Bone Marrow Stem Cells Help TBI Case! See the Amazing Before After Results!
Dr. Steenblock treated John F. for a TBI. John suffered from a TBI or a traumatic brain injury after a bike accident. He had just one bone marrow stem cell treatment and got amazing results!...
By: David Steenblock
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Bone Marrow Stem Cells Help TBI Case! See the Amazing Before & After Results! - Video
St. Petersburg, FL (PRWEB) April 17, 2014
One of the most respected plastic surgeons in America is encouraging the FDA to move forward on approval of stem-cell based therapies inspired in part by Matthew McConaughey's recent Oscar win for the film Dallas Buyers Club. In the film, McConaughey portrayed Ron Woodroof, who fought the Food and Drug Administration over his use and distribution of unapproved but effective HIV/AIDS medications. In a letter to FDA comissioner Margaret A. Hamburg dated April 14th, Dr. Christian Drehsen of St. Petersburg claims that the story echoes current FDA treatment of stem cell therapies, of which almost none are approved for use in the United States.
Drehsen cites his extensive past experience working with stem cells, and calls on the FDA to provide more rapid approval for the procedures, which he says are safe and effective.
In the period 2009-2010, before the current regulatory embargo, Drehsen performed over 20 reconstructive and cosmetic stem-cell procedures using technology from the pioneering stem cell therapy research firm Cytori. In his letter, Drehsen writes that the results of his procedures were excellent, and hes frustrated with the limitations now in place.
Japan has approved these procedures. Much of Europe has approved them. Theyre changing peoples lives every day but not in the United States, the letter reads in part.
Stem cell therapies have myriad potential uses. Drehsen says that in his own practice at the Clinique of Plastic Surgery, their promise includes greatly improved outcomes for burn victims, patients with extensive sun exposure damage, and post-operative breast reconstruction procedures. Those therapies have been pioneered with good results in Europe and Australia, respectively.
Other treatments currently proven or under trial include treatments for traumatic hamstring injury (http://ir.cytori.com/investor-relations/News/news-details/2014/Cytori-to-Initiate-US-Clinical-Trial-of-Adipose-Derived-Regenerative-Cells-in-Hamstring-Injuries/default.aspx) and chronic heart failure (http://www.cytori.com/Innovations/ClinicalTrials/CardiovascularDisease.aspx).
Though much American resistance to stem cell research has been rooted in ethical concerns about the use of embryonic stem cells, the Cytori procedure uses Adipose-Derived Regenerative Cells, or ADRCs stem cells derived from the patients own body fat and altered for re-injection using a proprietary process. Dr. Drehsen was one of a handful of doctors in the United States to use this technology for plastic surgery before the FDA blocked its usage. This makes him one of the most experienced surgeons in the U.S. in non-embryonic stem-cell enhanced facelift procedures. Drehsens website (http://cliniqueps.com) features many examples of his past successful stem-cell procedure outcomes.
The FDA serves the vital function of ensuring patient safety. But these procedures have been proven safe," Drehsen concludes. "It should be no surprise that using a patients own tissue presents fewer risks than many alternatives. Its sad that these options have continued to be blocked by bureaucracy.
Drehsen says that much of the equipment used in his stem cell procedures now sits in storage, unused.
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St. Petersburg Surgeon Dr. Christian Drehsen Lobbies FDA to Speed Approval of Non-Embryonic Stem Cell Therapy
Stem cells in bone marrow need to produce hydrogen sulfide in order to properly multiply and form bone tissue, according to a new study from the Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology at the Ostrow School of Dentistry.
Professor Songtao Shi, principal investigator on the project, said the presence of hydrogen sulfide produced by the cells governs the flow of calcium ions. The essential ions activate a chain of cellular signals that results in osteogenesis, or the creation of new bone tissue, and keeps the breakdown of old bone tissue at a proper level.
Conversely, having a hydrogen sulfide deficiency disrupted bone homeostasis and resulted in a condition similar to osteoporosis -- weakened, brittle bones -- in experimental mice. In humans, osteoporosis can cause serious problems such as bone fractures, mobility limitations and spinal problems; more than 52 million Americans have or are at risk for the disease.
However, Shi and his team demonstrated that the mice's condition could be rescued by administering small molecules that release hydrogen sulfide inside the body. The results indicate that a similar treatment may have potential to help human patients, Shi said.
"These results demonstrate hydrogen sulfide regulates bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, and restoring hydrogen sulfide levels via non-toxic donors may provide treatments for diseases such as osteoporosis, which can arise from hydrogen sulfide deficiencies," Shi said.
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The above story is based on materials provided by University of Southern California. The original article was written by Beth Newcomb. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
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Proper stem cell function requires hydrogen sulfide
hide captionThis mouse egg (top) is being injected with genetic material from an adult cell to ultimately create an embryo and, eventually, embryonic stem cells. The process has been difficult to do with human cells.
