Macquarie Stem Cells – Stem Cell Therapy Treatment Sydney …

Based in New South Wales, Macquarie Stem Cells has the knowledge, training and experience to provide stem cell treatment in a safe and positive environment. We boast a team of medical professionals who are passionate about stem cell therapy and its ability to improve your quality of life. Having successfully treated over 700 patients using stem cell medical procedures, you can rely on us to keep your safety and well-being in mind.

When subjected to the right stimulation, stem cells have the remarkable ability to develop into many different specialised cell types, including skin cells, muscle cells, and bone cells. Stem cell treatment involves extracting a tissue sample from your body using a mini-liposuction procedure, removing impurities from the sample such as fat, and then re-injecting it into a specific area. This 3 to 5 hour procedure instigates tissue regeneration in areas affected by issues such as inflammation.

At Macquarie Stem Cells, our aim is to provide stem cell therapy in Sydney that alleviates any pain, discomfort and anxiety you may experience on a day-to-day basis. As one of the leading stem cell treatment clinics around, we can help patients who are suffering a variety of severe and chronic conditions gain a new hold on life. Below is a brief overview of the conditions we can assist with.

Osteoarthritis can be a very complex condition, it is not as black and white as repairing cartilage and expecting improvements in your pain levels. When patients suffer from osteoarthritis, the cartilage begins to thin out and this leads to aggravation in your joints. As the aggravation continues, your synovial fluid can become affected, as well as the surrounding structure of the joints such as the muscles, tendons, ligaments & blood vessels.

We have been working with many professionals and we understand the whole approach to treating and managing osteoarthritis better than anyone else. This treatment will involve follow up from your end, you will need to rebuild lost strength, flexibility of your joints. We will guide you through this.

When the stromal cells are introduced, they will be able to resolve the inflammation within the joint and this will reduce your arthritic pain quite quickly. The cells are also able provide repairs to the synovial membrane; which will help properly lubricate your joints.

We have also observed MRI reports which indicate cartilage regrowth in some patients as well. At this point we need to direct our focus to the surrounding muscles and tendons of the joint, if they are weak and inflexible you may suffer from tendonitis. This does not mean the treatment has gone backwards, it simply means you need to spend some time to rebuild the strength & flexibility you have lost over the years.

The cells have shown a powerful effect on the immune system to the point where they are able to place the immune system in a state of tolerogenesis. Once the immune system attack has settled, the cells are able to target inflamed joints and start their repairs in these areas, thus providing improvements to your pain levels as well as function of the joint. We have regularly observed large changes in patients CRP and RF levels. This has been able to confirm positive changes to inflammation and immune balance within your body.

Some patients suffer from pains such as burning, tingling, electric shocks and similar pains.. even though they are not actually occuring. This indicates the nerve cells are firing but they are not firing due to nociceptive pain (pain which occurs for an external reason). These stromal cells are able to repair the inflammation surrounding the nerve cells and in cases where damage has taken, the cells can differentiate into nerve cells to repair the damage. This will allow the nerves to return to normal function and alleviate the neuropathic pain.

Your body naturally looks to repair any form of damage, however in certain cases it may only be able to do so with scar tissue. Once the stromal cells have homed to the damaged areas of your body, they are able to repair the damaged tissue and differentiate into the surrounding cell types. EG: your body is now able to use the stem cells to repair the torn tendon with actual tendon tissue as opposed to scar tissue. This allows the previously torn tissue to return back to full function.

For pre-exisiting repaired tears, these cells are able to soften the scar tissue formation and allow for a better range of motion whilst reducing the risk of a re-occuring tear adjacent to the existing tear.

Migraines are types of headaches but can be significantly more painful and debilitating. They can also cause a range of other symptoms, including nausea and sensitivity to light or sound. Fortunately, stem cell treatment has the potential to repair inflamed blood vessels which can reduce or eliminate migraines. At this stage we are running a clinical trial, you may place your application to participate in this trial.

We are currently located in Liverpool, NSW. By the end of 2017 we aim to add Darwin, NT into our list of practices. In the meantime we are treating all patients from other states such as VIC, QLD, WA, SA & TAS with a simple application and process over 3 days.

