Category Archives: Stem Cell Videos

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday promised a nationwide crackdown on unscrupulous stem cell clinics, following years of reports that some clinics have offered lofty claims of potential medical benefits with scant, if any, medical evidence.

These dishonest actors exploit the sincere reports of the significant clinical potential of properly developed products, as a way of deceiving patients and preying on the optimism of patients facing bad illnesses. This puts the entire field at risk, wrote FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who was appointed in May. Products that are reliably and carefully developed will be harder to advance if bad actors are able to make hollow claims and market unsafe science.

Gottliebs statement, published Monday on the FDAs website, highlighted a warning letter issued to one Florida stem cell clinic on Thursday and the direct seizure of products from another clinic in California on Friday. Gottlieb said the agency is aware of other cases where unproven stem cell treatments have clearly harmed patients, and he promised additional enforcement actions in the coming months.

At the same time, the FDA is planning to unveil new regulatory policy based on medical science and provisions in the 21st Century Cures Act that will allow legitimate research and treatments to be on the right side of the bright lines that the FDA is going to draw in the field. Legitimate researchers, including those at smaller companies, will be able to use a new process that is relatively quick and cheap by normal clinical research standards.

We must put in place the framework to separate the promising treatments from those products that pose significant risks or offer patients little to no chance of benefit, Gottlieb wrote.

Stem cells are the undifferentiated versions of human cells that have the potential to multiply rapidly and grow into other kinds of cells such as bone, blood and organ tissue. Though stem cell transplants are routinely used in hospitals to replace diseased bone marrow, several smaller clinics have cropped up in recent years offering stem cell injections derived from sources such as body fat to treat myriad health problems, from erectile dysfunction to blindness to cancer.

Critics including University of Minnesota bioethicist Leigh Turner have accused some smaller clinics of taking advantage of patients desperation to find new treatments for devastating diseases by charging high rates for unproven therapies.

Turner said some even resort to advertising questionable pay-to-participate research trials on a website run by the National Institutes of Health, even though the treatments carry significant risk and may have minimal oversight. He said he was cautiously optimistic about the FDAs announcements on Monday, but he wondered why it had taken so long.

Theres been about a five-year period where these companies have been making a wide array of claims about stem cell treatments, and doing it on their business websites, in news releases, YouTube videos, Twitter. ..., Turner said. So Im a little perplexed as to why its taken to this point in 2017 for the FDA to act. But I do think its important and it will be interesting to see if there is real enforcement activity.

Gottliebs post said that there are only a small number of unethical clinics today and that the new rules will ensure that the vast majority of responsible researchers understand the regulations governing the emerging field of regenerative medicine.

Its not clear to everyone that the FDA has jurisdiction over the whole field.

For example, some stem cell treatments involve cells taken from donors, while others use autologous cells taken from the patients own body. The FDA said it has jurisdiction over autologous stem cells when they are exposed to more than a minimal level of manipulation outside the body, because that process transforms the cells into a type of biologic drug.

Dr. Ronald Hanson, founder and chief medical officer of OrthoCure Regenerative Orthopedics clinic in Richfield, said some doctors and patients question why the FDA would have oversight over any process in which patients own cells are re-injected into their bodies. The FDA regulates medical products, but it does not control physicians practice of medicine.

From the physicians who have practiced for a long period of time, it seems fairly heavy-handed to call somebodys cells drugs, Hanson said. I have to tell you, 100 percent of the patients who I have told that to cringe that their government would classify their cells as drugs.

The rest is here:
FDA to crack down on 'unscrupulous' stem cell clinics - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Stem Cell Training, a subsidiary branch of the Global Stem Cells Group, an international network of professional doctors, researchers, and medical personnel that work together to advance the study of stem cells as they relate to our medical services today, this week excitedly announced they are overseeing onsite training at a facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The training, which will take place at the Ivan L. Goldsmith, MD Medical Office, will bring state of the art equipment, online resources, personalized theoretical information, stem cell protocols and applications, and training to the forefront of the establishment.