Eighteen years ago, scientists in Scotland took the nuclear DNA from the cell of an adult sheep and put it into another sheep's egg cell that had been emptied of its own nucleus. The resulting egg was implanted in the womb of a third sheep, and the result was Dolly, the first clone of a mammal.
Dolly's birth set off a huge outpouring of ethical concern along with hope that the same techniques, applied to human cells, could be used to treat myriad diseases.
But Dolly's birth also triggered years of frustration. It's proved very difficult to do that same sort of DNA transfer into a human egg.
Last year, scientists in Oregon said they'd finally done it, using DNA taken from infants. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology, says that was an important step, but not ideal for medical purposes.
"There are many diseases, whether it's diabetes, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, that usually increase with age," Lanza says. So ideally scientists would like to be able to extract DNA from the cells of older people not just cells from infants to create therapies for adult diseases.
Lanza's colleagues, including Young Gie Chung at the CHA Stem Cell Institute in Seoul, Korea (with labs in Los Angeles as well), now report success.
Writing in the journal Cell Stem Cell, they say they started with nuclear DNA extracted from the skin cells of a middle-age man and injected it into human eggs donated by four women. As with Dolly, the women's nuclear DNA had been removed from these eggs before the man's DNA was injected. They repeated the process this time starting with the genetic material extracted from the skin cells of a much older man.
hide captionDolly, the first mammal to be genetically cloned from adult cells, poses for the camera in 1997 at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Dolly, the first mammal to be genetically cloned from adult cells, poses for the camera in 1997 at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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First Embryonic Stem Cells Cloned From A Man's Skin
Scientists have grown stem cells from adults using cloning techniques for the first time bringing them closer to developing patient-specific lines of cells that can be used to treat a whole host of ailments, from heart disease to blindness.
The research, described in Thursdays online edition of the journal Cell Stem Cell, is a controversial advance likely to reopen the debate over the ethics of human cloning.
The scientists technique was similar to the one used in the first clone of a mammal, Dolly the sheep, which was created in 1996.
They reprogrammed an egg cell by removing its DNA and replaced it with that of an adult donor. Scientists then zapped the cell with electricity, which made it divide and multiply. The resulting cells were identical in DNA to the donor.
The first success in humans was reported last year by scientists at the Oregon Health & Science University and the Oregon National Primate Research Center. But they used donor cells from infants. In this study, the cells came from two men, a 35-year-old and a 75-year-old.
Paul Knoepfler, an associate professor at the University of California at Davis who studies stem cells, called the new research exciting, important, and technically convincing.
In theory you could use those stem cells to produce almost any kind of cell and give it back to a person as a therapy, he said.
In their paper, Young Gie Chung from the Research Institute for Stem Cell Research for CHA Health Systems in Los Angeles, Robert Lanza from Advanced Cell Technology in Marlborough, Mass., and their co-authors emphasized the promise of the technology for new therapies. What they didnt mention but was clear to those working with stem cells was that their work was also an important discovery for human cloning.
While the research published Thursday involves cells that are technically an early stage embryo, the intention is not to try to grow them into a fully formed human. However the techniques in theory could be a first step toward creating a baby with the same genetic makeup as a donor.
Bioethicists call this the dual-use dilemma.
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Cloning advance using stem cells from human adult reopens ...
Stem cell scientist Mahendra Rao, former director of the now-defunct Center For Regenerative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. Photo taken in December, 2013 during a speech by Rao at the World Stem Cell Summit in San Diego.
One of the nation's top stem cell scientists has become an adviser to San Diego's Stemedica, a developer of stem cell-based therapies.
Dr. Mahendra Rao joined Stemedica's scientific and medical advisory board, and will help guide the company's strategy, said Maynard Howe, chief executive of the privately held company. Rao's career as a scientist who has also worked for companies and federal agencies makes him particularly useful, Howe said.
Rao is a medical doctor with a PhD in developmental neurobiology from CalTech. He headed the neurosciences division of the National Institute on Aging. He also led the stem cell division of Carlsbad-based Life Technologies, now a unit of Thermo Fisher Scientific. The two companies are on good terms: Life Technologies sells two kinds of stem cells made by Stemedica, used for research purposes, Howe said.
Rao was most recently founding director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, which has been shut down. Rao, who resigned at the end of March, said he was disappointed at the slow pace of funding studies with artificial embryonic stem cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells. Stemedica announced his appointment April 8.
Rao said Wednesday that his goal now is to advance stem cell therapies through the private sector. Stemedica drew his attention because it had developed a method of reliably generating "clinically compliant" stem cells suitable for use in therapy.
In addition, Rao said he likes that Stemedica is developing combination stem cell therapies, using a variety called mesenchymal stem cells. This variety of stem cell generates chemicals that promote short-term regrowth and seems to enhance the survival of other transplanted stem cells. For example, mesenchymal stem cells could help transplanted neural stem cells integrate into the brain.
"That's a high-risk process and it's a much more difficult road, but they seem to be willing to do that," Rao said.
