celltex Therapeutics, does a mini-liposuction, extracting a few tablespoons of her fat, then prepares the hundreds of millions of stem cells. She then travels to Cancun so a private hospital there can set up an hour-long IV to return the stem cells to her body.

These are your healing cells, she said. These are if you cut yourself, they're your healing cells that go towards that spot to repair.

That took my pain levels down from 8-9-10 daily to 2-3-4, Cowley said.

Charlies Law would presumably allow her to access the treatment entirely within Texas, which could become the first state in the country to do so.

Cowley said other conditions such as Parkinsons, Alzheimers and even autism could benefit from the treatment, although stem cell researchers caution that large-scale successes have not yet been reported.

David Eller, CEO and Chairman of Celltex Therapeutics, released the following statement:

@MichaelLocklear | mlocklear@sbgtv.com

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MS patients await governor's signature on bill allowing adult stem ... - WOAI

Stem Cell Therapy is poised to change the face of medicine.

Thousands of published studies and or testimonialscan be wrong! Regeneration or Regenerative Medicine has the ability to change almost all facets of medicine.

Doctors are using them on themselves to help with problems and or provide with a better quality of life, in-fact one doctor sais in a recent stem cell seminar that he would be doing them every year just for preventative maintenance.

Stem Cells have been studied for decades however in the past few years a real breakthrough in using Human UmbilicalCell Tissue (HUCT) being harvested from healthy mommy / healthy baby umbilical cords.

Studies have proved that the older you get the fewer stem cells in the body, ruling out the effectiveness of stem cells extracted from your aging body or your fat.

Statin drugs have been proven to diminishstem cells

Using Concentrated Umbilical-Cord Potentcy Stem Cells (CUP STEM CELLS) give you cell counts in the millions ffrom a newborn tht may allow stem cells to duplicate every 28 hours, over 65 or so cucles making CUP STEM CELLS very favorable to all the other options available in the past.

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Stem Cell Therapy - Checkbiotech.org (press release)

"At StemGenex, we are committed to helping people achieve optimum health and better quality of life through the healing benefits of their own stem cells," said Alexander. "Specifically, we use adipose-derived adult stem cell therapy for patients battling conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, COPD, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis. We are also committed to the science of stem cell therapy and sponsor five clinical outcome studiesregistered with theNational Institute of Health (NIH) for these diseases."

"What I personally witnessed before the start of StemGenex were patients who had exhausted conventional medical treatments but wanted to try alternative therapies. I was one of them, suffering from severe Rheumatoid Arthritis. Ihad only three options; I could seek a clinical trial, travel to outside of the U.S. to try alternative therapies such as stem cell treatment or petition the FDA for access to drugs under the agency's "expanded access," or "compassionate use" program. Now, new state laws, built on model legislation from the Goldwater Institute in Arizona, will potentially allow doctors and patients to make their own informed decisions on treatments that have cleared the safety phase of FDA testing."

Last year, in a move that was seen by some as a response to Right to Try laws, the 21st Century Cures Act, a landmark piece of legislation focused on medical innovation and medical research, was signed into law by President Obama. This Act provides the FDA with the flexibility to accelerate how it evaluates regenerative medicine treatments, such as stem cell therapies, while maintaining its high standards of safety and efficacy.

"We're on the cusp of a major change on how patients can access stem cell therapy," saidAlexander. "Today, new treatments and advances in research are giving new hope to people affected by a wide range of autoimmune and degenerative illnesses," she said. "StemGenex Medical Group is proud to offer the highest quality of care and to potentially help those with unmet clinical needs improve their quality of life."

ABOUT StemGenex Medical Group StemGenex Medical Group is committed to helping people achieve optimum health and better quality of life through the healing benefits of their own stem cells. StemGenex provides stem cell therapy options for individuals suffering with inflammatory and degenerative illnesses. Committed to the science and innovation of stem cell treatment,StemGenex sponsors five clinical outcome studiesregistered with theNational Institutes of Health ("NIH") for Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ("COPD") and Osteoarthritis. These have been established to formally document and evaluate the quality of life changes in individuals following adipose-derived stem cell treatment.