After attending Stem Cell Trainings last training in Miami on August 4, Dr. Goldsmith made the decision to carry the training program to his office for teaching protocols of regenerative medicine to his entire time.

Stem cell harvest and extraction is a complex process that requires hands-on experience and oversight to get it right, said Dr. Benito Novas, Founder and Owner of Stem Cell Training. As such, we are constantly looking for partners helping us advance our training stations around the world. We are incredibly excited to be partnering up with Dr. Goldsmith, and look forward to equipping his entire team with the stem cells skills they need moving forward.

Stem Cell Training delivers and sets up all the necessary equipment and supplies for the training session to take place, provides highly visual and interactive resources for extraction, isolation, and application of PRP, Adipose, and Bone Marrow Stem Cells, and administers high resolution step-by-step videos of procedures for future use and reference after the training is completed.

If you are interested in knowing about Stem Cell Trainings Onsite Regenerative Medicine Training, visit: https://www.stemcelltraining.net/onsitetraining/.

About Global Stem Cells Group

Read more:
Stem Celling Training to Oversee Onsite Training at Facility in Las Vegas - PRUnderground (press release)

Top Amniotic Stem Cell Therapy Nationwide (844) GET-STEM

Scottsdale, Arizona (PRWEB) August 07, 2017

After five years of offering top stem cell therapy treatments nationwide to thousands of patients, R3 Stem Cell has achieved Better Business Bureau accreditation. The company places immense quality assurance on patient satisfaction along with the quality of service, which has contributed to the BBB accreditation.

R3 Stem Cell's regenerative procedures have been used for all types of patient conditions such as degenerative arthritis, sports injuries, wound healing, tendonitis, systemic conditions and cosmetic procedures. Patients receive benefits the vast majority of the time, and no adverse events have been reported in thousands of cases.

Said CEO David Greene, "We put immense quality assurance on our amniotic stem cell products and the patient experience. Everything revolves around patient safety, quality service, first rate outcomes and satisfaction!"

The amniotic stem cell products utilized at R3 Stem Cell Centers of Excellence have no ethical issues. The products are obtained after scheduled c-sections by consenting donors and no embryonic cells are involved. R3 is now offering on demand webinars for prospective patients on its website along with having over 35 videos for education.

For top stem cell therapy nationwide, call R3 Stem Cell at (844) GET-STEM today!

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R3 Stem Cell Achieves Certification by the Better Business Bureau - PR Web (press release)

Saturday, July 8, 2017, Fo Niemi of Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations, right, listens at CRARR's Montreal offices as Pradel Content discussed his complaint that two Laval police officers violently arrested him without cause and erased a video of the incident from his cell phone on May 14, 2017. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette

A disabled, black, English-speaking man has laid complaints against two Laval police officers for violently arresting him without cause and erasing a video of the incident from his cellphone.

Pradel Content, 39, took a video of two Laval police officers who made a U-turn on Highway 15 to tail his car on May 14.

Content, who lived in Florida for 17 years, said he was going for his daily Tim Hortons run and was heading towards a gas station to buy cigarettes in his Cadillac Escalade. The officers followed Content when he stopped at a gas station. Content then stepped out of his car, his cane in one hand and his cellphone in the other to videotape the police driving towards him.

One of the officers, Constable Michael Boutin, then stepped out of the police car and slapped the phone out of Contents hand, pushed him against the car and handcuffed him as Content protested that he was disabled and fragile, said Fo Niemi, executive director of Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations.

Content didnt mince words when he spoke at a press conference Saturday at CRARRs office.

I want my life back, he said, seated between Niemi and his mother, Marie Rose Thodore. Let me live.

Since the incident, his mother said she has been accompanying Content in public. She became increasingly upset speaking about the current situation with her son.

