Stem Cell Clinic

Yeargan Uses Patients Own Cells To Heal – Greater Wilmington Business Journal

By adminAugust 25, 2017Stem Cell Medicine

Austin Yeargan III is on an ongoing quest to dismantle human disease.

The orthopedic sports surgeon and regenerative orthopedist is also a husband, dad and self-described motocross and surfing athlete, who likes to keep an eye on the most up-to-date techniques in his profession.

I am most excited about discovering the simplest, most natural, least invasive and most efficacious cellular- and molecular-based treatment options for patients to keep them doing what they love, Yeargan said.

At his practice, Regenerative Medicine Clinic at 5725 Oleander Drive, he uses techniques he has brought to the rapidly expanding field of regenerative medicine and orthobiologics.

Our techniques harvest, concentrate and deploy the bodys own cells for healing. Specifically, we offer patients suffering from chronic, debilitating and often immobilizing joint pain with an alternative to traditional bone and joint surgery, including total joint replacement, Yeargan said. We have developed techniques that surgeons across the country and the world have successfully duplicated, confirming the efficacy of the treatments.

His interest in this type of treatment was rooted in an early memory.

When I was 14, I was an elite-level soccer player and contest surfer, said the Raleigh native. I broke my tibia at a soccer tournament in the spring, just after receiving a new surfboard for my birthday. When the long leg cast came off in August, my knee wouldnt bend, and the limb was atrophied. Ever since then, Ive had it in the back of my mind how ridiculous it was that modern medicine couldnt make my leg heal faster or keep my knee from becoming stiff.

He was introduced to the field by the Dan Eglinton, who practiced in Asheville. Yeargan said Eglinton was the first nationally to use biologics in orthopedic surgery for hip avascular necrosis.

After receiving his science degree in chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1993, Yeargan attended the East Carolina University School of Medicine. He completed his general surgery internship and orthopedic surgery residency at the University of Hawaii, spending six months each at the Tripler Army Medical Center and Shriners Hospital for Children.

During his time in Hawaii, he gained additional expertise through two years of clinical and bench research, focusing on cellular and molecular level changes in thermal capsulorrhaphy and cartilage injury.

Yeargan then completed a sports medicine, adult shoulder, elbow and knee fellowship with additional hand training at The Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado.

During Yeargans fellowship, he worked with players on several professional sports teams, including the Colorado Rockies, Denver Broncos, Denver Nuggets and the U.S. ski and snowboard teams. (More recently, Yeargan has served as a team doctor for local high schools.)

When I returned to North Carolina in 2009, I was the first surgeon in the country to use a patients own stem cells in combination with shoulder surgery, and I witnessed firsthand the positive effects, Yeargan said. The results were extraordinary, and it was then that I realized that there was about to be a massive paradigm shift in medicine.

He said he didnt necessarily make a conscious decision to pursue regenerative medicine.

I just found that I had become a regenerative orthopedic surgeon. I was so excited to read and study immunology. I think this was the biggest advancement in my knowledge base, when I realized the potential for cellular technology to dismantle human disease, as we know it, he said.

In 2010, Yeargan introduced stem cell treatment to the area.

Thanks to new ultrasound technology and instrumentation, we have been able to narrow our focus to office procedures that are minimally invasive and can be done through a tiny, 2 [millimeter] incision and with little recovery time, he said.

He said that in some settings, genetic screening, nutrition counseling and lifestyle management planning may be offered.

All of our procedures are non-operative. Our flagship procedure is the mesenchymal signaling cell concentrate that involves harvest and processing of nucleated stem cells, dendritic cells, immune cells, endothelial cells and pericytes. Yeargan said. Bone marrow is taken easily and virtually painlessly from the pelvic crest with the patient seated comfortably. Once collected, the isopycnic separator produces three distinct layers that are processed in a proprietary fashion before administration at the target site.

The procedure may be just as valuable in a 14-year-old with a cartilage injury as it is to an 87-year-old grandmother with gonarthrosis who just wants pain relief, he added.