Contact: Jamie Schubert, Director of Media & Community Relations jschubert@StemGenex.com, (858) 242-4243

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/patient-centered-stem-cell-therapy-bill-passed-by-texas-legislature-300465987.html

SOURCE StemGenex Medical Group

https://stemgenex.com/

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Patient-Centered Stem Cell Therapy Bill Passed by Texas Legislature - PR Newswire (press release)

Twiga, a 14-year-old female giraffe with advanced arthritis and osteoporosis in her feet, was fitted with custom shoes. (Photo courtesy of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.)

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo appears to have made medical history with its innovative giraffe treatments.

Mahali, a 14-year-old male giraffe who suffered from chronic lameness, is believed to be the first in the world to be injected with stem cells grown from giraffe blood, according to a news release from the zoo.

Stem cell therapy was chosen in the treatments led by Dr. Liza Dadone, the zoo's head veterinarian, because it has proven to repair damaged tissue. Staff at Colorado State University's James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Fort Collins helped with the treatment.

Nearly a month after the procedure, when Mahali was injected with about 100 million stem cells, thermographic images of the giraffe's front legs show "a considerable decline" in inflammation in his front left leg, the leg that had been giving him trouble, the zoo said.

"This is meaningful to us not only because it is the first time a giraffe has been treated with stem cells, but especially because it is bringing Mahali some arthritis relief and could help other giraffes in the near future," Dadone said in a written statement.

Dadone said it's not clear whether the successful results are due only to the stem cell treatment or a combination of treatments.

"Prior to the procedure, he was favoring his left front leg and would lift that foot off the ground almost once per minute," she said in the statement. "During the immobilization, we did multiple treatments that included hoof trims, stem cell therapy and other medications. "Since then, Mahali is no longer constantly lifting his left front leg off the ground and has resumed cooperating for hoof care. A few weeks ago, he returned to life with his herd, including yard access. On the thermogram, the marked inflammation up the leg has mostly resolved."

Twiga, a 14-year-old female giraffe with advanced arthritis and osteoporosis in her feet, was fitted with custom shoes with the help of farriers Steve Foxworth and Chris Niclas of the Equine Lameness Prevention Organization.

"We've had Twiga on medicine to help reverse her osteoporosis, but we wanted to do more to protect her feet. So with the help of the farriers, we gave her 'giraffe sneakers' to help give her some extra cushion," Dadone said in a written statement.

The giraffe's behavior was immediately changed - "Twiga instantly shifted her weight off of her right foot, indicating she was comfortable and her pain had considerably lessened" - but she will likely wear the shoes for about six more weeks, the zoo said.

Giraffes' size can make them more susceptible to issues like arthritis and osteoporosis. "Like all animals, these issues are exacerbated as they age," according to the zoo news release.

The zoo has a herd of 17 giraffes, including a newborn in April. The calf, a girl, was the 199th to be born in the 63-year history of the zoo's breeding program.

Giraffes' status was recently changed from "least concern" to "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature because the population in the wild has decreased by 40 percent in the last 30 years, the zoo said.

-

Contact Ellie Mulder: 636-0198

Twitter: @lemarie

Read the original post:
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo makes medical history with 'giraffe sneakers,' stem cell treatments - Colorado Springs Gazette

May 25, 2017 by Kristin Samuelson Killer T cells surround a cancer cell. Credit: NIH

A first-of-a-kind neural stem cell therapy that works with a common cold virus to seek out and attack a lethal and aggressive brain cancer is being tested at Northwestern Medicine in a Phase I clinical trial for patients newly diagnosed with malignant glioma.

The novel drug to treat malignant glioma, notorious for recurring after typical bouts of standard cancer treatment, was developed by a Northwestern scientist and has been approved as an investigational drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This is only the second time the University has supported and filed an investigational new drug as a sponsor.

"We have discovered that combining stem cells with a virus causes the new drug to react like a cancer-seeking missile targeting cancerous cells in the brain" said principal investigator, Dr. Maciej Lesniak, the Michael J. Marchese Professor and chair of neurological surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a neuro-oncologist at Northwestern Medicine. "If it works in humans, it could be a powerful weapon against brain cancer and an option that our patients are desperate for."

One reason malignant glioma recurs so often is because a small subpopulation of cancer cells, often deep in the brain tissue, is highly resistant to chemotherapy and radiation.

The pre-clinical work done by Lesniak and his team has shown that the approach being tested at Northwestern Medicine can target this population of therapy resistant cells, further delaying and sometimes even preventing tumor recurrence.