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Stem Cell Therapy: A Lethal Cure – Medical News Bulletin

Stem cell therapy is a two-step process. First, the patients blood cells are destroyed by chemotherapy, radiation therapy or immunosuppression. This conditioning process also eradicates any cancer cells that survived first-line treatment. Second, the patient receives stem cells harvested from a donors bone marrow or peripheral blood (circulating blood). While this can be an effective cure, it can cause graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in up to 50% of patients. GVHD is more likely to develop in patients who have received a peripheral blood transplant and can kill 15%-20% of patients.

Two types of GVHD can develop, acute and chronic, and patients may develop either one, both or neither type. GVHD is less likely to occur and symptoms are milder if the donor cells closely match those of the patient. Acute GVHD can develop within 100 days of a transplant. The first step of stem cell therapy can cause tissue damage, and bacteria from the gut can escape into the bloodstream. This primes the patients antigen-presenting cells (cells that activate the immune response), which subsequently encourage donor T cells to proliferate and attack the patients tissues. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, skin rashes, nausea, vomiting and liver problems. This can be resolved relatively quickly in one third of patients using immunosuppressive treatments, but some patients can progress to chronic GVHD.

The biological mechanisms responsible for chronic GVHD are not completely understood, but scientists believe that other immune system cells from the donor (B cells and macrophages) are stimulated and damage the patients tissues. Symptoms include dry eyes, mouth sores, muscle weakness, fatigue and joint problems.

Unfortunately, development of effective treatments for GVHD is not keeping up with the increasing number of GVHD patients or with advances in understanding this disease. At present, standard treatments include corticosteroids and drugs that reduce IL-2, an immune system chemical that helps T-cells multiply and diversify. These treatments have various side effects including suppressing the patients immune system, thereby increasing risk of infection.

One challenge stalling drug research is that a small degree of graft-versus-host response must occur for successful stem cell therapy: donor cells will destroy any cancer cells that remain after the first stage of therapy. This challenge is discussed in a recent article in Science Health.Although several treatments have been trialed, success is variable and often targets only acute GVHD or chronic GVHD. Biomarkers have also been detected that may help identify individuals at risk of developing severe GVHD, information that may aid the development of personalized treatment strategies. Drugs that have been approved for other diseases, but not for GVHD, show promise and include ibrutinib for chronic GVHD (approved for specific blood cancers) and ruxolitinib for acute GVHD (approved for bone marrow disorders).

The impact of stem cell therapy must not be underestimated: up to 50% of recipients will develop GVHD. Unfortunately, some individuals will develop chronic GVHD, a condition that is just as difficult to survive as cancer. This highlights the importance of developing continued care strategies for individuals receiving stem cell therapy as a final defence against cancer.

Written byNatasha Tetlow, PhD

Reference: Cohen J. A stem cell transplant helped beat back a young doctors cancer. Now, its assaulting his body. Science Health. 2017. Available at: DOI: 10.1126/science.aan7079

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Stem Cell Therapy: A Lethal Cure - Medical News Bulletin

Zika Virus Targets and Kills Brain Cancer Stem Cells – UC San Diego Health

In developing fetuses, infection by the Zika virus can result in devastating neurological damage, most notably microcephaly and other brain malformations. In a new study, published today in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report the virus specifically targets and kills brain cancer stem cells.

The findings suggest the lethal power of the virus notorious for causing infected babies to be born with under-sized, misshapen heads could be directed at malignant cells in adult brains. Doing so might potentially improve survival rates for patients diagnosed with glioblastomas, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer, with a median survival rate of just over 14 months after diagnosis.

The Zika virus specifically targets neuroprogenitor cells in fetal and adult brains. Our research shows it also selectively targets and kills cancer stem cells, which tend to be resistant to standard treatments and a big reason why glioblastomas recur after surgery and result in shorter patient survival rates, said Jeremy Rich, MD, professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Rich is co-senior author of the study with Michael S. Diamond, MD, PhD, professor, and Milan G. Chheda, MD, assistant professor, both at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Transmission electron microscope image of negative-stained, Fortaleza-strain Zika virus (red), isolated from a microcephaly case in Brazil. Image courtesy of NIAID.

This year, more than 12,000 Americans will be diagnosed with glioblastomas, according to the American Brain Tumor Association. Among them: U.S. Senator John McCain, who announced his diagnosis in July. They are highly malignant. The two-year survival rate is 30 percent.