Human cells work by signaling, Yeargan said. We think of it like medicinal signaling cells. Signaling cells respond to the environment so just the right amount of substrate will be produced by the cell until ultimately being shut down by natural feedback loops, he said.

The clinic also offers another non-surgical option for patients suffering from Achilles tendonitis, tennis and golfers elbow and plantar fasciitis. The Tenex Tenotomy System addresses those conditions.

Biologics are ideal when combined with the percutaneous Tenex procedure for tendinitis and tendinosis in most locations and contribute to the effectiveness of the procedure, Yeargan said.

The clinics Proprietary Platelet Rich Plasma procedure, or PRP+, is used to treat acute injuries primarily. It can be used for pain in areas ranging from joints to the face.

MI-EYE is camera-in-needle technology that also can be performed routinely in the office. It allows full view of the joint space for diagnosis without having to undergo an MRI, and injection procedures can be performed at the same time without changing the portal, Yeargan said.

The clinic serves about 500 patients annually.

There is definitely a growing demand for regenerative therapies in orthopedics and in general, Yeargan said. Being one of the only orthopedic surgeons specializing in non-operative orthopedics and regenerative medicine in the state, my hope is not only to educate patients about regenerative medicine but also educate the local and regional medical community as to its advantages and patient benefits.

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Yeargan Uses Patients Own Cells To Heal - Greater Wilmington Business Journal

State’s Stem Cell Agency Awards $18.2 Million Grant for B Cell Cancer Clinical Trial – UC San Diego Health

By adminAugust 25, 2017Stem Cell Medicine

The Independent Citizens Oversight Committee of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) today unanimously approved an $18.29 million grant to University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers to fund a phase Ib/IIa clinical trial of a novel combination drug therapy for B-cell cancers.

Scanning electron micrograph of B lymphocyte. Image courtesy of National Cancer Institute.

The approach combines an experimental monoclonal antibody-based drug called cirmtuzumab with ibrutinib, a small molecule drug that inhibits a protein called Brutons tyrosine kinase. Ibrutinib, marketed as Imbruvica, is already approved to treat B cell cancers, like chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Cirmtuzumab targets ROR1, a cell surface protein present on tumors but not in normal adult tissues a distinction that makes it an attractive target for anticancer therapy. Cirmtuzumab is currently in clinical trials for the treatment of CLL.

The new combined drug trial, intended to study both safety and efficacy, is headed by Thomas Kipps, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Medicine and deputy director of research at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, in collaboration with colleagues at the UC San Diego CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinic the cell therapy arm of the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center at UC San Diego Health.

We are very excited about evaluating this combination of targeted therapies in the clinic, said Kipps. Although ibrutinib has been approved for treatment of patients with CLL or MCL, it is exceptionally rare for this drug by itself to get rid of all the leukemia cells or cause long-lasting remissions without continuous therapy.

As a result, patients are recommended to take ibrutinib indefinitely until they develop intolerance or resistance to this drug. By blocking a survival/growth-stimulating pathway that provides a lifeline to the leukemia cells of patients taking ibrutinib, cirmtuzumab can work together with ibrutinib to potentially kill all the leukemia cells, allowing patients to achieve a complete remission and stop therapy altogether.

Kipps noted, too that cirmtuzumab targets cancer stem cells, which behave somewhat like the roots of the disease, resisting many forms of treatment and allowing a malignancy to grow back after apparently successful therapy. By targeting cancer stem cells, said Kipps, cirmtuzumab may improve our capacity to achieve more complete and longer lasting remissions when used in combination with targeted drugs, such as ibrutinib, or other anti-cancer drugs for the treatment of patients with many different types of cancer.

B cell malignancies are cancers of the blood. B cells are a type of white blood cell or lymphocyte, part of the immune system. Some B cells produce antibodies to immediately help fight off infections while others, called memory B cells, remember the pathogen in case of future infections. In B cell cancers, mutated B cells dysfunction or grow in an uncontrolled manner, resulting in diseases like CLL (the most common type of leukemia) and most non-Hodgkins lymphomas.

