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Not just free of pain… but cured! Pioneering stem cell treatment saves life of sickle cell victim, 23

Remmy Kamya has become the first British adult to undergo a pioneering stem cell treatment for sickle cell disease.

Remmy, 23, is not just free from the crippling bouts of pain that have affected him for years – he is cured.

The success of the procedure gives hope to thousands of adults who may otherwise face a future filled with pain and a premature death.

Sickle cell disease is a genetic blood condition affecting 13,500 in the UK. Red blood cells are produced by stem cells within the marrow found inside the bones.

Healthy red blood cells are biconcaved discs which can bend and flex easily. In those with sickle cell disease, faulty stem cells produce red blood cells that are crescent shaped.

These are rigid, unable to squeeze through smaller blood vessels, and prone to causing blockages that deprive parts of the body of oxygen, leading to periods of intense pain.

Symptoms may be mild or severe, depending on how many sickle cells the body produces, and can include exhaustion and susceptibility to infection.

Crises can last for days and internal organs may gradually become damaged from restricted blood flow. It is the most common cause of stroke in children. Sufferers are not expected to live beyond 60.

Treatment focuses on alleviating symptoms by using painkillers, administering oxygen, drinking lots of water and prescribing antibiotics.

The only cure until now has been a bone marrow transplant. During this, extremely high doses of chemotherapy are given to kill the unhealthy stem cells within the existing bone marrow, before it is replaced with donor marrow.

The procedure carries a 20 per cent risk of fatality and could be offered to sufferers only under the age of 18 as the internal organs of adult patients are typically too damaged by the disease to withstand chemotherapy.

Life-saver: Stem cells are separated from a blood sample

‘Stem cell transplants have been offered only to paediatric patients whose organs are still healthy,’ says Dr Mickey Koh, consultant haematologist and director of the bone marrow transplant unit at St George’s Hospital, London.

‘When considering transplants we had to weigh up the severity of symptoms and the risk to life. Chemotherapy kills the faulty stem cells but harms organs.’

The new procedure uses low dosage radiotherapy that targets only the bone marrow, so it avoids further damage to the liver, kidney, lungs or heart. Special drugs that suppress specific parts of the immune system are used to make sure the donor tissue is not rejected.

The technique was pioneered in America two years ago with ten adult patients, all of whom survived and were cured. There is still a risk of fatality, but Dr Koh says it is less than eight per cent.

Remmy was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at the age of two. ‘I used to have attacks twice a month, lasting for days,’ he says.

Having mainly suffered in his legs, feet and arms, seven years ago he began to get pains in his chest, considered more serious as they indicate lung damage.

‘I also had a brain scan which revealed I had suffered a stroke in the past,’ he says.

‘Doctors were worried this could happen again and the next time it might cause more damage.’

Remmy was referred to Dr Koh who tested his family for donor suitability and brother Ronnie, 33, was a good match.

Remmy was admitted into hospital in February and given daily injections of antibodies for five days followed by anti-rejection drugs to prepare for the transplant. Ronnie was given an injection to stimulate the production of more stem cells that would enrich his blood.

Stem cells are transplanted by blood transfusion – they travel through the arteries and end up in bone marrow.

Within days Remmy’s blood was being populated with healthy new red cells and after a week he was allowed home. Next February he can stop taking anti-rejection drugs.

‘Thousands of adults can now be treated, saving more lives,’ says Dr Koh.

Cord Tissue Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Humans Shows Positive Results

The first reported human clinical application of umbilical cord tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs) was recently published in Transplantation.(1) The study found that the use of cord tissue MSCs was feasible, safe and effective in treating patients with graft versus host disease (GvHD), which is a serious and potentially fatal complication of stem cell transplantation.