Im tired of the way hes treated, she said in French. He didnt do anything. He cant leave the house alone now. I need to go with him.

I want to be able to walk down the street, to walk down the street like everybody else, Content said.

The organization has filed complaints on Contents behalf with Quebecs Police Ethics Commission and Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission in connection with the incident, alleging the officers used excessive force to arrest him and illegally erased footage of the incident.

We hope this case will create a clear precedent and also a clear positive policy, Niemi said.

Niemi said surveillance video confirms Contents version of the incident by showing one officer slapping Contents phone out of his hand and shoving him.

In the police report, Boutin confirms that police erased video from Contents phone. Boutin reports that the officers began tailing Content after they noticed a fake Halloween-style hand coming out of the trunk of his car. Content said it was a Halloween prop that he has placed in his trunk year-long.

Content had to be handcuffed and placed in the police car. He cries constantly that he is handicapped, the police report says.

Content says he suffers fromarthritis in the neck, fibromyalgia, lumbar and thoracic problems, issues in both knees and a broken rib. Aside from the broken rib, his injuries stem from a previous car accident.

This is why I keep telling police officers you cant push me and slam me like that, he said. You cant slam me on the car and not think that Im not going to feel that. Leave me alone, let me live, got that?

Content said he was pushed into the police car without any regard for his disabilities. He said he was then told by officer Boutin that he was handicapped in the head. The officers gave Content a $127 ticket for using a cell phone while driving, which Content has contested.

Content realized the footage from his phone was gone after speaking with the gas station clerk, who asked Content about the incident. He wanted to show the clerk the video, which was no longer there. Initially panicked, Content asked the clerk if he could take a look at the surveillance footage at the gas station and was told to come back the next day when the clerks manager would be there.

This is not Contents first run-in with the cops. In 2014, police officers falsely identified him as a black male suspect they had been searching for. He was arrested and detained before they realized they had the wrong person.

Content said he has been trying to track the number of times police have stopped him since June 2016 but has stopped since the incident this past May. However, he said in the past, he would be stopped three times in a five-day span.

Moving forward, Content said he simply wants to go back to a normal life.

I want my voice to be heard, I want to be able to go out on the streets and live like a normal human being, he said. I mean like, this is not the first time, I know its not going to be the last time but Im hoping its the last time.

Earlier this year, two court rulings determined that police officers cannot legally erase video footage from peoples electronic devices. In Larochelle v. Sarno, the police ethics commission won an appeal overturning a decision initially stating that police officers didnt have to face any disciplinary action after they forced a man to give them his phone and delete videos of the officers on duty. The commission ruled the officers had no valid reason to detain the victim or use force. As to the the demand to delete the pictures, the officers had no legal basis to ask for the deletion of the pictures.

In Commissaire la dontologie policire v. Ledoux, a man was stopped for making an illegal U-turn, which police said was clearly marked by a sign on the road. The man took a photo of the sign to see what it said. The case states the officers request is to see the pictures in an aggressive manner and orders the photos to be deleted. However, it was determined the police officers didnt have the right to make that request because it violated the Quebec police ethics code.

On Wednesday, a Cte-des-Neiges man who was handcuffed and wrestled to the ground by Montreal police in a case of mistaken identity says he was angry that his complaint to the Quebec police ethics commission had been dismissed.

Errol Burke, a 54-year-old illustrator, said he entered a dpanneur to buy milk last February when police officers threw him to the ground, pointed their pistols at him and dragged him outside.

See original here:
Update: Laval police erased cellphone video of violent arrest, says disabled black man - Montreal Gazette

Stem cells are cells that divide by mitosis to form either

How the choice is made is still unknown. However, several genes have been found whose activity prevents a daughter cell from differentiating.

The only totipotent cells are the fertilized egg and the first 4 or so cells produced by its cleavage (as shown by the ability of mammals to produce identical twins, triplets, etc.).