Cirmtuzumab was developed in Kipps laboratory under the auspices of CIRMs HALT leukemia grant awarded to Dennis Carson, MD, principal investigator, and Catriona Jamieson, MD, PhD, deputy director of the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center and director of stem cell research at Moores Cancer Center. Kipps led one of the six projects, generating antibodies against ROR1 that, ultimately, led to the cirmtuzumab trials in patients with CLL.

Every year around 20,000 Americans are diagnosed with CLL, said Maria Millan, MD, interim president and CEO of CIRM. For those who have run out of treatment options, the only alternative is a bone marrow transplant. Since CLL afflicts individuals in their 70's who often have additional medical problems, bone marrow transplantation carries a higher risk of life-threatening complications. The combination approach of cirmtuzumab and Ibrutinib seeks to offer a less invasive and more effective alternative for these patients.

Cirmtuzumab has also shown efficacy against solid tumors. A clinical trial is planned to test it, in combination with the drug paclitaxel, for treating metastatic breast cancer. That trial is not yet recruiting participants. Cirmtuzumabs name is a nod to CIRMs long-standing support and research funding.

CIRM was created in 2004 by California voters with $3 billion in funding support to accelerate stem cell research and treatments. Since 2004, UC San Diego researchers have received at least 96 CIRM awards, totaling more than $182 million.

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State's Stem Cell Agency Awards $18.2 Million Grant for B Cell Cancer Clinical Trial - UC San Diego Health

embryonic stem cells : NPR

By adminAugust 25, 2017Embryonic Stem Cells

A human embryo kept alive in the lab for 12 days begins to show signs of early development. The green cells seen here in the center would go on to form the body. This embryo is in the process of twinning, forming two small spheres out of one. Courtesy of Gist Croft, Cecilia Pellegrini, Ali Brivanlou/Rockefeller University hide caption

Four sheep cloned from the same genetic material as Dolly roam the paddocks in Nottingham, England. The University of Nottingham hide caption

Ken (left) and Henry were created using DNA plucked from a skin cell of Melvin, the beloved pet of Paula and Phillip Dupont of Lafayette, La. Edmund D. Fountain for NPR hide caption

In 1954, Dr. Frederick C. Robbins, then chief of pediatrics and contagious diseases at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital, was one of three winners of that year's Nobel Prize in medicine. The scientists' work, which led to a vaccine against polio, was performed in human fetal cells. AP hide caption

Ryoji Noyori, a Nobel Prize-winning chemist and president of Japan's prestigious RIKEN research institute, bows at a news conference in Tokyo Tuesday to apologize for the scientific misconduct of a RIKEN colleague. Eugene Hoshiko/AP hide caption

A mouse embryo grows from stem cells made by stressing blood cells with acid. The blood cells are tagged with a protein that creates green light. Courtesy of Haruko Obokata hide caption

After President Obama overturned Bush-era policy restricting federal funding of embryonic stem cell research in 2009, Nebraska Right to Life led a protest of the research outside the University of Nebraska regents' meeting. Nati Harnik/AP hide caption

Human embryos grow in a petri dish two days after scientists in Oregon cloned them from a donor's skin cell. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ohsunews/8726915230/in/photostream//Courtesy of OHSU Photos hide caption

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embryonic stem cells : NPR

Mouse model of human immune system inadequate for stem cell studies – Stanford Medical Center Report

By adminAugust 25, 2017Embryonic Stem Cells

In an ideal situation, these humanized mice would reject foreign stem cells just as a human patient would.

Wu shares senior authorship of the research, which was published Aug. 22 in Cell Reports, with Dale Greiner, PhD, professor in the Program in Molecular Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Leonard Shultz, PhD, professor at the Jackson Laboratory. Former postdoctoral scholars Nigel Kooreman, MD, and Patricia de Almeida, PhD, and graduate student Jonathan Stack, DVM, share lead authorship of the study.