The stem cells used in the research came from a collaboration of researchers from City of Hope.

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"We haven't seen significant progress in the last decade for patients with a brain tumor, and that is why it's crucial to do everything we can to find a better treatment for brain tumors," said Dr. Roger Stupp, a co-investigator who is working alongside Lesniak on this clinical trial. "Combining novel therapy with medical expertise, we are able to get one step closer to eradicating this lethal disease."

Stupp, a world-renowned neuro-oncologist, recently joined Northwestern Medicine as director of neuro-oncology and associate director for strategic initiatives at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. He is best known for developing temozolomide in combination with radiation as the standard-of-care chemotherapy for patients with glioblastoma.

Lesniak and his team of scientists are starting to test the safety and dosage of the treatment in patients at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Lesniak began the research more than a decade ago while at the University of Chicago and completed it when he moved to Northwestern in 2015.

This investigational new drug contains neural stem cells to deliver a potent virus responsible for the common cold, oncolyotic adenovirus, which is engineered to kill brain cancer cells. The novel treatment works synergistically with chemotherapy and radiation to enhance the standard cancer treatments effectiveness.

Malignant gliomas are the most aggressive forms of cancer and are predicted to affect nearly 20,000 new patients this year, according to the American Brain Tumor Association. Sometimes called the "grow-and-go" tumors, gliomas can make their own blood supply, which fuels the tumors' rapid growth and helps them hatch satellite tumors. Each tumor sends out tentacles that infiltrate and dig deep into normal brain tissue, making complete removal of cancerous cells impossible. Any cancerous cells in the brain left over from standard of care can cause the tumor to recur.

Lesniak plans to enroll up to 36 newly diagnosed patients with glioma. These patients will be divided into two groups: those with tumors that can be removed and those where the tumors are not removable by surgery.

Next step, Northwestern Memorial will extend this research to the collaborating partners at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California.

Explore further: Neuroscientists pinpoint key gene controlling tumor growth in brain cancers

Cedars-Sinai investigators have identified a stem cell-regulating gene that affects tumor growth in patients with brain cancer and can strongly influence survival rates of patients. The findings, published in the online edition ...

Northwestern Medicine scientists have found a molecule that stops the growth of an aggressive pediatric brain tumor. The tumor is always fatal and primarily strikes children under 10 years old.

Chicago...Using state-of-the-art gene editing technology, scientists from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago have discovered a promising target to treat atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) - a highly ...

Japanese researchers identify process to improve fluorescence detection of cancer stem cells, which are primarily responsible for brain tumor progression and recurrence after treatment

Being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor is devastating news for patients and their loved ones. Whereas some types of tumor respond well to treatment, others such as glioblastomas - the most common and aggressive brain ...

Marc Symons, PhD, professor in The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research's Karches Center for Oncology Research, is examining if a common medication administered to treat pinworms, could replace the current treatment used ...

A first-of-a-kind neural stem cell therapy that works with a common cold virus to seek out and attack a lethal and aggressive brain cancer is being tested at Northwestern Medicine in a Phase I clinical trial for patients ...

Scientists say they've developed a new blood test for identifying pancreatic cancera step that might eventually allow earlier diagnosis.

While target therapies directed toward genetic mutations that drive a tumor's growth have significantly improved the outlook for many patients, they have not been as successful in controlling brain metastases in several types ...

Cancers can be viewed as complex dynamic systems because they have many interacting parts that can change over time and space. Perhaps the most well-known complex dynamic system is the weather and, similar to weather forecasting, ...

Most women diagnosed with ovarian cancer undergo surgery to remove as many of the tumors as possible. However, it is usually impossible to eliminate all of the cancer cells because they have spread throughout the abdomen. ...

Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) often respond to standard chemotherapy, only to develop drug resistance later, and with fatal consequences. But what if doctors could identify those at greatest risk of relapse ...

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Cold virus, stem cells tested to destroy deadly brain cancer - Medical Xpress

NC

Yet today the 59-year-old father of two is planning a dream family trip to South Africa, something that would have been unthinkable a mere nine months ago.

The reason for this remarkable transformation is that last September Gordon, who suffered from severe heart failure after a series of heart attacks, underwent revolutionary stem cell therapy to repair the diseased muscle tissue in his heart.

I couldnt walk up the stairs without having stabbing pains in my heart and burning in my lungs. Sometimes I had to crawl for the last few steps.