In mammals, the expression totipotent stem cells is a misnomer totipotent cells cannot make more of themselves.

Three types of pluripotent stem cells occur naturally:

All three of these types of pluripotent stem cells

In mice and rats, embryonic stem cells can also:

Using genetic manipulation in the laboratory, pluripotent stem cells can now be generated from differentiated cells. These induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are described below.

Multipotent stem cells are found in adult animals; perhaps most organs in the body (e.g., brain, liver, lungs) contain them where they can replace dead or damaged cells. These adult stem cells may also be the cells that when one accumulates sufficient mutations produce a clone of cancer cells.

Examples:

While progress has been slow, some procedures already show promise.

Using multipotent "adult" stem cells.

One way to avoid the problem of rejection is to use stem cells that are genetically identical to the host.

This is already possible in the rare situations when the patient has healthy stem cells in an undamaged part of the body (like the stem cells being used to replace damaged corneas).

In this technique,

Using this procedure it possible to not only grow blastocysts but even have these go on to develop into adult animals cloning with a nuclear genome identical to that of the donor of the nucleus. The first successful cloning by SCNT was with amphibians [View procedure]. Later, mammals such as sheep (Dolly), cows, mice and others were successfully cloned. And in the 11 November 2007 issue of Science, researchers in Oregon reported success with steps 14 in rhesus monkeys (primates like us).

Their procedure:

This should reassure people who view with alarm the report in May 2013 by the same workers that they have finally succeeded in producing embryonic stem cells (ESCs) using SCNT from differentiated human tissue. The workers assure us that they will not attempt to implant these blastocysts in a surrogate mother to produce a cloned human. And their failure with monkeys suggests that they would fail even if they did try.

While cloning humans still seems impossible, patient-specific ESCs

Whether they will be more efficient and more useful than induced pluripotent stem cells [below] remains to be seen.

Sperm and eggs each contain certain genes that carry an "imprint" identifying them later in the fertilized egg as being derived from the father or mother respectively.

Creating an egg with a nucleus taken from an adult cell may not allow a proper pattern of imprinting to be established.

When the diploid adult nucleus is inserted into the enucleated egg (at least those of sheep and mice), the new nucleus becomes "reprogrammed". What reprogramming actually means still must be learned, but perhaps it involves the proper methylation and demethylation of imprinted genes. For example, the inactive X chromosome in adult female cells must be reactivated in the egg, and this actually seems to happen.

In primates (in contrast to sheep, cattle, and mice), the process of removing the resident nucleus causes molecules associated with the centrosome to be lost as well. Although injecting a donor nucleus allows mitosis to begin, spindle formation may be disrupted, and the resulting cells fail to get the correct complement of chromosomes (aneuploidy).

In other words, mutations that might be well-tolerated in a single somatic cell of the adult (used to provide the nucleus) might well turn out to be quite harmful when they become replicated in a clone of cells injected later into the patient.

The goal of this procedure (which is often called therapeutic cloning even though no new individual is produced) is to culture a blastocyst that can serve as a source of ES cells.

And in fact, Dolly and other animals are now routinely cloned this way. Link to a description.

The spectre of this is so abhorrent to many that they would like to see the procedure banned despite its promise for helping humans.

In fact, many are so strongly opposed to using human blastocysts even when produced by nuclear transfer that they would like to limit stem cell research to adult stem cells (even though these are only multipotent).

A promising alternative to the use of embryonic stem cells in human therapy are recently-developed methods of genetically reprogramming the nuclei of differentiated adult cells so that they regain the pluripotency of embryonic stem (ES) cells.

In June 2007, three laboratories reported that introducing extra copies of only 4 genes into adult mouse skin cells (fibroblasts) enables them to regain the properties of ES cells. When these cells, named induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs for short), were placed in mouse blastocysts, they participated in building all the tissues of the chimeric mice that resulted. (When placed in tetraploid (4n) blastocysts unable by themselves to develop normally embryos were formed that thus were clones of the skin cell donor.) The four genes: c-Myc, Sox2, Oct3/4, Klf4.