Because of their prospective impact on immune suppression, injury recovery and tissue engineering, MSCs are of increasing interest to researchers across a broad spectrum of regenerative medicine applications including autism, bone injury, cardiomyopathy, diabetes, HIV, liver failure, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and stroke.(2)

Overcoming Graft v. Host Disease

In the study recently published in Transplantation (1), the investigators first compared the form and structure, surface markers, and behavior of cord tissue MSCs to those found in bone marrow.  They found thatMSCs obtained from cord tissue had similar appearance, superior proliferative potential and more immunosuppressive effects compared to bone marrow MSCs. Because of these unique properties and the relative ease of collection, isolation and culture, the investigators infused cord tissue MSCs expanded in the lab, into two patients with severe steroid-resistant acute GvHD.  There were no side-effects or severe infections noted in either patient during the treatment period showing the MSCs were safe.  The GvHD also improved dramatically in both patients following each infusion indicating the treatment was successful.

This study could pave the way for future studies of cord tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells to better understand how to maximize treatment for this serious transplant complication.  However, GvHD may only be scratching the surface of the possible future applications for cord tissue MSCs.

Considering that collecting cord tissue from newborns is easy, safe and noninvasive compared to harvesting from bone marrow, the authors of this study concluded that these cells appear to be the ideal candidates for cell-based therapies.  The authors of the study also indicated that cord tissue may be an alternative MSC source for clinical applications, just as cord blood itself has become a good source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation.(1) By collecting and saving cord tissue from newborns, families will have access to a rich source of MSCs which hold great promise for stem cell therapies in the future.

• Graft versus host disease (GvHD) is a frequent immune incompatibility reaction of stem cell transplantation with often serious to fatal complications.  GvHD occurs when donor cells recognize the recipient as foreign, and attack his or her organs and other tissues.  GvHD is usually treated with steroids, but some patients may develop steroid resistance and require complicated treatment regimens.

• Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are found in bone marrow, cord blood and inparticularly high concentrations in cord tissue.(3) They give rise to the cells of bone, fat, cartilage and other connective tissues.  Cord tissue MSCs are being studied in more than 25 clinical trials to date according to the National Institutes of Health web site clinicaltrials.gov.

References:
1. Wu KH, Chan CK, Tsai C, et al. Effective treatment of severe steroid-resistant acute graft-versus-host disease with umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells.   Transplantation. 2011;91(12):1412-6.
2. U.S. National Institutes of Health.  Clinicaltrials.gov. Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal stem cells.  Accessed September15, 2011.
3. Secco M, Zucconi E, Vieira NM, et al. Multipotent stem cells from umbilical cord: Cord is richer than blood! Stem Cells 2008; 26: 146.
Article from http://blog.cordblood.com/archive/2011/10/05/cord-tissue-mesenchymal-stem-cells-in-humans-shows-positive-results.aspx#.TsTgnGpzA5M.facebook

Children Cured With Cord Blood Transplant

An extremely rare and often fatal disease — Malignant Infantile Osteopetrosis — was the basis of an unlikely friendship that formed between the Shaffers from Landsdowne, Pa. and the Albornoz’s from Ecuador when both of their sons were diagnosed.

The only treatment for the disease is a stem cell transplant or a bone marrow transplant.

“Cord blood is a life line for some patients,” said Doctor E. Anders Kolb from Nemours DuPont Hospital. He treated both children.

Mason Shaffer had his life-saving cord blood transplant in 2009. A year later when the Albornoz’s contacted Dr. Kolb in an effort to get treatment for their son, Dr. Kolb asked the Shaffers to reach out to the family for support.

“We immediately wanted to be able to help someone else because we had no one else when we were diagnosed,” said Marc Shaffer.

When little Joaquin underwent his cord blood transplant in 2010, the Shaffers were there to walk the Albornoz’s through the grueling, five-month process, which ultimately was a success.

“We keep in touch with them,” said Sebastian Albornoz. “They just give us a big relief because they gave us hope.”

If you’re pregnant, you can ask your doctor about cord blood donation.