I felt so low and helpless, says Gordon, who is married to Joanne, 50, and lives in Thorneholme, East Yorkshire.

Within a week of the operation I could climb the stairs again. Small things like that have made a huge difference to my life.

More than a million people in the UK suffer from heart disease. The general term for heart disease is cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the walls of the heart chambers have become stretched, thickened or stiff.

GETTY-STOCK

This affects the hearts ability to pump blood around the body. Some types of cardiomyopathy are inherited and it can affect children and younger people.

I couldnt walk up the stairs without having stabbing pains

Gordon Foster

In others, lifestyle factors such as smoking, an unhealthy diet or a sedentary lifestyle can be to blame. There is no cure and although it can be treated with drugs such as ACE inhibitors, they often have side effects and arent a permanent solution.

In Gordons case his condition was the result of a series of heart attacks, the first of which struck when he was 30.

I woke up one morning feeling horribly sick so I ran to the bathroom. I was banging my head on the floor to try to get rid of the pain in my chest, he recalls. Everybody thought I was a goner because it was such a massive heart attack.

Getty

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10 Step plan to eliminate your risk of heart disease

Joanne and I got married two months later because she was worried I might not live until our wedding date.

However he did survive and he and Joanne went on to have two children, James, now 26, and Rebekah, 24. Then when James was just a year old Gordon had another heart attack and three years later, aged 37, he suffered a third.

He was diagnosed as suffering from heart failure which most commonly occurs following a heart attack when the heart muscle suffers irreparable damage.

Symptoms can include fatigue, shortness of breath and swelling. In severe cases people with heart failure are left unable to perform ordinary, day-to-day activities such as walking upstairs or are left breathless even when resting.

GETTY

By 2012 Gordons heart was functioning at just 17 per cent and he had been forced to retire on heart attack and three years later, aged 37, he suffered a third. from heart failure which most commonly occurs following a heart attack when the heart muscle suffers irreparable damage.

Symptoms can include fatigue, shortness of breath and swelling. failure are left unable to perform ordinary, day-to-day activities such as walking upstairs or are left breathless even when resting.

Functioning at just 17 per cent and he had been forced to retire on medical grounds from his job overseeing welding and fabricating sites.

For severely affected patients a heart transplant can be the only option but the chances of failure are high. Around 10 per cent of transplant patients die within a year of the operation and 25 per cent die within five years.

The need for treatment in this field has never been greater, says Professor Anthony Mathur, consultant cardiologist at St Bartholomews Hospital, London.

Now stem cell therapy is offering new hope to desperate patients and their families. The procedure involves extracting stem cells from bone marrow in the spine and injecting them into the heart.

Researchers hope that the stem cells, which are unique because they can grow into any type of body tissue, will grow into healthy heart cells and take over the work of the diseased or damaged ones.

GETTY-STOCK

The procedure takes about 20 minutes and patients can usually go home the following day. Gordon became the first man in the UK to be offered the operation under the Compassionate Treatment Programme funded by the Heart Cells Foundation charity at St Bartholomews Hospital after his doctor put him forward to take part in a trial.

The charity has so far raised more than 6.5million to fund the Stem Cell Research Programme and is campaigning to raise further cash to treat thousands more patients.

Stem cell therapy is still in the development and research stage and the Compassionate Treatment Programme is funded purely by the Heart Cells Foundation charity, says its chairman Jenifer Rosenberg.

To treat one person costs 10,000 so we need the continued support of our donors to save lives.

Getty Images

1 of 6

Queen Elizabeth II visits a ward during a tour of Great Ormond Street Hospital for sick children, 23rd July 1952

The treatment is currently in the second phase of clinical trials and phase three will start once funding is secured. If this is successful it is hoped that the treatment could eventually be offered on the NHS.

Gordon says he and his family will be forever thankful to the Heart Cells Foundation and his medical team at St Bartholemews for saving his life.

Without them, I believe I wouldnt be here today, he says. Im now able to lead a near-normal life and Im enjoying every moment I spend with my wife and children. I now live every day with hope.

Visit heartcellsfoundation.com

Continue reading here:
How a revolutionary stem cell treatment could save your heart - Express.co.uk

Twiga, a 14-year-old female giraffe with advanced arthritis and osteoporosis in her feet, was fitted with custom shoes. (Photo courtesy of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.)