Reprogramming works in humans, too! Using the same four genes, the Yamanaka lab in Japan reported on 20 November 2007, that they now had reprogrammed human skin cells to become induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). And the Thomson lab in Wisconsin accomplished the same thing using SOX2, OCT4, NANOG, and LIN28.

These achievements open the possibility of

Therapy with iPSCs has already been demonstrated in mice. Three examples:

The result: all the signs of sickle-cell disease (e.g., anemia) in the treated animals showed marked improvement.

The result: the implanted buds developed a blood supply and the mice began to secrete human albumin, human alpha-1-antitrypsin, and to to detoxify injected chemicals just as human livers do.

Let us hope that what works in mice can someday be developed into a safe therapy that will work in humans. (In the case of Type 1 diabetes mellitus, however, even patient-derived beta cells will still be at risk of the same autoimmune rejection that caused the disease in the first place.)

Despite these successes, iPSCs may not be able to completely replace the need for embryonic stem cells and may even be dangerous to use in human therapy. Several groups have found that human iPSCs contain mutations as well as epigenetic patterns (e.g., methylation of their DNA) that are not found in embryonic stem cells. Some of the mutations are also commonly found in cancer cells.

Applied to humans, none of the above procedures would involve the destruction of a potential human life.

Excerpt from:
Stem Cells - RCN

What are stem cells?

Your body contains over 200 types of cells, each with a specific job: blood cells carry oxygen; muscle cells contract so that you can move; nerve cells transmit chemical signals. The job of a stem cell is to make new cells. It does this by undergoing an amazing processdifferentiating, or changing into another type of cell. Each time a stem cell divides, one of the new cells might remain a stem cell while the other turns into a heart, blood, brain, or other type of cell. In fact, stem cells are able to divide to replenish themselves and other cells without any apparent limit.

Stem cells are the source, or stem, for all of the specialized cells that form our organs and tissues. There are many kinds of stem cells, but two types have made frequent appearances in the news: embryonic stem are present in very earlyand very tinyembryos, and produce the first cells of the heart, brain, and other organs. They have the potential to form just about any other cell in the body. Adult stem cells are found in many tissues of developed organisms, and even in embryos after theyve begun to grow (A newborn babys body contains adult stem cells). Theyre also found in the placenta and umbilical cord. Adult stem cells can replenish some tissues lost through normal wear and tear or injury. However, adult stem cells are only able to generate a few specific cell types. Adult stem cells in bone marrow, for example, make new blood cells, and adult stem cells in the skin make the cells that replenish layers of the skin.

Next: Why invest so much in studying stem cells?

Read more from the original source:
Microscope Imaging Station. Stem Cells: Cells with Potential.

Dr. Marc Darrow Stem Cell Therapy

In this article Marc Darrow, M.D., explains Stem Cell Therapy for Bone on Bone Knee

In recent research, doctors followed patients for five years and found that five years after treatment stem cell treated knees were still better than before treatment.1 In a second study doctors in China announced that in their animal studies,stem cells injected into the site of a bone fracture, promoted rapid and accelerated bone healing.

The implications of the above researchcan help revolutionize the way standardized medicine addresses problems of bone degeneration and necrosis (bone death). When the doctor says you have bone-on-bone, it can be used as an umbrella term to describe various levels of knee degeneration. In the knee joint, cartilage protects the shinbone, the thighbone, and the back of the knee cap the patella. In addition to this cushion is the thick meniscus the padding between the bones. A healthy knee has all its surfaces glide smoothly atop these cartilages for pain free, efficient, and in the case of athletics explosive movement.

Bone-on-bone means one, some, or all the cartilage and/or the meniscus has defects or holes in them.