Standard treatment is aggressive: surgery, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. Yet most tumors recur within six months, fueled by a small population of glioblastoma stem cells that resist and survive treatment, continuing to divide and produce new tumor cells to replace those killed by cancer drugs.

For Zhe Zhu, MD, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in Richs lab and first author of the study, the hyper-reproductive capabilities of glioblastoma stem cells reminded him of neuroprogenitor cells, which fuel the explosive growth of developing brains. Zika virus specifically targets and kills neuroprogenitor cells.

So Zhu, with Rich, Diamond, Chheda and other collaborators, investigated whether the Zika virus might also target and kill cultured glioblastoma stem cells derived from patients being treated for the disease. They infected cultured tumors with one of two strains of the virus. Both strains spread through the tumors, infecting and killing stem cells while largely avoiding other tumor cells.

The findings, the authors said, suggest that chemotherapy-radiation treatment and a Zika infection appear to produce complementary results. Standard treatment kills most tumor cells but typically leaves stem cells intact. The Zika virus attacks stem cells but bypasses ordinary tumor cells.

We see Zika one day being used in combination with current therapies to eradicate the whole tumor, said Chheda, an assistant professor of medicine and of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine.

To find out whether the virus could boost treatment efficacy in a live animal, researchers injected either the Zika virus or a saltwater placebo directly into glioblastoma tumors in 18 and 15 mice, respectively. Two weeks after injection, tumors were significantly smaller in the Zika-treated mice, who survived significantly longer than those given the placebo.

The scientists note that the idea of injecting a virus notorious for causing brain damage into patients brains seems alarming, but they say Zika may prove a safe therapy with further testing because its primary target neuroprogenitor cells are rare in adult brains. The opposite is true of fetal brains, which is part of the reason why a Zika infection before birth produces widespread and severe brain damage while a normal Zika infection in adults typically causes mild symptoms or none at all.

The researchers also conducted studies of the virus using brain tissue from epilepsy patients that showed the virus does not infect non-cancerous brain cells.

As an additional safety feature, the research team introduced two mutations that weakened the viruss ability to combat natural cellular defenses against infection, reasoning that while the mutated virus would still be able to grow in tumor cells, which have a poor anti-viral defense system, it would be quickly eliminated in healthy cells with a robust anti-viral response.

When they tested the mutated viral strain and the original parental strain in glioblastoma stem cells, they found that the original strain was more potent, but that the mutant strain also succeeded in killing the cancerous cells.

Were going to introduce additional mutations to sensitize the virus even more to the innate immune response and prevent the infection from spreading, said Diamond, a professor of molecular microbiology, pathology and immunology. Once we add a couple more, I think its going to be impossible for the virus to overcome them and cause disease.

Co-authors of the study include: Matthew Gorman, Estefania Fernandez, Lisa McKenzie, Jiani Chai, Justin M. Richner, and Rong Zhang, Washington University, St. Louis; Christopher Hubert, and Briana Prager, Cleveland Clinic; Chao Shan, and Pei-Yong Shi, University of Texas Medical Branch; and Xiuxing Wang, UC San Diego.

Funding for this research came, in part, from the National Institutes of Health (R01 AI073755, R01 AI104972, CA197718, CA154130, CA169117, CA171652, NS087913, NS089272), the Pardee Foundation, the Concern Foundation, the Cancer Research Foundation and the McDonnell Center for Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology of Washington University.

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Zika Virus Targets and Kills Brain Cancer Stem Cells - UC San Diego Health

Longeveron Initiates Phase 2b Stem Cell Therapy Trial to Treat Aging Frailty – Markets Insider

MIAMI, Sept. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Longeveron LLC, a regenerative medicine company developing cellular therapies, announced today that it treated its first patient in the Company's Phase 2b clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of Longeveron human Allogeneic Mesenchymal Stem Cells (LMSCs) in patients with Aging Frailty Syndrome. This trial is being conducted pursuant to an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) in conformance with U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. Aging Frailty is a common geriatric medical condition that is serious and life-threatening, and for which there are currently no U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved therapeutics available.