Two medical breakthroughs have helped heal two giraffes at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in recent weeks, the zoo announced Wednesday.

Mahali, a 14-year-old male giraffe who suffered from chronic lameness and had not been moving well, is believed to be the first in the world to be injected with stem cells grown from giraffe blood, according to a news release from the zoo.

Stem cell therapy was chosen in the efforts led by Dr. Liza Dadone, the zoo's head veterinarian, because it has proven to repair damaged tissue. Staff at Colorado State University's James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Fort Collins helped with the treatment.

Nearly a month after the procedure, when Mahali was injected with about 100 million stem cells, thermographic images of the giraffe's front legs show "a considerable decline" in inflammation in his front left leg, the leg that had been giving him trouble, the zoo said.

"This is meaningful to us not only because it is the first time a giraffe has been treated with stem cells, but especially because it is bringing Mahali some arthritis relief and could help other giraffes in the near future," Dadone said in a written statement.

Dadone said it's not clear whether the successful results are due only to the stem cell treatment or a combination of treatments.

"Prior to the procedure, he was favoring his left front leg and would lift that foot off the ground almost once per minute," she said in the statement. "During the immobilization, we did multiple treatments that included hoof trims, stem cell therapy and other medications. Since then, Mahali is no longer constantly lifting his left front leg off the ground and has resumed cooperating for hoof care. A few weeks ago, he returned to life with his herd, including yard access. On the thermogram, the marked inflammation up the leg has mostly resolved."

Twiga, a 14-year-old female giraffe with advanced arthritis and osteoporosis in her feet, was fitted with custom shoes with the help of farriers Steve Foxworth and Chris Niclas of the Equine Lameness Prevention Organization.

"We've had Twiga on medicine to help reverse her osteoporosis, but we wanted to do more to protect her feet. So with the help of the farriers, we gave her 'giraffe sneakers' to help give her some extra cushion," Dadone said in a written statement.

The giraffe's behavior was immediately changed - "Twiga instantly shifted her weight off of her right foot, indicating she was comfortable and her pain had considerably lessened" - but she will likely wear the shoes for about six more weeks, the zoo said.

Giraffes' size can make them more susceptible to issues like arthritis and osteoporosis. "Like all animals, these issues are exacerbated as they age," according to the zoo news release.

The zoo has a herd of 17 giraffes, including a newborn in April. The calf, a girl, was the 199th to be born in the 63-year history of the zoo's breeding program.

Giraffes' status was recently changed from "least concern" to "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature because the population in the wild has decreased by 40 percent in the last 30 years, the zoo said.

-

Contact Ellie Mulder: 636-0198

Twitter: @lemarie

More here:
'Sneakers,' stem cells help heal Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's giraffes - Colorado Springs Gazette

Animation of stem cell therapy attacking malignant glioma. (Northwestern Medicine)

CHICAGO - A first-of-a-kind neural stem cell therapy that works with a common cold virus to seek out and attack a lethal and aggressive brain cancer is being tested at Northwestern Medicine in a Phase I clinical trial for patients newly diagnosed with malignant glioma.

The novel drug to treat malignant glioma, notorious for recurring after typical bouts of standard cancer treatment, was developed by a Northwestern scientist and has been approved as an investigational drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This is only the second time the University has supported and filed an investigational new drug as a sponsor.

We have discovered that combining stem cells with a virus causes the new drug to react like a cancer-seeking missile targeting cancerous cells in the brain said principal investigator, Dr. Maciej Lesniak, the Michael J. Marchese Professor and chair of neurological surgery atNorthwestern University Feinberg School of Medicineand a neuro-oncologist at Northwestern Medicine. If it works in humans, it could be a powerful weapon against brain cancer and an option that our patients are desperate for.

One reason malignant glioma recurs so often is because a small subpopulation of cancer cells, often deep in the brain tissue, is highly resistant to chemotherapy and radiation.

We havent seen significant progress in the last decade for patients with a brain tumor, and that is why its crucial to do everything we can to find a better treatment for brain tumors.

The pre-clinical work done by Lesniak and his team has shown that the approach being tested at Northwestern Medicine can target this population of therapy resistant cells, further delaying and sometimes even preventing tumor recurrence.

The stem cells used in the research came from a collaboration of researchers from City of Hope.