Frequentlythese holes go all the way down to the bone and thus painful, debilitating bone-on-bone osteoarthritis develops.

Many times a patient will assume that bone-on-bone means extreme or advanced deterioration, many times that is not the case at all.

When a patient asks us this question we respond by saying that following a physical examination we discuss our non-surgical treatment methods including Prolotherapy, Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy, and Stem Cell Therapy. In minor deterioration, sometimes we start with simple dextrose. In advanced deterioration we may employ both PRP and stem cells.

When stem cells are recommended, we draw stem cells from you. Stem cells have the ability to morph into a variety of cell types including: osteoblasts (bone cells) and chondrocytes (cartilage cells). So it is understandable why so much research and effort are being put into this alternative to knee surgery.

Rebuilding cartilage in severe osteoarthritis is considered one of the great challenges in orthropedic medicine. A recent medical paper sums it up:

Drug interventions and surgical treatments have been widely attempted for cartilage regeneration in osteoarthritis. However, the results were largely unsatisfactory. Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) or matrix-induced autologous chondrocyte implantation (MACI) offers potential for the regeneration of cartilage over the long-term.

However, due to the limitations and disadvantages of ACI, alternative therapies for cartilage regeneration are in need.

The availability of large quantities of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and the multilineage differentiation (the morphing ability), especially their chondrogenic (for cartilage) differentiation property, have made MSCs the most promising cell source for cartilage regeneration. 2

MSCs can modulate the immune response of individuals and positively influence the microenvironment of the stem cells already present in the diseased tissue. 3

In other words, spark a new healing cascade for advanced osteoarthric cases.

Researchers are looking at the osteoblasts, specialized mesenchyme-derived (stem) cellsaccountable for bone synthesis, remodelling and healing. What they are finding is that these cells rebuild bones through various mechanisms including cell homing or cell signalling. This is where stem cells communicate with the surrounding tissue to help them navigate to the site of the wound and differentiate themselves into the material to build bone.4Other research suggests positive results even in cases ofAvascular necrosis. 5 Researchers in China announced that in their animal studies, stem cell injections accelerated bone healing and the further research should investigate stem cell injections for fractures of the bone.6

Should you consider stem cell therapy for your bone-on-bone?The Darrow Wellness Institute has long been recognized for utilizing advanced, non-surgical options for degenerative joint disease including Stem Cell Therapy. Stem Cell Therapy, like Prolotherapy and Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy are designed to stimulate the immune system to heal and rebuild damaged joints without the significant risks that surgeries, joint replacement, or other invasive procedures come with.

1. Davatchi F, Sadeghi Abdollahi B, Mohyeddin M, Nikbin B. Mesenchymal stem cell therapy for knee osteoarthritis: 5 years follow-up of three patients. Int J Rheum Dis. 2015 May 20. doi: 10.1111/1756-185X.12670. [Epub ahead of print]

2. Qi Y, Yan W. Mesenchymal stem cell sheet encapsulated cartilage debris provides great potential for cartilage defects repair in osteoarthritis. Med Hypotheses. 2012 Sep;79(3):420-1. Epub 2012 Jun 1.

3. Qi Y, Feng G, Yan W. Mesenchymal stem cell-based treatment for cartilage defects in osteoarthritis. Mol Biol Rep. 2012 May;39(5):5683-9. Epub 2011 Dec 20.

4. Titorencu I, Pruna V, Jinga VV, Simionescu M. Osteoblast ontogeny and implications for bone pathology: an overview. Cell Tissue Res. 2014 Jan;355(1):23-33. doi: 10.1007/s00441-013-1750-3. Epub 2013 Nov 29.