The clinical trial is designed to enroll 120 subjects from approximately 10 medical centers around the U.S. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the effect that LMSCs have on functional mobility and exercise tolerance in elderly Aging Frailty subjects. Three different LMSC dose groups will be compared to placebo over 12 months in a randomized, double-blinded, parallel arm design.Specifically, the trial will evaluate changes to the following:

"Frailty Syndrome is a very common and difficult situation to manage from a clinician's and caregiver's standpoint," stated Marco Pahor, M.D., Director of the Institute on Aging at the University of Florida. "The goal of intervention is to stop or slow the progression towards dependence and adverse health outcomes common to the syndrome, and to restore the patient to a state of healthy aging and functional independence. Longeveron's regenerative medicine trial is an important step towards the development of an effective therapeutic."

Allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were previously tested in a Phase I/2 proof-of-concept study conducted by investigators at the University of Miami'sMiller School of Medicine. In that study, MSCs were shown to be safe and well-tolerated in frail, elderly subjects in a Phase 1 open label single ascending dose trial (publication link here) with a similar safety profile observed in the randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2 study (publication link here) Subjects treated with a dose of 100 million MSCs showed significant improvements in six minute walking distance, and significant decreases in systemic inflammation, both relative to baseline.

"As individuals age, stem cell production and proliferation decreases, systemic inflammation increases, and a person's ability to repair and regenerate worn out or damaged tissue diminishes," remarked Suzanne Liv Page, Longeveron Chief Operating Officer. "In frail individuals this is particularly problematic. Our hypothesis is that exogenously infused allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells that are derived from the bone marrow of a healthy young donor, and culture expanded in our lab, will have potent regenerative and restorative effects."

Participants in this study must be between the ages of 70 and 85, be diagnosed as mildly to moderately frail due primarily to aging, and be able to walk between 200 and 400 meters over six minutes. Detailed information about the trial, subject eligibility and participating centers can be found by clicking here or by visiting the website http://www.clinicaltrials.gov and entering trial ID: NCT03169231.

About LMSCs

LMSCs is an allogeneic product, which means it is produced from stem cells derived from human donor bone marrow, and not from the patient's own stem cells, (referred to as autologous). LMSCs are manufactured at Longeveron's Cell Processing Facility in Miami, Fl. using a proprietary ex vivo culture expansion process.

About Longeveron

Longeveron is a regenerative medicine therapy company founded in 2014. Longeveron's goal is to provide the first of its kind biological solution for aging-related diseases, and is dedicated to developing safe cell-based therapeutics to revolutionize the aging process and improve quality of life. The company's research focus areas include Alzheimer's disease, Aging Frailty and the Metabolic Syndrome. Longeveron produces LMSCs in its own state-of-the-art cGMP cell processing facility. http://www.longeveron.com

Contact: Suzanne Liv Page rel="nofollow">spage@longeveron.com 305.909.0850

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Longeveron Initiates Phase 2b Stem Cell Therapy Trial to Treat Aging Frailty - Markets Insider

Stem Cell Therapy Expands Beyond Chronic Pain – WBAY

APPLETON, Wisc. (WBAY) As stem cell therapy grows in popularity in Northeast Wisconsin, treatment is expanding beyond chronic pain in the knees, hips, back and shoulders.

A Green Bay man battling lung disease says stem cell therapy saved his life.

Ken Schiller has lived on oxygen for the past 12 years while suffering from COPD, emphysema and Agent Orange.

"Tried to get a lung transplant and they told me well, can't do it, you're too old," says Schiller.

Five years ago, doctors gave Schiller four years to live.

But now he's breathing a sigh of relief.

"I couldn't walk 15-feet nine months ago without stopping to rest for 3-5 minutes, now I can walk through the grocery store, can walk out of this building to the car, I don't have a big problem," says Schiller.

Schiller turned to stem cell therapy at Optimal Stem Cell & Wellness Institute in Appleton.

"Now we've really seen incredible results with lung disease, COPD, pulmonary fibrosis, emphysema, these patients have nowhere else to go," says Dr. Michael Johnson who runs the clinic.

Dr. Johnson says patients like Schiller begin with a platelet rich plasma treatment, followed by stem cell treatment using stem cells from their own body fat.

"We draw off the fat, adipose, spin it down, draw off the stem cells and IV it back into them, after one round of stem cell therapy they're already doing better, it usually takes two or three for severe cases," says Dr. Johnson.

Schiller just underwent his third treatment and says he has a new lease on life.

"Two weeks ago we went to Laughlin, Nevada for four days, took a plane and came back, I thought those days were over, but they're not," says Schiller.

