Moratorium on stem cell treatment in PH a must for now

THIS IS in reference to the latest Department of Health warning on the use of stem cells from aborted fetuses (DOH warns against use of stem cells from aborted babies, Inquirer, 11/11/12). It is my humble opinion as a Filipino medical practitioner that the most logical and effective way for the DOH to fulfill its function of protecting and safeguarding the health of Filipino patients from dubious stem cell treatment is to immediately impose a moratorium on stem cell therapy in the country.

In developed countries, novel stem cell treatment can only be tried on patients under a strict clinical trial environment. For example, if one tries to treat cancer or diabetes mellitus with stem cells using a protocol not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), one has to submit first to the US FDA voluminous scientific documents supporting or justifying the trial, based on pre-clinical studies. The trial is undertaken only after approval by the US FDA and institutional review boards, and usually the patients are treated for free or at a minimal patient expense. The treatment protocol is also open for review and the treatment results, both positive and negative, are meticulously monitored, reported and preferably published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

In the Philippines, some medical centers are currently giving stem cell treatment for a variety of conditions that had not been approved by the US FDA. The DOH mentioned that they will just be regulating and monitoring these centers (or the quality of their stem cells), but it is not saying anything yet about stopping the practice of delivering unproven stem cell treatments. I respectfully believe that this is the wrong approach and that it is paramount that the DOH should prioritize the safety and interests of Filipino patients rather than the financial interests of hospitals and doctors who have already invested in the technology. Of course, those few stem cell treatments that are approved by the US FDA (some blood cancers, prostatic cancer, etc.) should be the only ones allowed to continue for now until the DOH finalizes its regulatory guidelines.

JOSE A. AGUILAR, M.D., consultant,

Philippine Childrens Medical Center,

jettm42@yahoo.com

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Moratorium on stem cell treatment in PH a must for now

Revolutionary Stem Cell Treatment Repairs Spinal Cord Injuries In Paralyzed Dogs – Video

Revolutionary Stem Cell Treatment Repairs Spinal Cord Injuries In Paralyzed Dogs
Cambridge University announced the breakthrough in a press release on Nov. 19, coincident with the publication of their findings in the November issue of the neurology journal Brain, currently in press. http://www.youtube.com http://www.lifenews.comFrom:OuranianProductionsViews:9 0ratingsTime:01:01More inScience Technology

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Revolutionary Stem Cell Treatment Repairs Spinal Cord Injuries In Paralyzed Dogs - Video

Man Cites Raid In Wife's Death

Posted: Nov. 22, 2012 | 2:00 a.m.

An 86-year-old medical researcher charged with defrauding chronically ill patients in a stem cell implant scheme blamed the government Wednesday for the death of his wife.

After three hours of testimony, the Romanian-born Alfred Sapse told the jury in his federal trial that he believes the conduct of federal agents during a raid at his Las Vegas residence early in the investigation traumatized his 88-year-old wife, Renee, who was bedridden at the time.

Under questioning from his defense lawyer, Daniel Albregts, Sapse testified that federal agents threatened to have her removed from the residence if he failed to cooperate with investigators.

Sapse, speaking in a thick Romanian accent, said three days after the raid he found his wife outside on their balcony during a cold winter night, and she caught pneumonia and later died.

Sapse said he wrote a letter complaining about the couple's treatment to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which led the raid, but the agency never did anything about it.

His testimony followed a lengthy stint on the witness stand Monday and Tuesday by his co-defendant, Henderson pediatrician Ralph Conti, who has been practicing medicine here since 1990.

Sapse and Conti, 51, are facing conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud charges in the courtroom of Senior U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson. The trial is in its third week and will continue Monday with the cross-examination of Sapse.

In his testimony Wednesday, Sapse said he earned his medical degree in Romania and acknowledged he was not a licensed doctor in the United States.

He said he has spent most of his medical career as a researcher, and he took credit for developing the anti-aging drug Gerovital and getting it legalized in Nevada in the 1970s when the FDA wouldn't approve it.