5.Calori GM, Mazza E, Colombo M, Mazzola S, Mineo GV, Giannoudis PV. Treatment of AVN using the induction chamber technique and a biological-based approach: Indications and clinical results. Injury. 2013 Sep 19. pii: S0020-1383(13)00423-3. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2013.09.014. [Epub ahead of print

6.Huang S, Xu L, Zhang Y, Sun Y, Li G. Systemic and local administration of allogeneic bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells promotes fracture healing in rats. Cell Transplant. 2015 Feb 2. [Epub ahead of print]

See more here:
Stem Cell Therapy - Prolotherapy Institute Los Angeles

Stem cells are cells of the body (somatic cells) which can divide and become differentiated.[1]

When an organism grows, stem cells specialize, and take specific functions. For instance, mature tissues like skin, muscle, blood, bone, liver, nerves, all have different types of cells. Because stem cells are not yet differentiated, they can change to become some kind of specialized cells. Organisms also use stem cells to replace damaged cells.

Stem cells are found in most, if not all, plants and animals. They divide and differentiate into a range of cell types. Research in the stem cell field grew out of findings in the 1960s.[2][3]

The two broad types of mammalian stem cells are: embryonic stem cells, and adult stem cells, which are found in adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all of the specialised embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells, but also maintain the normal turnover of blood, skin, and intestinal tissues.

Stem cells can be grown in tissue culture. In culture, they can be transformed into specialised cells, such as those of muscles or nerves. Highly plastic adult stem cells can be taken from a variety of sources, including umbilical cord blood and bone marrow. They are now used in medical therapies, and researchers expect that stem cells will be used in many future therapies.[4]

Embryonic stem cells (ES cells) are stem cells taken from the inner cell mass of the early stage embryo known as a blastocyst. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4-5 days after fertilization. At that time, they are made up of between 50 and 150 cells.

The stem cells' state, and what the daughter cells turn into, is influenced by signals from other cells in the embryo.

Read more:
Stem cell - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What are Stem Cells?

Stem cells are master cells that have the potential of becoming any type of cell in the body. One of the main characteristics of stem cells is their ability to self-renew or multiply while maintaining the potential to develop into other types of cells. Stem cells can become cells of the blood, heart, bones, skin, muscles,and brainetc. There are different sources of stem cells but all types of stem cells have the same capacity to develop into multiple types of cells.

Red Cells:Carry oxygen

Platelets:Promote clotting and wound healing

Umbilical cord blood is the blood that remains in the vein of the umbilical cord and placenta at the time of birth. Cord blood is rich in stem cells and Cryo-Cells umbilical cord blood stem cell service collects, processes and cryogenically preserves these stem cells for potential medical use. Cord blood stem cells have been used to treatnearly 80 diseases with over 30,000 transplants worldwide.

Characteristic 5 above is the reason why cord blood stem cells are dubbed privileged, for they are unexposed to most diseases and environmental pollutants, which can make bone marrow from an adult more difficult to use in transplants.

Most importantly, cord blood stem cells from your baby are a perfect match for him/her in the event it should ever be needed, and has a 1-in-4 chance of matching a current or future sibling. It is important to note that a perfect match does not imply that the stem cells will be useful to treat all diseases.

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), an unpredictable condition that happens when the donor's cells begin to attack the transplant recipient and can be fatal, is estimated to occur in 60-80 percent of transplants where the donor and recipient are not related.

The umbilical cord itself is a rich source of stem cells termed mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Mesenchymal stem cells have many unique functions including the ability to inhibit inflammation following tissue damage, to secrete growth factors that aid in tissue repair, and to differentiate into many cell types including neural cells, bone cells, fat cells and cartilage. MSCs are increasingly being utilized in regenerative medicine for a wide range of conditions including heart and kidney disease, ALS, wound healing and autoimmune diseases.