Joost van der Westhuizen to investigate Stem Cell therapies for a possible treatment

After much speculation about the health of rugby hero, Joost van der Westhuizen, he spoke to the Just Plain Breakfast team about his illness and the public and the media’s reaction. Listen to his interview on Jacaranda FM for the full story.. Click here

Stem Cell Investigations – The Modern Age Of Medication And Treatment

Stem cell research has long been the main topic of numerous ethical debates in recent years, just after it’s medical discovery in November 1998. The particular manners in which the cells need to be collected as well as their application intended for development in biomedical study, together with the usage of federal monetary funds to invest in the continued research, has shown to be a dispute which is not easily remedied, even with the revolutionary improvements in the treatment and prevention of disease, injury and birth defects.

Stem cell research is especially exciting given that it gives new hope for those who have terminal or incurable conditions. For example, while Parkinson’s sufferers take prescription drugs that slow or decrease their symptoms, the drug treatments are incapable of curing the infected tissues in the brain. This is where stem cell research enters the picture, since it provides the opportunity to create disease-free tissue. Parkinson’s is among many diseases set to benefit from stem cell treatment.

A stem cell is a “generic” cell that will make exact duplicates of itself forever. In addition, a stem cell is able to make specialized cells for several tissues within the body. Scientists can sustain stem cells permanently, producing them into specialized cells as needed. The two main basic types; Embryonic and Adult.

Stem cell transplants may help to lives of people with critical illnesses, such as the leukemia disease (cancer in the white blood cells) as well as other varieties of cancer, or people that have severe blood disorders (aplastic anemia). Just lately, it’s been found that umbilical cord blood stem cells can also be used in the treating of brain trauma, cerebral palsy, type 1 diabetes, and also heart disorders . For youngsters requiring this type of stem cell transplant, umbilical cord blood is used; with regard to adults, bone marrow transplant is needed. However, together with increasing information and effectiveness regarding umbilical cord stem cells transplant, adults are increasingly having this specific transplant too.

Stem cell research should offer hope to people enduring incurable degenerative health conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and also Motor Neurone Disease. Stem cells could additionally be used as a source of healthy human cells for testing the impact and side-effects of potential brand new drug treatments, offering a substitute for some animal tests.

Stem cell therapy comes with the possibility to revolutionize the treatment of a number of human disorders. As opposed to addressing the symptoms of any specific disease or condition, stem cell therapy seeks to deal with the main cause of the problem, in order to effect repair or reversal of the disease condition through the regrowth for the damaged tissues.

Stem cell studies have terrific promise for the treating of a variety of conditions, and stem cell therapy holds fantastic prospects for ongoing medical improvements over the following few decades. The scientific, legal, moral as well as philosophical quarrels are generally outlined substantially, each day we read about the breakthrough of such new discoveries.

Article from articleonlinedirectory.com

Incredible story of how Charlie’s umbilical cord stem cells saved his brother’s life – Britain

I know I was born to save Charlie instead of being born just for me: Incredible story of the saviour sibling who sparked an ethical furore

Fifteen minutes after the chemotherapy treatment began, Charlie Whitaker, not yet five, started to vomit.
His temperature rocketed and he shivered uncontrollably. He complained of excruciating stomach cramps and pain in his eyes, and suffered continual diarrhoea.

For his parents, Jayson and Michelle, helplessly watching their child suffer in the isolation wing of Sheffield Children’s Hospital, it was both harrowing and terrifying.

Strong bond: Charlie, left, and Jamie last week. Jamie said he ‘doesn’t feel like a super hero’ for saving his brother’s life 

The chief consultant had compared giving chemotherapy to one so young with ‘pouring poison on a rose garden’.

But the couple had elected, after long and tortured deliberation, for Charlie to have the potentially fatal treatment in an attempt to cure him of a debilitating and dangerous genetic condition.

Now they questioned whether they had made the right decision. ‘Charlie started to scream and said he wanted to come home,’ Michelle remembers.

‘It was agonising to watch him and every time I left his room I couldn’t hold back my tears.