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Man Cites Raid In Wife's Death

Revolutionary Stem Cell Treatment Repairs Spinal Cord Injuries In Paralyzed Dogs

Editor's Choice Main Category: Stem Cell Research Also Included In: Neurology / Neuroscience;Veterinary Article Date: 20 Nov 2012 - 3:00 PST

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For many years, scientists have been aware that olfactory ensheathing cells (OEC) could be helpful in treating the damaged spinal cord because of their distinctive properties. The unique cells have the capacity to support nerve fiber growth that preserves a pathway between the nose and the brain.

Earlier studies consisting of laboratory animals have shown that OECs can be helpful in regeneration of the parts of nerve cells that pass on signals (axons). OECs were used as a bridge linking damaged and undamaged tissues in the spinal cord. A Phase 1 trial in humans with spinal cord injuries has determined that the procedure is safe.

The current study, published in the journal Brain, is the first double-blinded, randomized, controlled study to examine the effectiveness of these transplants to increase function in spinal cord injuries. The trial used animals with spontaneous and accidental spinal cord injuries. This method resembled closely the way the procedure could potentially work for human patients.

The study included 34 dogs that all suffered critical spinal cord injuries (SCIs). A year or more after the injury, the dogs were without the ability to use their legs and were unable to feel pain in their hind legs and adjoining areas.

One group involved in the study received OECs from the lining of their own nose injected into the injured area. The other group of dogs were injected with only the liquid in which the cells were transplanted. The researchers and the owners were both in the dark about which dogs received which type of injections.

The dogs were analyzed for adverse reactions during a 24 hour period before being returned to their owners. After that, they were tested every month for neurological function and to have their walking manner assessed on a treadmill while being supported in a harness. Specifically, the researchers watched to see if the dogs could coordinate the movement of their front and back legs.

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Revolutionary Stem Cell Treatment Repairs Spinal Cord Injuries In Paralyzed Dogs

Stem cells develop best in 3-D

Public release date: 21-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Anne Grapin-Botton anne.grapin-botton@sund.ku.dk (45) 29-63-43-98 University of Copenhagen

Scientists from The Danish Stem Cell Center (DanStem) at the University of Copenhagen are contributing important knowledge about how stem cells develop best into insulin-producing cells. In the long term this new knowledge can improve diabetes treatment with cell therapy. The results have just been published in the scientific journal Cell Reports.

Stem cells are responsible for tissue growth and tissue repair after injury. Therefore, the discovery that these vital cells grow better in a three-dimensional environment is important for the future treatment of disease with stem cell therapy.

"We can see that the quality of the cells produced two-dimensionally is not good enough. By putting the cells in a three-dimensional environment and giving them the proper growth conditions, we get much better results. Therefore we are developing a three-dimensional culture medium in gelatine in the laboratory to mimic the one inside an embryo," says Professor Anne Grapin-Botton from DanStem at the University of Copenhagen, who produced the results together with colleagues from Switzerland and Belgium.

The international research team hopes that the new knowledge about three-dimensional cell growth environments can make a significant contribution to the development of cell therapies for treating diabetes. In the long term this knowledge can also be used to develop stem cell treatments for chronic diseases in internal organs such as the liver or lungs. Like the pancreas, these organs are developed from stem cells in 3D.

From stem cells to specialised cells

The research team has investigated how the three-dimensional organisation of tissue in the early embryonic stage influences development from stem cells to more specialised cells.

"We can see that the pancreas looks like a beautiful little tree with branches. Stem cells along the branches need this structure to be able to create insulin-producing cells in the embryo. Our research suggests that in the laboratory beta cells can develop better from stem cells in 3D than if we try to get them to develop flat in a Petri dish," explains Professor Grapin-Botton.

"Attempts to develop functional beta cells in 2D have unfortunately most often resulted in poorly functioning cells. Our results from developing cells in 3D have yielded promising results and are therefore an important step on the way to developing cell therapies for treating diabetes."