In order to preserve more types and quantity of umbilical cord stem cells and to maximize possible future health options, Cryo-Cells umbilical cord tissue service provides expectant families with the opportunity to cryogenically store their newborns umbilical cord tissue cells contained within substantially intact cord tissue. Should umbilical cord tissue cells be considered for potential utilization in a future therapeutic application, further laboratory processing may be necessary. Regarding umbilical cord tissue, all private blood banks activities for New York State residents are limited to collection, processing, and long-term storage of umbilical cord tissue stem cells. The possession of a New York State license for such collection, processing and long-term storage does not indicate approval or endorsement of possible future uses or future suitability of these cells.

Read more here:
Cord Blood Stem Cells | What are Stem Cells? | Cryo-Cell

Every day we get a call from someone seeking help. Some are battling a life-threatening or life-changing disease. Others call on behalf of a friend or loved one. All are looking for the same thing; a treatment, better still a cure, to ease their suffering.

Almost every day we have to tell them the same thing; that the science is advancing but its not there yet. You can almost feel the disappointment, the sense of despair, on the other end of the line.

If its hard for us to share that news, imagine how much harder it is for them to hear it. Usually by the time they call us they have exhausted all the conventional therapies. In some cases they are not just running out of options, they are also running out of time.

Chasing hope

Sometimes people mention that they went to the website of a clinic that was offering treatments for their condition, claiming they had successfully treated people with that disease or disorder. This week I had three people mention the same clinic, here in the US, that was offering them treatments for multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Three very different problems, but the same approach was used for each one.

Its easy to see why people would be persuaded that clinics like this could help them. Their websites are slick and well produced. They promise to take excellent care of patients, often helping take care of travel plans and accommodation.

Theres just one problem. They never offer any scientific evidence on their website that the treatments they offer work. They have testimonials, quotes from happy, satisfied patients, but no clinical studies, no results from FDA-approved clinical trials. In fact, if you explore their sites youll usually find an FAQ section that says something to the effect of they are not offering stem cell therapy as a cure for any condition, disease, or injury. No statements or implied treatments on this website have been evaluated or approved by the FDA. This website contains no medical advice.

What a damning but revealing phrase that is.

Now, it may be that the therapies they are offering wont physically endanger patients though without a clinical trial its impossible to know that but they can harm in other ways. Financially it can make a huge dent in someones wallet with many treatments costing $10,000 or more. And there is also the emotional impact of giving someone false hope, knowing that there was little, if any, chance the treatment would work.

Shining a light in shady areas

U.C. Davis stem cell researcher, CIRM grantee, and avid blogger Paul Knoepfler, highlighted this in a recent post for his blog The Niche when he wrote:

Paul Knoepfler

Patients are increasingly being used as guinea pigs in the stem cell for-profit clinic world via what I call stem cell shot-in-the-dark procedures. The clinics have no logical basis for claiming that these treatments work and are safe.

As the number of stem cell clinics continues to grow in the US and morephysicians add on unproven stem cell injections into their practices as a la carte options, far more patients are being subjected to risky, even reckless physician conduct.

As if to prove how real the problem is, within hours of posting that blog Paul posted another one, this time highlighting how the FDA had sent a Warning Letter to the Irvine Stem Cell Treatment Center saying it had serious concerns about the way it operates and the treatments it offers.

Paul has written about these practices many times in the past, sometimes incurring the wrath of the clinic owners (and very pointed letters from their lawyers). Its to his credit that he refuses to be intimidated and keeps highlighting the potential risks that unapproved therapies pose to patients.

Making progress

As stem cell science advances we are now able to tell some patients that yes, there are promising therapies, based on good scientific research, that are being tested in clinical trials.

There are not as many as we would like and none have yet been approved by the FDA for wider use. But those will come in time.

For now we have to continue to work hard to raise awareness about the need for solid scientific evidence before more people risk undergoing an unproven stem cell therapy.

And we have to continue taking calls from people desperate for help, and tell them they have to be patient, just a little longer.

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If you are considering a stem cell treatment, the International Society for Stem Cell Research had a terrific online resource, A Closer Look at Stem Cells. In particular, check out the Nine Things to Know about Stem Cell Treatments page.

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