We havent seen significant progress in the last decade for patients with a brain tumor, and that is why its crucial to do everything we can to find a better treatment for brain tumors, said Dr. Roger Stupp, a co-investigator who is working alongside Lesniak on this clinical trial. Combining novel therapy with medical expertise, we are able to get one step closer to eradicating this lethal disease.

Stupp, a world-renowned neuro-oncologist, recently joined Northwestern Medicine as director of neuro-oncology and associate director for strategic initiatives at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. He is best known for developing temozolomide in combination with radiation as the standard-of-care chemotherapy for patients with glioblastoma.

Lesniak and his team of scientists are starting to test the safety and dosage of the treatment in patients at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Lesniak began the research more than a decade ago while at the University of Chicago and completed it when he moved to Northwestern in 2015.

This investigational new drug contains neural stem cells to deliver a potent virus responsible for the common cold, oncolyotic adenovirus, which is engineered to kill brain cancer cells. The novel treatment works synergistically with chemotherapy and radiation to enhance the standard cancer treatments effectiveness.

Malignant gliomas are the most aggressive forms of cancer and are predicted to affect nearly 20,000 new patients this year, according to the American Brain Tumor Association. Sometimes called the grow-and-go tumors, gliomas can make their own blood supply, which fuels the tumors rapid growth and helps them hatch satellite tumors. Each tumor sends out tentacles that infiltrate and dig deep into normal brain tissue, making complete removal of cancerous cells impossible. Any cancerous cells in the brain left over from standard of care can cause the tumor to recur.

Lesniak plans to enroll up to 36 newly diagnosed patients with glioma. These patients will be divided into two groups: those with tumors that can be removed and those where the tumors are not removable by surgery.

Next step, Northwestern Memorial will extend this research to the collaborating partners at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke grant U01NS069997.

Link:
New investigational drug acts like a cancer-seeking missile in brain - Northwestern University NewsCenter

May 24, 2017

An innovative method for treating type 1 diabetes based on the transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells taken from the patient's own bone marrow began undergoing testing in Brazil 13 years ago. The results were highly variable. While some of the volunteers were able to stop self-injecting insulin for more than a decade, others had to resume use of the medication only a few months after receiving the experimental treatment.

A possible explanation for this discrepancy in the clinical outcome for the 25 patients included in the study was presented in an article published recently in the journal Frontiers in Immunology. According to the authors, the duration of the therapeutic effect was shorter in the patients whose immune systems had attacked the pancreatic cells more aggressively in the pre-transplantation period.

This research was conducted at the Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CTC) in Brazil. Initially led by immunologist Julio Voltarelli, who died in March 2012, it is proceeding under the coordination of researchers Maria Carolina de Oliveira Rodrigues and Belinda Pinto Simes.

"Because type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, the aim of the treatment is to 'switch off' the immune system temporarily using chemotherapy drugs and 'restart' it by means of the transplantation of autologous hematopoietic stem cells, which can differentiate into every kind of blood cell," Rodrigues explained.

By the time the symptoms of type 1 diabetes appear, she added, around 80 percent of the patient's pancreatic islets have already been damaged. If the autoimmune aggression is interrupted at this point, and the remaining cells are protected, the patient can produce an amount of insulin that is small but nevertheless important.

"Studies with animals and diabetic humans suggest the percentage of insulin-producing cells declines sharply, reaching almost zero between six and eight weeks after diagnosis. Our center has therefore set a six-week limit for patients to start the transplantation process," Rodrigues said.

Twenty-five volunteers aged between 12 and 35 were initially included in the study. The therapeutic effect has lasted an average of 42 months (3.5 years) but ranges overall from six months to 12 years, the longest follow-up period so far. Three patients remain completely insulin-free. One has been insulin-free for ten years, another for 11, and the third for 12.

"In this more recent study, we compared the profiles of the volunteers who remained insulin-free for less than and more than 42 months, which was our cutoff point," Rodrigues said.

The variables considered included age, time between diagnosis and transplantation, pre-treatment insulin dose, and post-transplant recovery of defense cells.

"We observed no significant differences between the groups for any of these factors," Rodrigues said. "The only exception was the degree of pancreatic inflammation before the transplant, which did vary significantly."

This discovery was made possible by collaboration with Dutch researcher Bart Roep at the Leiden University Medical Center. Roep's analysis of blood samples taken from all 25 patients before treatment and once per year after the transplant enabled him to quantify their autoreactive T-lymphocytes, white cells that recognize and specifically attack proteins secreted by pancreatic islets.

