Stem Cell Treatment Proven To Reduce Parkinson's Symptoms

Parkinson's disease is a brain disorder that occurs when certain nerve cells in the brain die or become damaged. The normal function of these nerve cells is the production of Dopamine - a vital chemical which is responsible for our body's smooth and well-coordinated movement. The lack of Dopamine as a result of damaged nerve cells can cause the Parkinson's symptoms of shaking (tremors), stiffness of the muscles, freeze-ups, balance difficulties and slowness of movement.

In Oct 2006, TiantanPuhuaHospital's groundbreaking treatment introduces 'Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial cells' (hRPE) to patients' bodies causing them to naturally produce Dopamine, enhancing Dopamine levels in the brain. The Hospital's use of hRPE cells means that patients do not have immunosuppressive reactions and therefore do not need to take additional drugs during the treatment. Specifically, the treatment includes a procedure that introduces hRPE cells into the region in the brain where there are damaged cells, along with a daily cocktail of medications that "fertilize" this area, helping the cells to survive.

Tiantan (Temple of Heaven) PuhuaHospital collaborates with the Stem Cells Research Center of China's renowned PekingUniversity, the leading stem cells research group in the country. There, stem cells are nurtured and induced for clinical treatment. To date, over 20 Parkinson's patients have been treated using hRPE stem cells, with all patients exhibiting increased dopamine in their metabolism and improved control of movement. Long-term follow-up of the patients remains unavailable and is currently being carefully researched on a select number of patients. Tiantan Puhua is the only hospital that offers this treatment to patients beyond limited clinical trials and Penny is the only known American citizen treated for Parkinson's using this type of stem cell treatment.

Last July 2002, in USA, Researchers used embryonic stem cells to relieve symptoms of Parkinson's disease in rats, demonstrating the cells can be turned into neurons that make dopamine, a key brain chemical.

The researchers at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., showed in tests that the cells injected into rats whose brains had been chemically damaged would spontaneously convert to correct the Parkinson's symptoms.

Some experts said the study, appearing Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was significant because it showed embryonic stem cells could be used to treat brain disorders, but they cautioned that the cells also could cause tumors.

In the current study, researchers first developed rats that had Parkinson's disease symptoms by injecting into their brains a toxin that killed neurons.

The researchers then injected embryonic stem cells, extracted from an early mouse embryo and capable of growing into any type of cell.

About nine weeks after the stem cells were in the rat brains, they converted to neurons that make dopamine, a brain chemical lacking in Parkinson's disease patients, Isacson said.

The injected stem cells, said Isacson, grew into the type of neurons that typically die in the brains of Parkinson's patients.

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Adult stem cells better than Embryonic Stem Cells?

Adult stem cells, and tissues derived from them, are currently believed less likely to initiate rejection after transplantation. This is because a patient's own cells could be expanded in culture, coaxed into assuming a specific cell type (differentiation), and then reintroduced into the patient. The use of adult stem cells and tissues derived from the patient's own adult stem cells would mean that the cells are less likely to be rejected by the immune system. This represents a significant advantage, as immune rejection can be circumvented only by continuous administration of immunosuppressive drugs, and the drugs themselves may cause deleterious side effects.

BUT, Research has been ongoing now for years as scientists have tried to determine whether stem cells from adult tissues have the same capabilities and potential as embryonic stem cells. Studies are constantly revealing new information and it is hoped that therapeutic applications will be developed from both sources. The question, however, perhaps remains: which source holds the advantage?

Development Potential
Adult stem cells are generally less flexible and versatile than embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells have a far greater differentiation potential than adult stem cells simply because embryonic stem cells can develop into almost every type of cell in the human body. Conversely, adult stem cells may only develop into a limited number of cell types, so their potential applications are not as great as embryonic stem cells. Newer studies do, however, suggest that adult stem cells may have greater plasticity than was originally thought, which means that they may be able to differentiate into a greater range of specialized cell types. At present, however, it would appear that embryonic stem cells still have the advantage in their ability to differentiate more readily than adult stem cells.

On Adult stem cell side, the treatment for almost all of them is a bone marrow transplant, and most of those diseases are diseases we have always known were possible to treat with a bone marrow transplant. The transplant is a fairly versatile treatment, that can be effective for just about any disease that originates and is contained in the immune system. So it can treat just about every type of leukemia, many lymphomas, myleomas. It can also treat several non cancerous blood diseases like sickle cell anemia. It can treat several auto immune diseases. It can be used in conjunction with other organ transplants to give the patients a chance to come off the anti rejection meds. And its a possible future cure for aids.

The diseases a bone marrow transplant can treat are counted in adult stem cell treatments, because in reality its the stem cells in the marrow that make the transplant work. The same type of stem cells can also be found in the circulating blood and cord blood.

Research facts still continue....

Adult Stem cells Potentially Can Heal Wounds in Bones, Cartilage and Tendons

Many medical researchers believe that stem cell treatments have the potential to change the face of human disease and alleviate suffering. The ability of stem cells to self-renew and give rise to subsequent generations that can differentiate offers a large potential to culture tissues that can replace diseased and damaged tissues in the body, without the risk of rejection.

