Stem Cell Clinic

Working Together Working Together: Indianapolis couple offers Airbnb to healthcare workers Nicole Griffin 1:41 PM – WRTV Indianapolis

Working Together is a new WRTV initiative that focuses on telling impactful stories highlighting the wide range of cultures, areas and people that make central Indiana the place that it is. Through our Working Together initiative, we will share the stories of our communities and carry their voices forward. Were Working for You by Working Together.

INDIANAPOLIS The coronavirus outbreak is causing a major impact on those who host Airbnbs. What could have been an busy month is ending with virtually no business for an Indianapolis couple.

Jacks Von Liria and his husband Michael Hoster estimate they are out around $2,000 this month, so instead of letting their Holy Cross apartment sit empty, they wrote a Facebook post saying they know there are doctors and nurses that are busy saving lives and they want to offer their apartment to any healthcare worker who needs a place to stay for free.

"The business has been wiped out because there was no traveling no events, no restaurants," Von Liria said. "The stories they were telling us we're so heartbreaking we got overwhelmed. There are nurses sleeping in their cars because they can't go see their children."

Alison Isenhour, an X-ray technician for IU Health, said on Tuesday she was informed she was exposed to a person who had contact with a positive coronavirus patient. Her son, Adam, has leukemia and had a stem cell transplant in June 2019, and she has been advised to not go home.

"I was planning on just staying at the hospital for the weekend," Isenhour said. "It was nice to be able to get out and go somewhere else and decompress. I can't mess that up if I were to go home and said they were to happen to him whether it was my fault or not I would never let myself let it down.

While her husbands takes care of the kids, Isenhour now has a safe place to spend the weekend before returning to work Monday.

"I'm really glad that others will be able to have this moment as well. It's needed. I was tired when I got here yesterday. My legs hurt, I was mentally worn out, I was just fried from being there all week," Isenhour said.

Airbnb is currently helping 100,000 COVID-19 responders by connecting healthcare providers, relief workers and first responders with clean, convenient places to stay.

"Especially all the stories we've heard and knowing they need out there," Hoster said. "I'm hoping someone will watch this and want to help, too."

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Working Together Working Together: Indianapolis couple offers Airbnb to healthcare workers Nicole Griffin 1:41 PM - WRTV Indianapolis

Smith trying to turn the corner on cancer battle – Johnson City Press (subscription)

Now hes counting on skilled doctors along with an army of family and friends to help him fight a major battle with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Smith has been at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for the last couple of months. The longtime physical therapist, who is well known for treating athletes throughout Carter County, is currently in isolation because of treatments and the coronavirus pandemic. He received good news this week when his wife was allowed to join him in isolation.

They shut the hospital down to outside people coming in, said Dannys son, Justin, who followed in his dads footsteps at Physical Therapy Services in Elizabethton. But I think they changed their policy because people wanted a family member in the room, understandably so. She is basically in quarantine with him.

Justin said the family is hopeful Danny will be released from the hospital Tuesday. He would then stay in Houston, close to the hospital, for a week and return each day for testing.

Dannys faith has been at the forefront of his battle.

Its 100 percent faith based, said Justin. He has kept a positive outlook.

It wasnt the pandemic that initially forced Danny into isolation, Justin said. It was because his white blood cell count was so low after a stem cell transplant. His count should have been between 12 to 14, but it was zero.

He would have to be careful anyway, but hes more cautious now, Justin said. He was being cautious even when he was in chemo.

Smith was diagnosed last fall and found he had a rare form of the cancer, and it was aggressive.

You dont ever want aggressive cancer, but the good thing is they caught it early and were able to treat it, which is wonderful, said Justin.

Smith went through four rounds of chemo. Two of them came during Elizabethtons historic run to the Class 4A state football championship.

Because the chemo did so well, it made him a candidate for a stem cell transplant, Justin said. They do it because the long-term survivability with a stem cell transplant is like 86 percent.

Dannys well-known smiling face has been on a lot of peoples minds in the Elizabethton area. Justin said the support Danny has received has been nothing short of incredible.

It has been absolutely amazing, Justin said. Living in a small town has its plusses and minuses, this being one of the plusses. Everybody knows what is going on. Weve heard from so many people, even from as far away as Hawaii. The prayers, love and support have been amazing.