‘When I saw how desperately ill he was from the chemo, I felt I had made the wrong decision and that first day asked the doctors to stop. They told me it was too late but that we were doing the right thing. But I kept asking myself, “Have we done the right thing?” At that stage I had no answer.’

It was a question Michelle was to ask herself time and time again over the next ten days of treatment.The previous year, 2003, the Whitakers had found themselves at the centre of controversy when it was revealed Michelle had given birth to one of Britain’s first genetic ‘designer’ babies, Jamie, whose stem cells might cure Charlie of his rare form of anaemia.

All smiles now: Michelle with her daughter Emily 

Jamie was born after being genetically matched, while still an IVF embryo, to his brother. And just last week, the Whitakers were in the news again when doctors declared Charlie cured.

Talking now, in the spotless kitchen of their large home near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, they admit they could never have imagined being the centre of so much media attention when they met as a young couple in 1989 in a pub in Oxford.

Michelle, 39, a former medical secretary and now a full-time mother, and Jayson, 40, the managing director of a utility company, had married seven years later. They agreed they wanted a family of five so Michelle was thrilled when she became pregnant with Charlie.

However, she started to worry about him soon after the birth. ‘He barely ate, looked so grey and was very floppy,’ she says. ‘The doctor told me I was being an over-anxious first-time mum.

‘But I was so certain something was wrong that when he was 12 weeks old I took him to my office Christmas party at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford – and asked one of the specialists to have a look at him.’

Charlie was admitted to the hospital immediately and tests showed that his haemoglobin, responsible for transporting oxygen around the body, was around one third the level it should have been.

‘His vital organs were shutting down and he could have died in his sleep at any time,’ says Michelle.

Diamond Blackfan Anaemia (DBA), a rare, life-threatening blood condition, was diagnosed. It is caused by a failure within the bone marrow to produce vital red blood cells.

The treatment consisted of blood transfusions every two to three weeks in hospital and agonising injections every night.

Michelle recalls: ‘Charlie hated his transfusions and injections and, when he was three, used to shout, “Why are you hurting me? You don’t really love me.” It was so hard to hear your child say that.

‘We were told that although neither of us were carriers we should consider whether to have more children. The risk was one in 50 that another child would also be affected but we decided to go ahead. Charlie’s sister Emily was born in 2001 and was perfectly healthy.’

However, Charlie became increasingly ill. A bone-marrow transplant was his only hope of a cure but neither his parents nor Emily were a suitable match. If Michelle and Jayson were to try for another child, there was no guarantee that the infant would be either.

However, if they used IVF, the process would result in a number of embryos, thereby increasing the chances of finding a match.

‘We both agreed that embryo selection was the obvious answer,’ says Jayson. ‘Our decision was reinforced by the fact that when couples go through IVF, doctors pick the embryos that have the best chance of survival.

‘We wanted another baby anyway and fixing Charlie’s condition would be the by-product.’

They were aware there was debate over the medical ethics of such procedures but felt that if a healthy child could also save the life of the child they already had, then it was a double blessing.

Having tried a number of fertility experts, Mohammed Taranissi, Britain’s most controversial fertility doctor, was the keenest to help. He agreed to give Michelle treatment to stimulate ovulation, which was successful.

But there was another hurdle. Embryo selection was banned in the UK, so permission had to be sought from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. The HFEA’s deliberations took an agonisingly long time.

‘They stated that while it was acceptable to test and select embryos to prevent the birth of a baby with a genetic disease, it was not acceptable to select them to help another child.’ (Largely as a result of the Whitaker case, the HFEA has reviewed its policy on ‘pre-implantation genetic diagnosis’ to find tissue matches, now allowing it in certain circumstances.)

Charlie with his saviour brother Jamie at home in Derbyshire 

But Michelle and Jayson wouldn’t take no for an answer. Dr Taranissi organised for the family to travel to The Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago. He paid for all their medical treatment both in the US and UK. To this day the Whitakers have no idea how much it all cost but an informed guess suggests it could have been a six-figure sum.