"This method enabled us to evaluate the extent to which the immune system was attacking the pancreas," Rodrigues said. "We observed a clear association between a larger number of autoreactive lymphocytes before transplantation and a worse response to treatment."

In the group of patients who responded well, Rodrigues went on, stem cell therapy rebalanced the immune system thanks to an increase in the proportion of regulatory T-cells (Tregs), a type of white cell with immunosuppressive action that helps combat autoimmunity.

"In patients with more autoreactive lymphocytes before transplantation, this balance didn't occur," she said. "Despite the increase in the number of Tregs due to the treatment, they were still outnumbered by autoreactive lymphocytes. What we don't yet know is whether these were new cells that differentiated from transplanted stem cells or were a remnant of the autoreactive lymphocytes that weren't destroyed by chemotherapy and resumed multiplication."

Data from the scientific literature show that the latter hypothesis is more plausible, so the group at CTC has begun a second study in which patients are being subjected to more aggressive chemotherapy with the aim of ensuring that no vestiges of autoreactive T-lymphocytes remain.

Explore further: Novel tissue-engineered islet transplant achieves insulin independence in type 1 diabetes

More information: Kelen C. R. Malmegrim et al. Immunological Balance Is Associated with Clinical Outcome after Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Type 1 Diabetes, Frontiers in Immunology (2017). DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00167

Scientists from the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have produced the first clinical results demonstrating that pancreatic islet cells transplanted within a tissue-engineered ...

Type 1 diabetes is caused by the body's own immune system attacking its pancreatic islet beta cells and requires daily injections of insulin to regulate the patient's blood glucose levels. A new method described in BioMed ...

A team of researchers, led by investigators at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, have identified a new class of antigens that may be a contributing factor to type 1 diabetes, according to an article published ...

A Yale-led research team identified how insulin-producing cells that are typically destroyed in type 1 diabetes can change in order to survive immune attack. The finding may lead to strategies for recovering these cells in ...

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients who have developed low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) as a complication of insulin treatments over time are able to regain normal internal recognition of the condition after receiving pancreatic ...

A study carried out in India examining the safety and efficacy of self-donated (autologous), transplanted bone marrow stem cells in patients with type 2 diabetes (TD2M), has found that patients receiving the transplants, ...

Research led by the University of Adelaide is paving the way for safer and more effective drugs to treat type 2 diabetes, reducing side effects and the need for insulin injections.

Type 2 diabetes, a prolific killer, is on a steep ascent. According to the World Health Organization, the incidence of the condition has grown dramatically from 108 million cases in 1980 to well over 400 million today. The ...

A widely used diabetes medication could help people with a common inherited form of autism, research shows.

A potential cure for Type 1 diabetes looms on the horizon in San Antonio, and the novel approach would also allow Type 2 diabetics to stop insulin shots.

Researchers investigating a form of adult-onset diabetes that shares features with the two better-known types of diabetes have discovered genetic influences that may offer clues to more accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Pancreatic beta cells help maintain normal blood glucose levels by producing the hormone insulinthe master regulator of energy (glucose). Impairment and the loss of beta cells interrupts insulin production, leading to ...

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Success of stem cell therapy for diabetes depends on pre-transplant immune condition - Medical Xpress

"At StemGenex, we are committed to helping people achieve optimum health and better quality of life through the healing benefits of their own stem cells," said Alexander. "Specifically, we use adipose-derived adult stem cell therapy for patients battling conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, COPD, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis. We are also committed to the science of stem cell therapy and sponsor five clinical outcome studiesregistered with theNational Institute of Health (NIH) for these diseases."

"What I personally witnessed before the start of StemGenex were patients who had exhausted conventional medical treatments but wanted to try alternative therapies. I was one of them, suffering from severe Rheumatoid Arthritis. Ihad only three options; I could seek a clinical trial, travel to outside of the U.S. to try alternative therapies such as stem cell treatment or petition the FDA for access to drugs under the agency's "expanded access," or "compassionate use" program. Now, new state laws, built on model legislation from the Goldwater Institute in Arizona, will potentially allow doctors and patients to make their own informed decisions on treatments that have cleared the safety phase of FDA testing."