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Stem cells develop best in 3-D

Stem Cells allow paralysed dogs to walk again. – Video

Stem Cells allow paralysed dogs to walk again.
Pet dogs left paralysed by spine damage have been able to walk again after pioneering stem cell treatment. Injecting cells taken from the dogs #39; nose into the injured part of their back helped regenerate the damaged done to their spine. Following the treatment, the animals were able to move previously paralysed hind legs and coordinate movement with their front limbs.From:TheeDudeabidezViews:0 0ratingsTime:00:21More inPets Animals

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Stem Cells allow paralysed dogs to walk again. - Video

'Different kind of stem cell' possesses attributes favoring regenerative medicine

ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2012) A research team at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center say the new and powerful cells they first created in the laboratory a year ago constitute a new stem-like state of adult epithelial cells. They say these cells have attributes that may make regenerative medicine truly possible.

In the November 19 online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), they report that these new stem-like cells do not express the same genes as embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) do. That explains why they don't produce tumors when they grow in the laboratory, as the other stem cells do, and why they are stable, producing the kind of cells researchers want them to.

"These seem to be exactly the kind of cells that we need to make regenerative medicine a reality," says the study's senior investigator, chairman of the department of pathology at Georgetown Lombardi, a part of Georgetown University Medical Center.

This study is a continuation of work that led to a breakthrough in December 2011 when Schlegel and his colleagues demonstrated that he and his team had designed a laboratory technique that keep both normal as well as cancer cells alive indefinitely -- which previously had not been possible.

They had discovered that adding two different substances to these cells (a Rho kinase inhibitor and fibroblast feeder cells) pushes them to morph into stem-like cells that stay alive indefinitely. When the two substances are withdrawn from the cells, they revert back to the type of cell that they once were. They dubbed these cells conditionally reprogrammed cells (CRCs).

The advance was seen as an exciting demonstration of personalized cancer medicine. In fact, a case study authored by Schlegel and his team, reported in the September 27 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), demonstrated how CRCs derived from normal and tumor cells of a 24-year-old man with a rare type of lung tumor allowed physicians to identify an effective cancer therapy. These cells were used to screen potential treatments and in this way, the scientists were able to see which therapies were active against the tumor cells and less harmful to the normal cells.

"Our first clinical application utilizing this technique represents a powerful example of individualized medicine," Schlegel said in September. But he cautioned, "It will take an army of researchers and solid science to figure out if this technique will be the advance we need to usher in a new era of personalized medicine."

This study was designed to see how the CRCs compared to known properties of embryonic stem cells and iPSCs, which are adult cells that have been manipulated by addition of genes to make them capable of differentiating (morphing into new adult cell types). Both embryonic stem cells and iPSCs have been investigated for use in regenerative medicine, but each can form tumors when injected into mice and "it is difficult to control what kind of cells these cells differentiate into," Schlegel says. "You may want them to be a lung cell, but they could form a skin cell instead."

In contrast, cells derived from the lung will develop stem-like properties when the conditions are added, allowing expansion of the lung cell population. However, when the conditions are withdrawn, they will revert to differentiated lung cells, he says. Schlegel added that they do this rapidly -- within three days of adding the inhibitor and feeder cells, they efficiently generated large numbers of stem-like cells. It is also completely reversible: when the conditions are taken away, the cells lose their stem-like properties and potentially can be safely implanted into tissue.

The researchers compared gene expression between the three cell types and found that while some of the same genes are expressed in all the cells, CRCs don't over express the same critical genes that embryonic stem cells and iPSCs do. "Because they don't express those genes, they don't form tumors and they are lineage committed, unlike the other cells," Schlegel says. "That shows us that CRCs are a different kind of stem-like cell."

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'Different kind of stem cell' possesses attributes favoring regenerative medicine

Time for walkies! Pet dogs paralysed by spine damage are able to walk again following pioneering stem cell treatment

One owner described her previously paralysed pet 'whizzing around the house' following the treatment Earlier tests proved the treatment on rats, but the new study is the first to prove it can be effective more than 12 months after an injury

By Nick Mcdermott

PUBLISHED: 20:35 EST, 18 November 2012 | UPDATED: 19:46 EST, 19 November 2012

As he strolls across the lawn, it is hard to believe Jasper the dachshund was unable to use his hind legs just two years ago.