He has also rejoined the board of Q Therapeutics, a Salt Lake City company developing treatments for spinal cord injuries and other neurological disorders. Rao is the company's scientific founder, but had to leave the company when he joined the NIH.
Stemedica and its affiliated companies are undertaking multiple clinical trials of stem cell therapies. One of the most advanced is for stroke, Howe said. See utsandiego.com/stemedicastroke1 for detailed information.
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Top stem cell scientist joins Stemedica
Two Central Pennsylvania dogs are receiving a regenerative therapy for arthritis thats unprecedented for this area and less expensive than standard surgery. Stem Cell therapy is a way to repair damaged tissue and treat injury. When dealing with dogs, veterinarians say its the future of treatments and its becoming less costly.
Gunny is a 7-year-old German Shepard. He underwent the revolutionary stem cell therapy at the Palmyra Animal Clinic. Vets say the stem cell therapy is a way to combat Gunnys arthritis in his hips. Doctors collected fatty tissue from his shoulder, processed the stem cells in the lab and injected the cells back into his hips. This happens all in one day for around $1500. Prior to this, surgery could cost around $3,000.
Dr. Calvin Clements of the Palmyra Animal Clinic says, Injected in a damaged joint or ligament, these cells will take on that characteristic and differentiate into the cartilage or tissue were dealing with and help to regenerate it.
Dr. Clements says results are noticeable in about a month. On average, animals improve 85%.
For more information, contact the Palmyra Animal Clinic at 717-838-5451.
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Stem Cell therapy on animals may be medicine of the future
Stem Cell Treatment Today
We are on our way to the Stem Cell Institute this morning for my wifes first Stem Cell Infusion. She is very happy and excited for what is about to happen. W...
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Stem Cell Treatment For MS
Today my wife got her first 2 IV injections of Stem Cells at the Stem Cell Institute in Panama City Panama. My wife is having no side effects so far. She is ...
By: Stem Cell Patient
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Stem Cell Treatment For MS - Video
Advanced Cell Technology is testing a stem-cell treatment for blindness that could preserve vision and potentially reverse vision loss.
Vision support: The cells used in Advanced Cell Technologys clinical trials produce dark pigments and cobblestone-like patterns that can be readily recognized in cultures.
A new treatment for macular degeneration is close to the next stage of human testinga noteworthy event not just for the millions of patients it could help, but for its potential to become the first therapy based on embryonic stem cells.
This year, the Boston-area company Advanced Cell Technology plans to move its stem-cell treatment for two forms of vision loss into advanced human trials. The company has already reported that the treatment is safe (see Eye Study Is a Small but Crucial Advance for Stem-Cell Therapy), although a full report of the results from the early, safety-focused testing has yet to be published. The planned trials will test whether it is effective. The treatment will be tested both on patients with Stargardts disease (an inherited form of progressive vision loss that can affect children) and on those with age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss among people 65 and older.
The treatment is based on retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells that have been grown from embryonic stem cells. A surgeon injects 150 microliters of RPE cellsroughly the amount of liquid in three raindropsunder a patients retina, which is temporarily detached for the procedure. RPE cells support the retinas photoreceptors, which are the cells that detect incoming light and pass the information on to the brain.
Although complete data from the trials of ACTs treatments have yet to be published, the company has reported impressive results with one patient, who recovered vision after being deemed legally blind. Now the company plans to publish the data from two clinical trials taking place in the U.S. and the E.U. in a peer-reviewed academic journal. Each of these early-stage trials includes 12 patients affected by either macular degeneration or Stargardts disease.
The more advanced trials will have dozens of participants, says ACTs head of clinical development, Eddy Anglade. If proved safe and effective, the cellular therapy could preserve the vision of millions affected by age-related macular degeneration. By 2020, as the population ages, nearly 200 million people worldwide will have the disease, estimate researchers. Currently, there are no treatments available for the most common form, dry age-related macular degeneration.
ACTs experimental treatment has its origins in a chance discovery that Irina Klimanskaya, the companys director of stem-cell biology, made while working with embryonic stem cells at Harvard University. These cells have the power to develop into any cell type, and in culture they often change on their own. A neuron here, a fat cell thereindividual cells in a dish tend to take random walks down various developmental paths. By supplying the cultures with fresh nutrients but otherwise leaving them to their own devices for several weeks, Klimanskaya discovered that the stem cells often developed into darkly pigmented cells that grew in a cobblestone-like pattern. She suspected that they were developing into RPE cells, and molecular tests backed her up.
Now that her discovery has advanced into an experimental treatment, Klimanskaya says she is excited by the hints that it may be able to preserve, and perhaps restore, sight. She recalls a voice mail she received during her second year at ACT: a person blinded by an inherited condition thanked her for her work, whether or not there was a treatment available for him. When you get a message like this, you feel like you are not doing it in vain, she says.
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Stem-Cell Treatment for Blindness Moving Through Patient Testing