Although these mice are fully functional in their immune response to HIV infection or after transplantation of other tissues, they are unable to completely reject the stem cells, said Kooreman. Understanding why this is, and whether we can overcome this deficiency, is a critical step in advancing stem cell therapies in humans.

Humanized mice are critical preclinical models in many biomedical fields helping to bring basic science into the clinic, but as this work shows, it is critical to frame the question properly, said Greiner. Multiple laboratories remain committed to advancing our understanding and enhancing the function of engrafted human immune systems.

Greiner and Shultz helped to pioneer the use of humanized mice in the 1990s to model human diseases and they provided the mice used in the study.

The researchers were studying pluripotent stem cells, which can become any tissue in the body. They tested the animals immune response to human embryonic stem cells, which are naturally pluripotent, and to induced pluripotent stem cells. Although iPS cells can be made from a patients own tissues, future clinical applications will likely rely on pre-screened, FDA-approved banks of stem cell-derived products developed for specific clinical situations, such as heart muscle cells to repair tissue damaged by a heart attack, or endothelial cells to stimulate new blood vessel growth. Unlike patient-specific iPS cells, these cells would be reliable and immediately available for clinical use. But because they wont genetically match each patient, its likely that they would be rejected without giving the recipients immunosuppressive drugs.

Humanized mice were first developed in the 1980s. Researchers genetically engineered the mice to be unable to develop their own immune system. They then used human immune and bone marrow precursor cells to reconstitute the animals immune system. Over the years subsequent studies have shown that the human immune cells survive better when fragments of the human thymus and liver are also implanted into the animals.

Kooreman and his colleagues found that two varieties of humanized mice were unable to completely reject unrelated human embryonic stem cells or iPS cells, despite the fact that some human immune cells homed to and were active in the transplanted stem cell grafts. In some cases, the cells not only thrived, but grew rapidly to form cancers called teratomas. In contrast, mice with unaltered immune systems quickly dispatched both forms of human pluripotent stem cells.

The researchers obtained similar results when they transplanted endothelial cells derived from the pluripotent stem cells.

To understand more about what was happening, Kooreman and his colleagues created a new mouse model similar to the humanized mice. Instead of reconstituting the animals nonexistent immune systems with human cells, however, they used immune and bone marrow cells from a different strain of mice. They then performed the same set of experiments again.

Unlike the humanized mice, these new mice robustly rejected human pluripotent stem cells as well as mouse stem cells from a genetically mismatched strain of mice. In other words, their newly acquired immune systems appeared to be in much better working order.

Although more research needs to be done to identify the cause of the discrepancy between the two types of animals, the researchers speculate it may have something to do with the complexity of the immune system and the need to further optimize the humanized mouse model to perhaps include other types of cells or signaling molecules. In the meantime, they are warning other researchers of potential pitfalls in using this model to screen for immunosuppressive drugs that could be effective after human stem cell transplants.

Many in the fields of pluripotent stem cell research and regenerative medicine are pushing the use of the humanized mice to study the human immune response, said Kooreman. But if we start to make claims using this model, assuming that these cells wont be rejected by patients, it could be worrisome. Our work clearly shows that, although there is some human immune cell activity, these animals dont fully reconstitute the human immune system.

The researchers are hopeful that recent advances may overcome some of the current models limitations.

The immune system is highly complex and there still remains much we need to learn, said Shultz. Each roadblock we identify will only serve as a landmark as we navigate the future. Already, weve seen recent improvements inhumanized mousemodels that foster enhancement of human immune function.

Wu is a member of Stanford Bio-X, the Stanford Cancer Institute and the Stanford Child Health Research Institute. He is also the Simon H. Stertzer Professor.

Additional Stanford co-authors are former research assistant Raman Nelakanti; former postdoctoral scholars Sebastian Diecke, PhD, and Veronica Sanchez-Freire, PhD; postdoctoral scholar Ning-Yi Shao, MD, PhD; instructor Elena Matsa, PhD; and associate professor of pathology Andrew Connolly, MD, PhD.

The research was funded by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, the National Institutes of Health (grants R01HL132875, R01HL133272, P30CA034196, UC4DK104218 and T32OD01112) and the Helmsley Charitable Trust.