Part of the reason for that support is Dannys excellent work helping others, Justin said.

Excellent is the result of caring more than others think its wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is possible, he said.

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Smith trying to turn the corner on cancer battle - Johnson City Press (subscription)

Adam Castillejo ‘feared dying of cancer more than Aids and considered ending it all at Dignitas’ Daily Mail – westofthepond.com

Dailymail.co.uk

Adam Castillejo (pictured), 40, was known only as the London Patient when doctors revealed his success story last March after a stem cell transplant to treat his cancer.

The second person to be cured of HIV has revealed how he was more fearful of dying from cancer than Aids and considered ending his life at Dignitas.Adam Castillejo, 40, was known only as the London Patient when doctors revealed his success story last March after a stem cell transplant to treat his cancer.He remained anonymous until he decided he wanted to be seen as an ambassador of hope after struggling with his health for almost two decades.Mr Castillejo, who was born in Venezuela and moved to London in 2002, was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2012, having already lived with HIV since 2003.His last hope of cancer survival was a bone marrow transplant from a donor with HIV-resistant genes that could wipe out his cancer and virus in one fell swoop.But in a powerful interview with The Sunday Times,Mr Castillejo admitted that he was more fearful of dying from stage 4 Hodgkins lymphoma than Aids.Calling the second diagnosis another death sentence, the sou-chef revealed that he panicked because cancer can kill you faster than HIV.Adam Castillejo, 40, was known only as the London Patient when doctors revealed his success story last March after a stem cell transplant to treat his cancerMr Castillejo embarked upon a gruelling treatment regime that left him physically emaciated and pushed the Venezuelan to the mental edge.Both illnesses became one because you had to deal with the anti-retroviral medications not interfering with thechemotherapy regime and vice versa, he said.By the end of 2014, he said that he had given up on battling the two illnesses, and had made up his mind to end it all at Dignitas in Switzerland.Around this time,Mr Castillejo disappeared, and was found four days later outside London psychologically broken. He does not remember this period.Doctors gave him six months to live, before a switch flicked.At that time I accepted straight away, because what choice have I got? I would rather die fighting, he explained.Within days, he met with Dr Ian Gabriel at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, who advised that he could attempt a bone marrow transplant.The procedure in May 2016 meantMr Castillejo was cleared of both cancer and HIV.But he lost five stone and took 60 pills a day, revealing: I told my doctors there werent enough hours in the day to take all the medication I needed.Mr Castillejo, who was born in Venezuela and moved to London in 2002, was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2012, having already lived with HIV since 2003An American man treated in Germany 12 years ago called Timothy Ray Brown (pictured) the so-called Berlin Patient also survived the transplantHe also developed mouth ulcers which inhibited his ability to eat, and his anti-retroviral medication had to be crushed and washed down.Mr Castillejo also claimed that he felt victimised and guilty when he told people that he was suffering from HIV, saying: This is a punishment for you.The Venezuelan chef is the second person to have survived the life-threatening technique and come out the other side HIV-free.An American man treated in Germany 12 years ago called Timothy Ray Brown the so-called Berlin Patient also survived the transplant.He was put into an induced coma for six months, however.Experts have hailed the treatment as a milestone in the fight against HIV, but are urging caution when calling it a cure so early on.In the context of HIV infection, the term cure means there are no virus-carrying cells left.Anti-retroviral therapy is very effective at reducing the viral load in the blood of infected individuals so that it cannot be transmitted to others.Unfortunately, the Berlin and London Patients cases do not change the reality much for 37 million HIV patients.The treatment is unlikely to have potential on a wider scale because both Mr Castillejo and Mr Ray Brown were given stem cells to treat cancer, not HIV.Stem cell and bone marrow transplants are life-threatening operations with huge risks. Patients can suffer a fatal reaction if substitute immune cells dont take.In his private life, Mr Castillejo likes to walk the streets of Shoreditch and travel.Kat Smithson, director of policy at National AIDS Trust, said: We applaud the London Patient Adam Castillejo for sharing his unique experience of having his HIV cured following a bone-marrow transplant to treat cancer. Mr Castillejo has been through a long and extremely challenging journey with his health, within which HIV is just one part.His decision to speak about his experience without anonymity can only enrich our understanding of his experience on a human level, and we thank him for this.Theres still a great deal of stigma around HIV which can make it harder for people to access the services and support they need and for people to talk openly about HIV.His story helps raise much-needed awareness of HIV, but broader than that its a story about incredible resilience, determination and hope.How a stem cell transplant cured the Berlin and London Patients and how it can go badly wrongUsually, HIV patients expect to stay on daily pills for life to suppress the virus. When drugs are stopped, the virus roars back, usually in two to three weeksThe vast majority of humans carry the gene CCR5.In many ways, it is incredibly unhelpful. It affects our odds of surviving and recovering from a stroke, according to recent research.And it is the main access point for HIV to overtake our immune systems.But some people carry a mutations that prevents CCR5 from expressing itself, effectively blocking or eliminating the gene.Those few people in the world are called elite controllers by HIV experts. They are naturally resistant to HIV.If the virus ever entered their body, they would naturally control the virus as if they were taking the virus-suppressing drugs that HIV patients require.Both the Berlin patient and the London patient received stem cells donated from people with that crucial mutation.WHY HAS IT NEVER WORKED BEFORE?There are many reasons this hasnt worked, Dr Janet Siliciano, at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told DailyMail.com.1. FINDING DONORSIts incredibly difficult to find HLA-matched bone marrow [i.e. someone with the same proteins in their blood as you], Dr Siliciano said.Its even more difficult to find the CCR5 mutation.2. INEFFECTIVE TRANSPLANT LEADS TO CANCER RELAPSESecond, there is a risk that the bone marrow wont take.Sometimes you dont become fully chimeric, meaning you still have a lot of your own cells.This means they will not defeat the cancer if it returns again.3. THE OLD IMMUNE SYSTEM ATTACKS THE NEW ONEThe other most common reason this approach has failed is graft-versus-host disease: whenthe patients immune system tries to attack the incoming, replacement immune system, causing a fatal reaction in most.4. UNKNOWN QUANTITIESInterestingly, both the Berlin patient and the London patient experienced complications that are normally lethal in most other cases.And experts believe that those complications helped their cases.Timothy Ray Brown, the Berlin patient, had both his cancer returned and he developed graft-versus-host disease, putting him in a coma and requiring a second bone marrow transplant.The London patient had one: he suffered graft-versus-host disease.Against the odds, they both survived, HIV-free.Some believe that, ironically, graft-versus-host disease might have helped both of them to further obliterate their HIV.But there is no way to control or replicate that safely.