Paralysed in an accident, he needed years of physiotherapy and a special trolley to get around.

But scientists conducting a study at Cambridge University have helped him walk again with a pioneering treatment that offers hope for human patients with spinal injuries.

Back on his feet: Jasper, the ten-year-old dachshund as he is now. Just two years ago, he could not use his hind legs

Breakthrough: Pet dogs left paralysed by spine damage have been able to walk again after pioneering cell treatment. This image shows Jasper the dog at the start of a trial with his rear legs limp and unusable

Better: After six months of treatment, Jasper's legs are seen walking almost normally. The treatment involves injecting cells from the dogs' nose into the injured part of their back

Injecting cells from the dogs nose into the injured part of his spine helped repair the damage. After the treatment, Jasper was able to move his previously paralysed hind legs and co-ordinate movement with his front limbs. The ten-year-old dog is now whizzing around unassisted and can also swim.

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Time for walkies! Pet dogs paralysed by spine damage are able to walk again following pioneering stem cell treatment

Dogs paralysed by spine damage are able to walk again following pioneering stem cell treatment

One owner described her previously paralysed pet 'whizzing around the house' following the treatment Earlier tests proved the treatment on rats, but the new study is the first to prove it can be effective more than 12 months after an injury

By Nick Mcdermott

PUBLISHED: 20:35 EST, 18 November 2012 | UPDATED: 19:46 EST, 19 November 2012

As he strolls across the lawn, it is hard to believe Jasper the dachshund was unable to use his hind legs just two years ago.

Paralysed in an accident, he needed years of physiotherapy and a special trolley to get around.

But scientists conducting a study at Cambridge University have helped him walk again with a pioneering treatment that offers hope for human patients with spinal injuries.

Back on his feet: Jasper, the ten-year-old dachshund as he is now. Just two years ago, he could not use his hind legs

Breakthrough: Pet dogs left paralysed by spine damage have been able to walk again after pioneering cell treatment. This image shows Jasper the dog at the start of a trial with his rear legs limp and unusable

Better: After six months of treatment, Jasper's legs are seen walking almost normally. The treatment involves injecting cells from the dogs' nose into the injured part of their back

Injecting cells from the dogs nose into the injured part of his spine helped repair the damage. After the treatment, Jasper was able to move his previously paralysed hind legs and co-ordinate movement with his front limbs. The ten-year-old dog is now whizzing around unassisted and can also swim.

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Dogs paralysed by spine damage are able to walk again following pioneering stem cell treatment

Scientists reverse paralysis in dogs following pioneering stem cell treatment

One owner described her previously paralysed pet 'whizzing around the house' following the treatment Earlier tests proved the treatment on rats, but the new study is the first to prove it can be effective more than 12 months after an injury

By Nick Mcdermott

PUBLISHED: 20:35 EST, 18 November 2012 | UPDATED: 19:46 EST, 19 November 2012

As he strolls across the lawn, it is hard to believe Jasper the dachshund was unable to use his hind legs just two years ago.

Paralysed in an accident, he needed years of physiotherapy and a special trolley to get around.

But scientists conducting a study at Cambridge University have helped him walk again with a pioneering treatment that offers hope for human patients with spinal injuries.

Back on his feet: Jasper, the ten-year-old dachshund as he is now. Just two years ago, he could not use his hind legs

Breakthrough: Pet dogs left paralysed by spine damage have been able to walk again after pioneering cell treatment. This image shows Jasper the dog at the start of a trial with his rear legs limp and unusable

Better: After six months of treatment, Jasper's legs are seen walking almost normally. The treatment involves injecting cells from the dogs' nose into the injured part of their back

Injecting cells from the dogs nose into the injured part of his spine helped repair the damage. After the treatment, Jasper was able to move his previously paralysed hind legs and co-ordinate movement with his front limbs. The ten-year-old dog is now whizzing around unassisted and can also swim.

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Scientists reverse paralysis in dogs following pioneering stem cell treatment