Stanfords Department of Medicine also supported the work.

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Mouse model of human immune system inadequate for stem cell studies - Stanford Medical Center Report

Injections of Vitamin C Could Help Fight Blood Cancer – Wall Street Pit

By adminAugust 25, 2017Embryonic Stem Cells

According to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), one person in the United States is diagnosed with a blood cancer every 3 minutes. One person dies approximately every 9 minutes due to this illness.

Blood cancers affect the blood, bone marrow, and lymphatic system. Most of these cancers originate in the bone marrow where new blood cells are produced. .

Our bone marrow produces three types of blood cells: red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. However, cancer in the blood occurs when an abnormal type of blood cell goes into an uncontrolled growth and disrupts the normal blood cell development.

The three main types of blood cancers are:

Now, theres news that vitamin C can help fight blood cancer.

Luisa CimminoandBenjamin Neelat the New York University School of Medicine and their colleagues have discovered that, by injecting vitamin C, cancer growth could be prevented.

According to the researchers, blood cancers like acute and chronic leukemia are caused by the mutation of a gene called tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2 or TET2. This gene is responsible for ensuring the healthy growth of certain stem cells for the production of white blood cells. But, when TET2 mutation occurs, cell growth goes haywire and leads to cancer.

In their mice experiment, the animals were given variableTET2function through genetic engineering. The researchers discovered that cancer is induced with 50 per cent reduction in TET2 activity, and it continues to develop when the said gene remained at a low level.

However, when TET2 was restored, the gene stopped the uncontrolled growth and killed the cancerous cells.

After such findings, what the team needed to find next was something to reactivate TET2. And they opted to use vitamin C, which has the potency to affect embryonic stem cells.

For 24 weeks, they injected a group of mice which had low TET2 with very high dose of vitamin C daily. This slowed the progression of blood cancer. But, in the case of another group of mice which did not receive vitamin C injections, they showed signs of developing leukemia.

Moreover, to test the efficacy of vitamin C, the researchers added it to a cancer drug to which they exposed human leukemia cells in a lab dish. It proved very effective.

With this discovery, the team is hoping that vitamin C would be used in cancer therapies. It would especially help older people with blood cancer whose immune system are too weak to undergo chemotherapy. But, this would have to be done intravenously. Just taking in large doses of vitamin C would not prevent cancer since the body excretes it through urine when its already above 500 milligrams.

Still, this is a very important study that will definitely have a very lasting impact on the field, notes Ulrich Steidl of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, adding that it will likely inspire a lot of scientists and translational investigators to think about similar strategies and to go after these pre-leukemic stem cells, which, in [Steidls] opinion will be critical if were ultimately aiming for a cure.

For healthy people, or those who want to boost their immune system, experts recommend taking vitamin C supplements twice a day for better absorption.

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Injections of Vitamin C Could Help Fight Blood Cancer - Wall Street Pit

Stem cell therapy: proffering hope for special needs patients … – BusinessDay (satire) (press release) (registration) (blog)