Last year, in a move that was seen by some as a response to "Right to Try" laws, the 21st Century Cures Act, a landmark piece of legislation focused on medical innovation and medical research, was signed into law by President Obama. This Act provides the FDA with the flexibility to accelerate how it evaluates regenerative medicine treatments, such as stem cell therapies, while maintaining its high standards of safety and efficacy.

"We're on the cusp of a major change on how patients can access stem cell therapy," saidAlexander. "Today, new treatments and advances in research are giving new hope to people affected by a wide range of autoimmune and degenerative illnesses," said Alexander. "StemGenex Medical Group is proud to offer the highest quality of care and to potentially help those with unmet clinical needs improve their quality of life."

ABOUT StemGenex Medical Group StemGenex Medical Group is committed to helping people achieve optimum health and better quality of life through the healing benefits of their own stem cells. StemGenex provides stem cell therapy options for individuals suffering with inflammatory and degenerative illnesses. Committed to the science and innovation of stem cell treatment,StemGenex sponsors five clinical outcome studiesregistered with theNational Institutes of Health ("NIH") for Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ("COPD") and Osteoarthritis. These have been established to formally document and evaluate the quality of life changes in individuals following adipose-derived stem cell treatment.

Contact: Jamie Schubert, Director of Media & Community Relations jschubert@StemGenex.com, (858) 242-4243

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/stem-cell-therapy-is-one-step-closer-to-becoming-law-in-texas-300461859.html

SOURCE StemGenex

http://www.stemgenex.com

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Stem Cell Therapy is One Step Closer to Becoming Law in Texas - PR Newswire (press release)

Mouse study looks at safety of stem cell therapy for early ... Science Daily Now that we know that egg-making stem cells exist in adults and that these cells can be transplanted into mice with premature ovarian failure to produce ... and more »

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NEW ORLEANS, LADespite new data showing that stem cell therapy has the potential to improve exercise time and reduce mortality in patients with refractory angina, researchers said at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2017 Scientific Sessions last week that the option is all but dead due to withdrawal of financial support, resulting in patients being denied access to a promising treatment.

Presenting a summation of all the data that have been collected over the last decade on the use of autologous CD34+ cells to treat patients with class III or IV angina despite optimal medical therapy, Thomas Povsic, MD, PhD (Duke Clinical Research Institute, Chapel Hill, NC), said this group of patients is in dire need of new treatment options, and maintained that it is imperative to explore methods to bring this therapy to patients.

He and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis from the only three trials of CD34+ therapy in refractory angina patients: a phase I study (n = 24); ACT-34 CMI and its 24-month extension study (n = 168); and the RENEW study (n = 112). All three were randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. However, RENEW was terminated early by the sponsor due to financial reasons.

Taken together, the trials showed that among the 187 patients who received the therapy, total exercise time improved by 90.5 seconds at 12 months compared with an improvement of just 39.5 seconds in those who received a placebo.

Additionally, patients who received CD34+ treatment had more than a fourfold lower rate of mortality by 24 months (2.6% vs 11.8%; P = 0.003) and fewer instances of MACE (29.8% vs 40.0%; P = 0.08).

A Cloudy Future

Povsic said the CD34+ trials are extremely expensive to run, resulting in the only sponsor, Baxter Healthcare, divesting itself of all further research in this area.

I personally believe that this therapy has more data associated with it for efficacy and safety than any other cell therapy thats been investigated in the cardiovascular disease space, he observed. The passage of the 21st Century Cures Act may hold some hope for the future, Povsic added, since it allows for a therapy that fulfills a specific medical need to undergo expedited approval.

Its challenging because this patient population has no options, Povsics co-author Timothy Henry, MD (Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles, CA), said in a press briefing prior to the presentation. This is by far the strongest data for any therapy for refractory angina. Its also the . . . strongest data for cell therapy, and its a shame that its not available to patients.

Henry added that hes hopeful the data from the meta-analysis may be well received by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Povsic noted that although other companies have expressed interest in the therapy, its future is cloudy. Referencing the termination of RENEW for financial reasons, he added that it shows the ramifications that early cessation of a clinical trial can have, because its truly a disservice to the patients that were enrolled in the trial, the investigators that invested time, and the fact that this therapy . . . seemed so close to the finish line, but [now] the path forward is unclear.

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Access Denied: Stem Cell Therapy Shows Some Promise in Refractory Angina, but Patients Can't Get It - TCTMD