While stem cell therapy is still not FDA approved, or covered by insurance, Dr. Johnson says his office is fielding around 100 calls a week.

"This is the future," says Dr. Johnson.

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Stem Cell Therapy Expands Beyond Chronic Pain - WBAY

Zika virus kills brain cancer stem cells; could potentially be used to treat deadly disease – Medical Xpress

September 5, 2017 Brain cancer stem cells (left) are killed by Zika virus infection (image at right shows cells after Zika treatment). A new study shows that the virus, known for killing cells in the brains of developing fetuses, could be redirected to destroy the kind of brain cancer cells that are most likely to be resistant to treatment. Credit: Zhe Zhu

While Zika virus causes devastating damage to the brains of developing fetuses, it one day may be an effective treatment for glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine shows that the virus kills brain cancer stem cells, the kind of cells most resistant to standard treatments.

The findings suggest that the lethal power of the virus - known for infecting and killing cells in the brains of fetuses, causing babies to be born with tiny, misshapen heads - could be directed at malignant cells in the brain. Doing so potentially could improve people's chances against a brain cancer - glioblastoma - that is most often fatal within a year of diagnosis.

"We showed that Zika virus can kill the kind of glioblastoma cells that tend to be resistant to current treatments and lead to death," said Michael S. Diamond, MD, PhD, the Herbert S. Gasser Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine and the study's co-senior author.

The findings are published Sept. 5 in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Each year in the United States, about 12,000 people are diagnosed with glioblastoma, the most common form of brain cancer. Among them is U.S. Sen. John McCain, who announced his diagnosis in July.

The standard treatment is aggressive - surgery, followed by chemotherapy and radiation - yet most tumors recur within six months. A small population of cells, known as glioblastoma stem cells, often survives the onslaught and continues to divide, producing new tumor cells to replace the ones killed by the cancer drugs.

In their neurological origins and near-limitless ability to create new cells, glioblastoma stem cells reminded postdoctoral researcher Zhe Zhu, PhD, of neuroprogenitor cells, which generate cells for the growing brain. Zika virus specifically targets and kills neuroprogenitor cells.

In collaboration with co-senior authors Diamond and Milan G. Chheda, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine, and Jeremy N. Rich, MD, of UC San Diego, Zhu tested whether the virus could kill stem cells in glioblastomas removed from patients at diagnosis. They infected tumors with one of two strains of Zika virus. Both strains spread through the tumors, infecting and killing the cancer stem cells while largely avoiding other tumor cells.

The findings suggest that Zika infection and chemotherapy-radiation treatment have complementary effects. The standard treatment kills the bulk of the tumor cells but often leaves the stem cells intact to regenerate the tumor. Zika virus attacks the stem cells but bypasses the greater part of the tumor.

"We see Zika one day being used in combination with current therapies to eradicate the whole tumor," said Chheda, an assistant professor of medicine and of neurology.

To find out whether the virus could help treat cancer in a living animal, the researchers injected either Zika virus or saltwater (a placebo) directly into the brain tumors of 18 and 15 mice, respectively. Tumors were significantly smaller in the Zika-treated mice two weeks after injection, and those mice survived significantly longer than the ones given saltwater.

If Zika were used in people, it would have to be injected into the brain, most likely during surgery to remove the primary tumor. If introduced through another part of the body, the person's immune system would sweep it away before it could reach the brain.

The idea of injecting a virus notorious for causing brain damage into people's brains seems alarming, but Zika may be safer for use in adults because its primary targets - neuroprogenitor cells - are rare in the adult brain. The fetal brain, on the other hand, is loaded with such cells, which is part of the reason why Zika infection before birth produces widespread and severe brain damage, while natural infection in adulthood causes mild symptoms.

The researchers conducted additional studies of the virus using brain tissue from epilepsy patients and showed that the virus does not infect noncancerous brain cells.

As an additional safety feature, the researchers introduced two mutations that weakened the virus's ability to combat the cell's defenses against infection, reasoning that the mutated virus still would be able to grow in tumor cells - which have a poor antiviral defense system - but would be eliminated quickly in healthy cells with a robust antiviral response.

When they tested the mutant viral strain and the original parental strain in glioblastoma stem cells, they found that the original strain was more potent, but that the mutant strain also succeeded in killing the cancerous cells.