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Adam Castillejo 'feared dying of cancer more than Aids and considered ending it all at Dignitas' Daily Mail - westofthepond.com

Cell and gene therapy startup ElevateBio raises $170 million – Yahoo Lifestyle

While economic conditions and the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic may not make for the best atmosphere for raising funding, some companies are still announcing round closures with significant money committed. Cambridge-based ElevateBio, for instance, revealed a $170 million Series B funding on Monday, with participation from new investors The Invus Group, Surveyor Capital, EDBI, and Vertex Ventures, along with existing investors F2 Ventures, MPM Capital, EcoR1 Capital, Redmile Group and Samsara BioCapital.

ElevateBio, which was officially launched to the public less than a year ago, specializes in development of new types of cellular and genetic therapies, and operates by the creation of new companies under its portfolio each dedicated to the development and manufacturing of a specific type of therapeutic approach. This funding brings the total raised by ElevateBio to over $300 million, on top of a $150 million Series A round that the company announced last year, led by Swiss investment bank UBS' Oncology Impact Fund.

The biotech company has ramped up quickly, nearing completion of a 140,000 square foot facilitating in Massachusetts to focus on R&D. It also launched a company called AlloVir that's working on T-cell immunotherapy for combating viruses that specifically arise stem cell transplantations and is already in the later stages of clinical trials. Finally, it launched another company called HighPassBio, which is also aimed at helping treat stem cell-related diseases using T-cell therapies, in this case specifically around the potential relapse of leukaemia following a transplant.

As you might expect, ElevateBio is also turning the attention of some of its efforts towards research focused on mitigating the impact of COVID-19; specifically, its AlloVir subsidiary has expanding an existing research agreement in place with the Baylor College of Medicine to work on developing a type of T-cell therapy that can help protect patients with conditions that compromise their immune systems and put them at increased risk for COVID-19.

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Cell and gene therapy startup ElevateBio raises $170 million - Yahoo Lifestyle