By adminAugust 25, 2017Stem Cell Treatment

Hope is surely on the way for children with special needs as Alok Sharma, a world renowned neurosurgeon, Neuroscientist and professor, a director of NeuroGen Brain and Spine Institute India visited Nigeria recently to shed light on the efficacy of stem cells in treating children with special needs. With over 5000 patients treated from 50 countries, 68 scientific papers and 14 published books, and an overall 91% success rate, Alok was determined to enlighten participants who attended the one day seminar on stem cell awareness and its importance. According to Asok, We are the pioneers of introduction to Stem Cell Therapy for neurological disorders. We make use of holistic, comprehensive approach to treat our patients with a combination of stem cell therapy and neuro-rehabilitation. We use adult stem cells derived from the patients own bone marrow, as they are the safest and most feasible type of cells. Since every patient is different, our treatment protocol is customised according to the patients requirements. We now have a treatment that is very effective and a large number of people can benefit from this. The old thinking was that when the central nervous system is damaged then it is beyond repairs but the new thinking is that some degree of repair is possible. Stem cells have three capabilities. They repair, regenerate or replaced. It took us between seven to eight years to prove that stem cells can convert to nerve cells and when we became very sure, we went on to use on humans and the results have been outstanding He said. Asked who can be treated with the stem cell procedure and Asok says for paediatric, we treat children with autism, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability and muscular dystrophy. For adults, we treat spinal cord injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury/head injury, motor neuro disease/amyotrophic lateral scierosis and other neurological disorders. Asok explains that there are many types of stem cells used, but broadly they can be classified into 3 types:- Embryonic stem cells: Embryonic stem cells, as their name suggests, are derived from 3-4 day embryos. These are obtained from spare embryos from IVF clinics with the consent of the donor. During this early developmental period, the cells that will ultimately give rise to the developing fetus can be encouraged to develop into tissues of different origins (totipotency) contributing greatly to stem cell therapy. However, there are many ethical and medical issues regarding its use. These are therefore, not being used presently. Umbilical cord stem cells: These cells are derived from the umbilical cord which connects the baby and the mother at birth. Stem cells derived from the umbilical cord are stored by various cord blood banking companies. These stem cells do not have any major ethical issues surrounding their usage, but availability can be a problem. Adult stem cells: They can be derived from the same patient, from either the hip bone or the adipose/fat tissue. Currently, they are the most popularly used stem cells. The benefits that adult stem cells offer are: 1, They are available in abundance and can be isolated easily. 2, They are isolated from patients, which overcomes the problem of immunological rejection. 3, Adult stem cells have the potential to replenish many specialized cells from just a few unspecialized ones. 4, They do not have any ethical issues as they do not involve destruction of embryos. 5, The risk of tumor formation is greatly reduced as compared to the use of embryonic stem cells. There are fears about stem cell therapy but Asok cleared the air when he said this isnt the truth as the one feared is the embryonic stem cells (ESCs) which are stem cells derived from the undifferentiated inner mass cells of a human embryo. ESCs are just one of the types of stem cells but we do not make use of that in our hospital as explained earlier, we use Adult Stem Cells. We do not use the embryotic stem cells because they have the tendency to become tumours in the body. He explained. On how the procedure works, he says a thin needle is inserted into the hip bone to pull the marrow out. The procedure takes between 15 to 30 minutes. The patient is then sent back to the room for about 3 to 4 hours to rest for the next procedureon same day, within the 2 to 4 hours, the stem cells are separated and purified in their stem cell laboratory by using density gradient centrifugation. Once the stem cells have been purified, the patient is taken back to the operation theatre and the stem cells are injected into the spinal space. In some patients, for instance, patients with muscular dystrophy, the stem cells are diluted and injected into the muscles using a very thin needle. One of the participants at the seminar, Marvis Isokpehi, whose child is autistic, had this to say I am glad I came for this seminar. Initially, we were told anything that has to do with brain damage cannot be cured or improved only managed but we see that God helping the scientist, things are getting better. My child was diagnosed by 2. She walked at 17 months, sat at 8 months and she only babbled. She could use her hands and able to put things in her mouth herself but later, the growth began to drop and along the line, I took up the challenge and went back to school to learn about taking care of her and also to help others. I went to Federal College of Education (special) Oyo and specialised in Education for the intellectually disabled. Said Marvis. For Akhere Akran, the Manager of Agatha Obiageli Aghedo Memorial Foundation and participant, one of the arms of our foundation aimed at helping to lessen the burden of the less privileged in the community is the St Agatha Children Centre, where we advocate for children with special needs. I am glad I will be going back to let the parents of these children know there is hope and I am trusting God for funds because that is truly the core of everything. I appeal to the government to fund this and encourage private organisations to help reduce the cost of this treatment to the barest minimum. Its high time we stop stigmatisation or thinking its a result of the mothers past life of the fathers mistakes. It is a medical situation that needs medical attention. Akran expressed. Andelene Thysse is a director at Stem Cell Africa and she helped facilitate the seminar and for her, it is high time Nigeria gets involved We are currently looking at establishing a stem centre at Mozambique. I would have loved that we establish in Nigeria because Nigeria is closer to everything but since we arent getting the audience required, we are going to other African countries interested. Going to NeuroGen Institute for treatment per patient costs about $11,000 imagine if Nigeria has the facility, the price can slash down to $6,000 or even below Andelene stated. Shedding more light on costing, Asok says If we are to set up such a facility in an existing hospital, the cost of setting it up is $US500, 000 and I am assuming all facilities are functioning already. If we have to set up as a whole which includes getting land and building, it will be more expensive. This may sound expensive but it is worth it because it will save you the stress for the future. More important than the money is the permission from the government of the country. The government has to give us the permission because it is what is happening in other African countries. We have had good response and cooperation from government in Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe. We have quite a number of Nigerians who come to us in India for this treatment. We treat 50 patients from around the world per week about 5-10 are from Africa and Nigeria is among this percentage.