"We're going to introduce additional mutations to sensitize the virus even more to the innate immune response and prevent the infection from spreading," said Diamond, who also is a professor of molecular microbiology, and of pathology and immunology. "Once we add a few more changes, I think it's going to be impossible for the virus to overcome them and cause disease."

Explore further: Scientists to test Zika virus on brain tumors

More information: Zhu et al., 2017. J. Exp. Med. jem.rupress.org/cgi/doi/10.1084/jem.20171093

In a revolutionary first, Cancer Research UK-funded scientists will test whether the Zika virus can destroy brain tumour cells, potentially leading to new treatments for one of the hardest to treat cancers.

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Zika virus kills brain cancer stem cells; could potentially be used to treat deadly disease - Medical Xpress

Family hope to raise 160k for groundbreaking stem cell treatment for daughter, Ivy, who suffers from cerebral palsy – Scottish Daily Record

Little Ivy Rose has a smile that lights up a room but unless her parents raise enough money for groundbreaking treatment she will have to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

The three-year-old faces a life of isolation because her cerebral palsy means she can do very little for herself. But she is a delightfully engaging child who shows courage beyond her years.

Stephen and Sky Summers, from Shotts, Lanarkshire, were devastated when their little girl was born prematurely with medical difficulties.

Ivy was born just a year after the couples twins, Xander and Sandy died after being born too prematurely.

Sky, 36, said: They died in my arms. One was just under an hour, the other just over an hour.

When Ivy also arrived early her parents feared she would die too.

Now they are determined to do everything within their power to ensure she gets the very best chance to live as normal a life as possible.

Sky said: When Ivy arrived, she was whisked off to ICU. I didnt even get to touch her. We didnt think there were going to be big problems at first. She came out crying and gurgling.

Initially, Ivy was tube fed and it was three weeks before she could have milk from a bottle. Her problems didnt become completely apparent until Ivy came home at five weeks.

Sky said: We brought Ivy home and within the first 24-48 hours, she had what we call her first episode.

She stopped breathing. She was sleeping in the carrycot next to our bed. I fed her, put her into carrycot, turned round and heard a commotion.

Her arms were shaking and she was very distressed. She couldnt breathe. I picked her up put her across my knee, patting her back but I couldnt get her to start breathing. She started turning blue.

It was a terrifying moment. I started to very gently breathe into her mouth and she came round and started breathing again.

That was the beginning of many episodes over the next eight months. It was a very traumatic time where we just tried to keep her alive.

It transpired the tot had acid reflux and the pain and shock of the acid was enough to stop her breathing.

As she grew, her condition improved but Ivy has never been able to eat anything other than mushy food because of her cerebral palsy.

She is a happy, bright little girl but her mum is not prepared to accept there is no hope of any improvement.

Sky said: Ivy sees NHS specialists but they are only interested in managing her condition, not in curing or rehabilitating it.

When the cerebral palsy diagnosis came through around her second birthday, Sky said: I felt hopeless.

I remember very specifically being told the likely scenario was Ivy would never be able to walk unaided but she would maybe be able to manage around the house, holding on to furniture. She would most likely be in a wheelchair. The best hope is for Ivy to start any therapies as soon as possible because once she is seven her ability to be improve her mobility will diminish.

A connection through family led to meeting Dr Joanne Kurtzberg, who is awaiting approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for stem cell treatment with donor cells on cerebral palsy patients. Kurtzberg has agreed to accept Ivy on to the trial if she meets the criteria.

Ivy also has the opportunity to have treatment from specialists RehabMart including sensory therapies involving work with horses, special suits and trapezes among others.

While some of the therapies will be free, many others are expensive.

The family will have to live in the US for six months to give Ivy her best chance of improvement but it will cost 162,000 which they are hoping to crowdfund.

Sky said: It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Ivy. I am so blessed she is so happy, so affectionate, intelligent and funny but she is excluded from everywhere in life.

Exclusion is a horrendous part for a child with cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is the name for a group of lifelong conditions which affect movement and co-ordination, caused by a problem with the brain which occurs before, during or soon after birth.

The symptoms arent usually obvious just after a baby is born. They become noticeable during the first two or three years. It affects each person differently but the condition may limit a childs activities and independence.

The problem with the brain doesnt worsen but the condition can put a lot of strain on the body.

To donate, go to: http://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ivyrosesummers .