Dr. Landis says that he and his co-workers have been conducting tissue-engineering research with bovine models to assess the feasibility of stem cells to heal wounds in bones, cartilage and tendons.

"We may apply the adult stem cells directly to a wound in some instances. We do this by growing the cells under culture conditions to develop an extracellular matrix, which creates a supportive environment for the cells. We collect both cell and extracellular material and apply the combination to a system in which a defect has been artificially created in a bone. We then monitor changes in the defect over time following cell/matrix treatment.

"In monitoring, we analyze the expression of certain genes and the secretion of certain proteins, comparing them to normal bone tissue and to bones that have no cell/matrix application," Dr. Landis says.

"We examine our system over time to see if there’s any new tissue growth to heal the defect," he says.

"We include multiple sets of experiments that have the same or different tissue defects, and we want to compare the studies to determine whether normal tissue develops to overcome the created wounds.

"At present, some of our results show cellular materials that we expect are being produced in our systems. That’s the kind of success we have at the moment," Dr. Landis says.

Adult stem cells may have a greater role in wound healing in the future, according to William J. Landis, Ph.D., Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy, Rootstown, Ohio

Autism and Stem Cells

Dr Chun Wong writes that everyone has heard of stem cell research and how some scientists believe that stem cells can be used to treat, cure or fix certain diseases and conditions like cancer and cerebral palsy, but now stem cell therapy is also being linked to developmental disorders like autism.

Well, scientists like Dr Leonard Smith (a gastrointestinal, vascular and general surgeon) and his team of researchers believe that autism is characterized by:-
* Hypoperfusion - A reduction in the amount of oxygen supplied to the brain. A reduced oxygen supply causes damage to the tissue of the brain and means that the brain can no longer function properly.
* Immune Dysregulation - Abnormal immune responses. The child’s immune system does not function properly and does not respond appropriately to the stimulation it receives. Children with autism can suffer with autoimmune responses, chronic inflammation in the brain and gut (leading to all manner of gastrointestinal problems) and suppressed immune systems.

Dr Smith and his colleagues have identified two types of stem cells which they believe are effective in addressing these two characteristics of autism:-

1. CD34+ cord blood stem cells - Dr Smith’s colleague Dr Fabio Solano injected this type of stem cell into a patient to improve blood flow to the brain and therefore increasing the brain’s oxyegn supply.
2. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) - This stem cell has been used in the past to treat immune dysregulation in Crohn’s Disease sufferers and was used by the research team to treat inflammation in autistic children.

You can read their research and findings at http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/5/1/30#IDABE20Y

Watch the youtube to see how a little girl’s autism was successfully treated by adult stem cells given to her by Dr Fabio Solano.

But is stem cell therapy a cure for autism and is it even a viable treatment?

Kinchlow said about Adult Stem Cell Patent Issues After Research

Stem-cell research involving adult cells is already being used to treat more than 70 diseases and medical conditions, while embryonic stem-cell research has not produced one single successful treatment. Kinchlow contends the push for embryonic stem-cell research is greed.

"Anytime you can get any kind of technique or materials that can be used to manipulate human or animal cells, you can patent this and licensing fees literally can be worth a fortune," he concludes.

Kinchlow said adult stem cells have worked for years, but scientists cannot patent those because the body produces them on its own.

Who is Kinchlow?
Minister, broadcaster, author, and businessman – Ben Kinchlow is known throughout the world as the long time Co-Host of The 700 Club, and Host of the International Edition of The 700 Club, as seen in more than 80 countries. In addition to hosting these programs, he also produced and hosted several CBN Specials, a daily 30-minute high energy television show (“Straight Talk") and co-hosted a live daily one-hour radio talk show (“Taking It To The Streets")

Research Show How Blood Stem Cells to Become Vision Cells

University of Florida researchers were able to program bone marrow stem cells to repair damaged retinas in mice, suggesting a potential treatment for one of the most common causes of vision loss in older people.

The success in repairing a damaged layer of retinal cells in mice implies that blood stem cells taken from bone marrow can be programmed to restore a variety of cells and tissues, including ones involved in cardiovascular disorders such as atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease.

“To our knowledge, this is the first report using targeted gene manipulation to specifically program an adult stem cell to become a new cell type,” said Dr. Maria B. Grant, a professor of pharmacology and therapeutics at UF’s College of Medicine. “Although we used genes, we also suggest you can do the same thing with drugs — but ultimately you would not give the drugs to the patient, you would give the drugs to their cells. Take the cells out, activate certain chemical pathways, and put the cells back into the patient.”

In a paper slated to appear in the September issue of the journal Molecular Therapy, scientists describe how they used a virus carrying a gene that gently pushed cultured adult stem cells from mice toward a fate as retinal cells. Only after the stem cells were reintroduced into the mice did they completely transform into the desired type of vision cells, apparently taking environmental cues from the damaged retinas.

After studying the cell-transformation process, scientists were able to bypass the gene manipulation step entirely and instead use chemical compounds that mirrored environmental conditions in the body, thus pointing the stem cells toward their ultimate identities as vision cells.

Source : news.ufl.edu/2009/07/30/cell-fate