Kemi Ajumobi

Puppies receive stem cell treatment developed to help children with spina bifida – Sacramento Bee

By adminAugust 25, 2017Stem Cell Treatment

Sacramento Bee

Puppies receive stem cell treatment developed to help children with spina bifida
Sacramento Bee
A procedure combining surgery with stem cell treatment has aided two bulldog puppies with spina bifida and a team of UC Davis researchers hopes to test the therapy in human clinical trials. The puppies were treated with a therapy developed at UC Davis ...

Stem Cells Being Tested to Treat Type 1 Diabetes – Newsmax

By adminAugust 25, 2017Stem Cell Treatment

Scientists are conducting a study that would use human stem cells to repopulate insulin-producing cells destroyed by Type 1 diabetes. The cells would be grown in the lab and transplanted to diabetes patients. The process looks very promising, and the transplanted cells would begin producing insulin immediately and could revolutionize diabetes treatment.

Microscopic groups of cells, called islets, are responsible for producing insulin in the pancreas. But Type 1 diabetes tricks the immune system into killing these cells, causing a lifelong dependency on insulin shots. Without insulin, cells could not obtain energy from sugars (glucose) and would starve leading to loss of vision, heart conditions, and even death.

A lifelong dependency on shots, that is, unless islets could be restored in the pancreas. Enter researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering who are investigating the use of stem cells to engineer pancreatic islets in the lab. Step 1: meeting the oxygen demands of the pancreatic cells. Since these islets have a very high oxygen demand, researchers began looking for new techniques to speed up the oxygen possibilities after tests began to show this would ultimately improve cell life and transplantation outcome.

Ipsita Banerjee, associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh and lead investigator of the study, said, "Through collaborative efforts, we have developed a method of implanting blood vessel fragments into the islets. By vascularizing the islets before they are transplanted to the body, they are more likely to survive and can begin regulating blood glucose more quickly."

Blood vessels carry out the oxygenation process for the cells, and once researchers overcame this huge obstacle, they set their sights on converting stem cells into Type 1 diabetes-resistant supercells. The process in underway, and Banerjee and colleagues hope to have a working process in the near future.

Healing by regeneration – Jamaica Observer

By adminAugust 25, 2017Stem Cell Treatment

ONE year ago Sandrene Brown could not climb a flight of stairs without holding on to the rails for support. The simple act, which is routine for so many people, was just too painful.

However, she is now pain-free and can run up and down stairways to her liking.

In fact, like Brown, two other patients at St Ann's Bay Hospital might have similar stories to share after today. The two will be undergoing platelet-rich plasma procedures, one for shoulder impingement and the other for arthritis in both knees.

Orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital Dr Derrick McDowell told the Jamaica Observer that since he started doing stem cell surgeries early last year which, along with platelet-rich plasma procedures, forms part of the facility's thrust towards regenerative surgical procedures nearly 70 people have so far benefited.

I am, more or less, the only person to do them locally and in the Caribbean, Dr McDowell said of stem cell therapy.