‘I felt very committed to them and wanted it to be successful,’ Dr Taranissi explains. ‘You cannot put a value on the feeling I had when I later saw Charlie looking so well.’

Timing was crucial. They had a three-week window of opportunity. ‘Charlie couldn’t last beyond three weeks without a transfusion, which for medical and financial reasons was best done in the UK,’ Michelle says.

‘We travelled out in October 2002. Charlie had a blood transfusion on a Friday and we all flew to Chicago the next day. I had my embryos harvested on Monday.

‘Six out of 13 survived more than six days, three were a tissue match for Charlie, two were implanted and we flew home.

‘One of the embryos took and I had a normal pregnancy. I felt very emotional when Jamie was born at Sheffield Teaching Hospital because he was so special.

‘Stem cells were removed from the umbilical cord, frozen and stored. Although Jamie was perfect genetically you can’t diagnose DBA in the womb as it only becomes obvious when the body has to produce its own blood.

‘We waited until we were sure Jamie didn’t have DBA, which took about a year.’

Then the Whitakers had to decide whether to go ahead with the potentially life-saving but inevitably risky transplant.

‘We were told there was a five per cent chance of Charlie dying because of the transplant,’ Michelle recalls with a shudder. ‘Even if he survived, there was no guarantee he would be cured. We agonised over when to have it done.

‘Should we leave the stem cells frozen until Charlie was a young adult so he could decide for himself if and when he wanted a transplant?

‘If we did, there might not be enough cells to help an adult man and he would have to spend his entire childhood dependent on blood transfusions every two to three weeks and nightly injections to stay alive.

‘On the other hand, he was the healthiest he had ever been and we were advised to use the frozen stem cells before he reached five. Jayson and I talked endlessly about it and decided in 2004 to go for it.’

Michelle and Jayson Whitaker hold Jamie, genetically matched to Charlie whilst still an IVF embryo 

The first step was to ‘kill off’ Charlie’s bone marrow using chemotherapy. But the procedure can be difficult for an adult to cope with, let alone a four-year-old. It was a traumatic time for the family.

Charlie had to take 15 different medicines to counteract the effects of the chemo. His hair fell out and he was so sick they had to use a nasal gastric tube for his drugs and to keep him hydrated, which he hated.

Then the stem cells from Jamie were implanted, a process doctors hoped would kick start ¬Charlie’s bone marrow to do its job properly.

‘The doctors kept doing blood tests and, after a couple of days, one of them showed us a slide with one new white cell – the bone marrow makes white cells first before the red – and said he thought it was working,’ says Michelle.

‘I shouted “Yeah!” and threw my arms up into the air.’

Charlie left hospital in July. Now, more than seven years after Jamie’s birth, doctors have pronounced his brother cured.

Jamie may be too young to fully understand all the complexities of bioethics and the arguments over ‘saviour siblings’ – the term Michelle and Jayson prefer to ‘designer baby’ – yet his parents have clearly done an excellent job explaining to him what he needs to know.

Like his siblings, he is charming, well-adjusted and articulate.

‘I was three when Mummy and Daddy told me that I had saved my brother’s life,’ he says.

‘I am happy I did it but I don’t really feel like a superhero. I think I feel both good and bad about it but more good than bad. One bad thing is that Charlie nearly died and that’s awful to think about. The other bad thing is that Emily was upset she couldn’t help save him.’

Emily, now nine, nods. ‘I used to ask Mummy and Daddy why I couldn’t help save Charlie’s life and felt really left out,’ she says.

‘They explained that I had princess blood whereas Jamie and Charlie had army blood. And that the soldiers in Jamie’s blood went into Charlie to beat up the soldiers in his blood and that made him better. I was fine then because I don’t want army blood.’

Jamie understands that he was born specially to save Charlie’s life. ‘I know I was born to do that instead of being just born for me,’ he says. ‘It makes me feel close to Charlie even though now he is nearly a teenager he gets grumpy and backchats all the time. I also know Mummy and Daddy want and love me and always wanted a big family.’