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Family hope to raise 160k for groundbreaking stem cell treatment for daughter, Ivy, who suffers from cerebral palsy - Scottish Daily Record

FDA Cracks Down On Stem-Cell Clinics Selling Unapproved Treatments – NPR

Adult stem cells can be extracted from human fat. Patrick T. Fallon /The Washington Post/Getty Images hide caption

Adult stem cells can be extracted from human fat.

The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on "unscrupulous" clinics selling unproven and potentially dangerous treatments involving stem cells.

Hundreds of clinics around the country have started selling stem cell therapies that supposedly use stem cells but have not been approved as safe and effective by the FDA, according to the agency.

"There are a small number of unscrupulous actors who have seized on the clinical promise of regenerative medicine, while exploiting the uncertainty, in order to make deceptive, and sometimes corrupt assurances to patients based on unproven and, in some cases, dangerously dubious products," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement Monday.

The FDA has taken action against clinics in California and Florida.

The agency sent a warning letter to the US Stem Cell Clinic of Sunrise, Fla., and its chief scientific officer, Kristin Comella, for "marketing stem cell products without FDA approval and significant deviations from current good manufacturing practice requirements."

The clinic is one of many around the country that claim to use stem cells derived from a person's own fat to treat a variety of conditions, including Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and lung and heart diseases, the FDA says.

The Florida clinic had been previously linked to several cases of blindness caused by attempts to use fat stem cells to treat macular degeneration.

The FDA also said it has taken "decisive action" to "prevent the use of a potentially dangerous and unproven treatment" offered by StemImmune Inc. of San Diego, Calif., and administered to patients at California Stem Cell Treatment Centers in Rancho Mirage and Beverly Hills, Calif.

As part of that action, the U.S. Marshals Service seized five vials of live vaccinia virus vaccine that is supposed to be reserved for people at high risk for smallpox but was being used as part of a stem-cell treatment for cancer, according to the FDA. "The unproven and potentially dangerous treatment was being injected intravenously and directly into patients' tumors," according to an FDA statement.

Smallpox essentially has been eradicated from the planet, but samples are kept in reserve in the U.S. and Russia, and vaccines are kept on hand as a result.

But Elliot Lander, medical director of the California Stem Cell Treatment Centers, denounced the FDA's actions in an interview with Shots.

"I think it's egregious," Lander says. "I think they made a mistake. I'm really baffled by this."

While his clinics do charge some patients for treatments that use stem cells derived from fat, Lander says, none of the cancer patients were charged and the treatments were administered as part of a carefully designed research study.

"Nobody was charged a single penny," Lander says. "We're just trying to move the field forward."

In a written statement, U.S. Stem Cell also defended its activities.

"The safety and health of our patients are our number one priority and the strict standards that we have in place follow the laws of the Food and Drug Administration," according to the statement.

"We have helped thousands of patients harness their own healing potential," the statement says. "It would be a mistake to limit these therapies from patients who need them when we are adhering to top industry standards."

But stem-cell researchers praised the FDA's actions.

"This is spectacular," says George Daley, dean of the Harvard Medical School and a leading stem-cell researcher. "This is the right thing to do."

Daley praised the FDA's promise to provide clear guidance soon for vetting legitimate stem-cell therapies while cracking down on "snake-oil salesmen" marketing unproven treatments.

Stem-cell research is "a major revolution in medicine. It's bound to ultimately deliver cures," Daley says. "But it's so early in the field," he adds. "Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous practitioners and clinics that are marketing therapies to patients, often at great expense, that haven't been proven to work and may be unsafe."

Others agreed.

"I see this is a major, positive step by the FDA," says Paul Knoepfler, a professor of cell biology at the University of of California, Davis, who has documented the proliferation of stem-cell clinics.

"I'm hoping that this signals a historic shift by the FDA to tackle the big problem of stem-cell clinics selling unapproved and sometimes dangerous stem cell "treatments" that may not be real treatments," Knoepfler says.

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FDA Cracks Down On Stem-Cell Clinics Selling Unapproved Treatments - NPR

MS sufferer gets pioneering stem cell treatment – Gloucestershire Live

Multiple sclerosis sufferer Roy Palmer is about to embark on the next phase of his pioneering treatment.

But it comes with risks he is prepared to take in the hope it will cure the debilitating condition.