[This] is where we do procedures to help people to regenerate to get back to the original quality and function.

On Friday I will be doing what's called platelet-rich plasma procedure, which is separating it from the blood, but with the stem cells we get it from the bone marrow. So we get the stem cells from the bone marrow and put it to the [affected] area under image guidance and, of course, we ensure that it does what it's supposed to do, he said.

The orthopaedic surgeon explained that since the bone transplant programme started at the hospital in 2013, adjunct to that was patients' healing, which led to regenerative surgical procedures.

Heal by regeneration, so stem cell surgery was the next logical step in that progress, he said. So what I started to do is what's called autologous somatic stem cells treatment so there are no ethical issues involved.

Autologous means the cells are obtained from the same individual, so the donor and recipient are the same.

So you basically go to the body reserves the body has stem cells and you isolate the stem cells and then you instil the stem cells under image guidance, such as ultrasound or X-rays, Dr McDowell said.

The doctor told the Observer that stem cell therapy has been working well for people who have muscular problems as well as ligament, joint and nerve issues.

But how exactly does the procedure help these people?

He explained that if a wound was to heal by regeneration, there would be no scar.

Cuts on your body with a scar were healed by scar formation So what you have there is skin, and that skin covers the area, but it doesn't have any sweat glands, no hair follicles; it doesn't look like normal skin, he explained.

[With regeneration] basically what we are doing is forcing the tissue to heal by regrowing its own native tissue, he said.

Dr McDowell said further that if a patient has arthritis, where the cartilage is damaged, we basically do a procedure to make the cartilage reform.

If you have nerves which have been damaged by trauma by chronic compression, like carpal tunnel syndrome and so on, we get the nerves to heal by growing back new nerves, he continued. And people who need joint replacement, for example, we can delay the operative surgery of doing joint replacement by giving them stem cells.

For Brown, though she told the Observer she was hesitant to do the procedure when she was told she had early stage arthritis, she feels much better having done it.

Honestly, I can climb stairs, run up stairs, run down stairs without any problem now, Brown said yesterday. I think it has done what it should've done; there is no relapse or anything like that.

Having branched off into regenerative procedures through stem cell surgery, Dr McDowell said what this does for the bone transplant programme at St Ann's Bay Hospital is improve healing rates.

So what's next?

Who knows? The sky is the limit, Dr McDowell responded.

The orthopaedic surgeon told the Observer that the stem cell therapy at the regional hospital is being done through a partnership with Surgix Jamaica Ltd, which is responsible for the preparation of the stem cells.

Surgix CEO Winfield Boban said yesterday that his company is trying to make treatment opportunities accessible to all Jamaicans.

Surgix provides the equipment and know-how in providing stem cell therapy across Jamaica and the Caribbean, but mostly Jamaica. Along with Dr McDowell, we provide equipment and the specialised staff and things like that, and all he does is now apply the stem cells, Boban said.

What we have done is to be able to make stem cell therapy as affordable and as accessible to the Jamaican community as possible, utilising innovators and pioneers such as Dr McDowell; we are getting the message across, Boban added.

The CEO pointed out that athletes such as Asafa Powell and Yohan Blake, if they wanted to do stem cell surgery, would have to travel to Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, or the United States, but his company has brought the equipment to the shores of Jamaica.

We have been able to bring that science here and make it available not only for premier athletes to access it, but upcoming athletes too so we trying to level the playing field and make it accessible to the wider Jamaican community, he said.

How a UCSF study could change the lives of babies in the womb and maybe help California’s stem cell program in … – San Francisco Business Times

By adminAugust 25, 2017Stem Cell Clinic

How a UCSF study could change the lives of babies in the womb and maybe help California's stem cell program in ...
San Francisco Business Times
The world's first in-utero blood stem cell transplant, soon to be performed at the University of California, San Francisco, could point the way toward pre-birth cures for a range of blood diseases, such as sickle cell disease. It's also the sort of ...

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How a UCSF study could change the lives of babies in the womb and maybe help California's stem cell program in ... - San Francisco Business Times