Charlie is, understandably, more interested in talking about his Taekwondo black belt test in a couple of weeks than in delving into his past but, polite boy that he is, he indulges me.

‘I don’t remember much about all the treatment. It was so long ago,’ the 12-year-old says. But I do remember the awful tube they put up my nose and down into my stomach that made me sick all the time – and that they kept having to change it.

‘My illness has affected me in several ways. I am a bit of a role model. As a family we meet up once a year with the DBA UK support group and share experiences.

‘I tell other children about marking the doctors who put needles into my arm out of ten and how some of them used to sweat about getting a low mark.

‘Some of them really look up to me. It is OK but sometimes I feel it is a big responsibility. I think I am more adult than other children my age because of what I have been through. When I do team stuff in or out of school, like Scouts, I am always the leader and help the younger ones.

‘Most children don’t come near serious illness. I have and I feel very sorry for people and especially children who are really ill, especially when there isn’t a cure.

‘Sometimes when we go on the annual weekend trip with the support group, a child who came along the previous year doesn’t come back and that is really sad.’

Jamie interrupts. ‘I’ve remembered what upset me most. Red Nose Day reminds me of Charlie. I know that some of the ill children they show on the TV could die and I get upset.’

Emily agrees. ‘It’s why we buy lots of red noses and badges for charity,’ she says. ‘We all feel very lucky and especially lucky that Charlie has survived and is healthy now.’

I don’t think anyone would begrudge them their luck.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1389499/I-know-I-born-save-Charlie-instead-born-just-Brotherly-love-saviour-sibling.html#ixzz1NSZe3T3U

American Doctor cures own Arthritis with Stem Cell Therapy

CNN has released a facinating video showing an American doctor who cured his own arthritis through stem cell therapy.  This doctor is on a mission to promote stem cell therapies in the US and globally.

The full video is available on CNN by following this link:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2011/05/16/hancocks.skorea.stem.cells.cnn.html

First neural stem cell trial launched for spinal cord injury

A US company has launched the first neural stem cell trial in spinal cord injury, in a move which could revolutionise treatment for the condition.

StemCells Inc will use human neural stem cells which will be able to transform into any of the central nervous system cell types.

Leading the study is Dr Armin Curt, who is the chairman of the Spinal Cord Injury Center at the University of Zurich and Medical Director of the Paraplegic Center at the Balgrist University Hospital.

He said: “In addition to our primary focus on assessing safety, the design of the trial will afford a very real near-term opportunity to observe possible benefits to the patient, which may include improved sensation, motor function, bowel or bladder function.”

This comes after research published in the journal Cell Transplantation found that stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood cells and menstrual blood cells could be used to treat the brain injury seen in neurodegenerative disorders.

Article from seriousinjurylaw.co.uk

New stem cell study promises to heal the heart

University of Miami cardiologists last week reported success in a small, preliminary human clinical trial of a new stem cell therapy they hope some day will routinely mend human hearts and reduce the need for lifelong medication, even for transplants.

“That’s the Holy Grail, the quest the whole field has been pursuing for close to a decade, and this is evidence we’re on the right track,” said Dr. Joshua Hare, director of the University of Miami Medical School’s Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute. He’s lead author of the study that appears in Thursday’s peer-reviewed Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Max Eaton, the 68-year-old direct-buy franchise owner who was patient No.1 in the eight-person trial, said Wednesday he’s thankful he was part of the trial, adding that he had just completed a 2.8-mile, 41-minute walk around his neighborhood in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Fla.

“I feel very grateful,” he said. “Almost certainly, I would be deceased or in much worse shape had I not had the opportunity to be in this program.”

Hare stressed that the current trial is only a small, run-up phase of extensive testing that will take up to five years and involve dozens of hospitals and hundreds of patients before winning U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for routine use.

The trial was primarily about the safety of the procedure, and all eight patients came through without significant side effects, he said. The procedure also reduced the size of hearts swollen by previous heart attacks, a condition called cardiomyopathy or simply heart failure.