The 43-year-old father of two from Quedgeley is determined it will work. He was diagnosed with relapsing remitting MS but now has the secondary progressive form of the disease, which means it gets steadily worse.

He said: I fought for a year to get hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and many people told me I didnt fit the criteria but I didnt let that stop me.

Mr Palmer had a week of injections to draw the stem cells from his bone marrow.

He and his wife Helen travelled to Hammersmith Hospital in London where he was given a day of chemotherapy.

Mr Palmer lost his hair as a result and was left feeling sick and tired.

The stem cells have been frozen and will be reintroduced to his body after another aggressive course of chemotherapy.

It will be fed directly into a main artery in his chest before Mr Palmer spends the next four weeks in isolation.

He will start the treatment on September 18 his 24th wedding anniversary.

Mr Palmer said: Im not someone to sit around and feel sorry for myself.

If the treatment works then, oh my God, I couldnt begin to describe what it would mean to me.

He added: To be able to walk out of my front door would mean the world.

I know Im lucky to be able to get the treatment. Im worried, my immune system will be obliterated, but I have to give this everything. Im a fighter and determined to make this work.

Mr Palmers family back his decision to undergo HSCT treatment, although they worry about the effect it will have.

His 45-year-old wife said: When they give the chemotherapy it brings the body back down to zero.

It will stop any immune system and take some time for the body to start getting back to normal.

When Roys levels are up they will start to reintroduce the stem cells.

The MS Society website says HSCT aims to reset the immune system to stop it attacking the central nervous system.

It uses chemotherapy to remove the harmful immune cells and then rebuilds the immune system using haematopoietic stem cells found in bone marrow.

They can produce all the different cells in the blood.

Mrs Palmer said: Im happy for Roy to take that risk and to support him but it is a lethal dose of chemo.

The treatment can be done abroad and costs around 60,000. In the past we were considering that option but there is no aftercare.

The couples daughter Abi, 12, said: I feel a little scared for dad but okay. I cant remember him walking.

And 20-year-old son Jack said: Dad has been in a chair for about 10 years and to see him walk again would mean everything.

Just standing next to each other would mean the world.

Once the stem cells are back in Mr Palmers body the hope is he will make a full recovery and be free of MS,

He said: It will be great to not have to ask people to do things for me.

I do what I can but I dont like to hang around waiting.

I want people to know there is treatment and it can be a fight but Ive got to do this now.

More:
MS sufferer gets pioneering stem cell treatment - Gloucestershire Live

CSL Behring buys Calimmune for early stem cell, gene therapy boost – FierceBiotech

CSL Behring has paid out $91 million upfront for biotech Calimmune and gains a preclinical asset for sickle cell disease and -thalassemia, adding to its blood disease pipeline.

The biotech is working onexvivo hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) gene therapy, with R&D facilities in Pasadena, California, and Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that will now transfer over to CSL.

For its $91 million, and $300-plus in biobucks, CSL also gets two platform technologies, Select+ and Cytegrity, which are designed to address some of the major challenges currently associated with the commercialization of stem cell therapy, according to the company.

This includes the ability to manufacture consistent, high-quality productsand to improve engraftment, efficacy and tolerability, it said in a statement. Both technologies have broad applications in ex vivo stem cell gene therapy.

Calimmune shares in our promise and focus to improve the lives of patients with rare and serious medical conditions, said CSL CEO and managing director Paul Perreault. The acquisition represents another important step in the execution of our strategy for sustainable growth. Calimmunes scientific accomplishments are impressive.

The team has built a robust technology platform, and designed a promising HSC gene therapy candidate, CAL-H, which strongly aligns with our longer-term strategic goals, and complements our core competencies and areas of therapeutic focus, Perreault added. While Calimmune is still in the early stages, we believe that our combined strengths have tremendous potential to change treatment paradigms, and most importantly, significantly improve the lives of our patients.

RELATED: CSL heart attack drug hits on safety, misses efficacy in PhIIb

Calimmunes chief, Louis Breton, added: We are excited to become part of CSL Behring. They are an established global industry leader in protein-replacement therapies and have a proven track record of driving innovations through the development pipeline and delivering differentiated products to the global marketplace. Together, we are well-positioned to take our achievements to the next level.

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CSL Behring buys Calimmune for early stem cell, gene therapy boost - FierceBiotech