The reduction was up to 25 per cent, while current therapies including medication and pacemakers typically reduce the size by only about 5 per cent, he said. The reduction in swelling increases the heart’s ability to pump blood, he said. By implication, it almost certainly improves the patient’s health, although that was not directly measured in the small, early study.

In the study, stem cells were taken from the patient’s own bone marrow and injected by catheter into scar tissue in the patient’s heart caused by an earlier heart attack. It worked in patients such as Eaton, whose heart attack was 11 years ago, Hare said. The hope was that the immature adult stem cells would turn into heart muscle, replacing the scar tissue.

The study shed new light on a question of prime interest to cardiologists: whether the injected stem cells actually transformed themselves into heart muscle, or improved heart function in some other way.

Some of the stem cells did become heart muscle, Hare said; they also triggered the heart to produce more of its own stem cells which became new heart muscle as well, he said.

The next step is two more near-term studies. The first, which started in 2009, is a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 60 patients designed further to test the safety of the procedure, but primarily its efficacy, or how well it works.

Another study about to get underway will see whether bone marrow from a donor can work as well as the patient’s own bone marrow.

Later, researchers will conduct a study involving 50 to 100 hospitals and many hundreds of patients aimed at winning final FDA approval.

Eaton’s part of the testing is finished. He says he’s glad he took part, even though it hasn’t quite turned him into an Olympic runner.

“I still get chest pains at times. It depends on the time of year. I had my heart attack 11 years ago in the fall. That’s when I get them,” he said.

But he adds: “I’m not ready to go. I’ll keep going as long as I can enjoy what’s to be enjoyed.”

Cord blood stem cells used to help cure girl of brain cancer in Spain

Seville, Spain,  (CNA/Europa Press).- A four-year-old girl has become the first patient in Spain to recover from brain cancer after being treated with stem cells from her own umbilical cord blood.

The announcement of the girl’s recovery came March 7 from the company Crio-Cord, a stem cell bank in Spain.

Alba was born healthy in 2007, but at age two she was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer. Her treatment consisted of extracting the majority of the tumor from her brain. She was then given chemotherapy to reduce and eventually eliminate the remainder of the tumor.

Alba’s blood system was destroyed during the final round of chemo, thus requiring a transplant of cord blood stem cells.

The procedure was carried out in 2009 by Dr. Luis Madero of the Department of Oncology and Hematology at the Nino Jesus Hospital in Madrid.

Today, four year-old Alba is a healthy girl.

Periodic Reviews

Sixty days after the transplant, Alba was given new stem cells taken from her peripheral blood in order to accelerate the production of platelets. Fourteen months after the transplant, her blood system was completely restored, and she has since enjoyed a normal life.

Dr. Madero called her case unique in Spain. “The use of stem cells to regenerate the blood system is an extended treatment for this form of cancer,” he said. What makes her case unique, he added, “is that for the first time in our country, the stem cells came from a patient’s own umbilical cord, preserved from birth.”

“In recent years, transplants of cord blood stem cells have become increasingly common. In the case of siblings, these stem cells are the best therapeutic option that exists,” he said.

“Our best investment”

Alba’s father, Santiago, who is a computer engineer, and her mother, Teresa, a literature professor, agreed that keeping the blood from Alba’s umbilical cord was the “best investment” they ever made.

Santiago said he had previously seen a report “on the treatment for Parkinson’s using stem cells … and was sympathetic to the idea of using stem cells to treat degenerative diseases.”

“Keeping the umbilical cord is a wager for the future, a life insurance policy that you don’t know if you will need but that could save a life,” Teresa added.

The head of Crio-Cord, Guillermo Munoz, also said he was pleased at the results of the therapy. He noted that the organization was “proud to have participated in Alba’s healing process.”

Cases like these confirm “that umbilical cord blood is an excellent source of stem cells. Being the youngest cells of their kind in the human body, they have great potential to cure,” Munoz explained

Article from dfwcatholic.org, posted by George Vogt