MUMBAI: Three-year-old Kinaya Shah was diagnosed with thalassemia at the tender age of three months and has been undergoing regular blood transfusions ever since. The only cure for thalassemia is a bone marrow transplant (BMT), a form of stem cell therapy. Typically, the donor of the stem cells would be a sibling of the patient such that the stem cells of the donor are a near perfect match to those of the patient. The only complication was that Kinaya was a lone child.

So, city doctors in a first used stem cells donated by Kinaya's father - who was only a half or haploidentical match - to cure the child of the blood disorder. "We went to Vellore, Bangalore and Pune but no one was willing to do the transplant without a full match donor," said Kinaya's parents, Aneri and Shripal Shah. They approached Dr Santanu Sen at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Andheri, in October of 2016, after reading about a similar surgery that he had performed.

While haploidentical bone marrow transplants are carried out to cure leukaemia, it has only been done about half a dozen times for thalassemia in a couple of Indian cities. ``Haploidentical transplants are gradually increasing because of better techniques,'' said Dr Sen.

Dr Sen has completed 36 BMTs in the last two years, of which 12 were haploidentical donors. ``But this is the first time that a haploidentical transplant has been done in western India to cure thalassemia,'' he said.

Chennai-based haematologist Dr Revathy Raja said that there is a 85% chance of cure in thalassemia with a fully matched donor. ``The success rate falls to 70% with a half-match or haploidentical donor. We have hence not started it at our Chennai centre. Hopefully, techniques will further improve in the coming years,'' she said.

In order to perform the surgery, Dr Sen conditioned Kinaya's immune system over three months, with slight chemotherapy, to increase the chances of her body accepting the graft. "We found that her father's stem cells were a 70% match through genetic tests and decided to use them for the transplant. In the case that the graft was rejected we froze a couple of Kinaya's stem cells as insurance. The positive is that children have lower rejection rates for foreign cells as they have barely developed any active immunity," said Dr Sen. "BMT is the most viable treatment to cure thalassemia, the only barrier thus far was the necessity of a full match donor," he added.

However, Vinay Shetty of NGO Think Foundation, which works for thalassemia patients, said that it would be prudent to wait for a statistically significant number of successful halploidentical transplants before recommending it to all patients.

Post the three months of conditioning, stem cells were collected from her father's bone marrow and the transplant was performed on May 10, 2017. After several tests to confirm that the graft was accepted, Kinaya was finally discharged from the hospital on June 13.

"The future of thalassemia treatment probably lies in gene therapy, but at the moment, haploidentical transplants have made BMT much more accessible," said Dr Sen, adding that he has two more cases such as Kinaya lined up. Kinaya is expected to be completely independent of medication and any trace of thalassemia in the coming six months.

What is Thalassemia?

Thalassemia is a genetic blood disorder when the body produces abnormal hemoglobin. Patients require regular blood transplant and well as dietary control to ensure that blood irons level stay suppressed.

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In a first, Mumbai doctors use dad's cells to fight blood disorder - Times of India

Bone Marrow Stem Cells Comments Off on In a first, Mumbai doctors use dad’s cells to fight blood disorder – Times of India | June 17th, 2017

Newswise You might think stem cells only exist inside a fetus, but your adult body has a stockpile of stem cells, armed and ready to respond. These remarkable cells can develop into any other type of cell, like muscle or bone or nerve cells.

Researchers know heart attacks and strokes summon these cells. They flock to your heart or brain from all over your body to help you stay alive.

But, scientists did not realize other injuries, like a torn ACL of the knee, could command the army of stem cells to deploy.

Kevin Baker, Ph.D., Beaumont director of Orthopedic Research, conducted a study with Beaumont orthopedic surgeon Kyle Anderson, M.D., and others that revealed ACL tears send a signal to stem cells throughout our body.

After an ACL tear, Dr. Baker and his colleagues found a six-fold increase in stem cells circulating around the knee, similar to the bodys response to a major, life-threatening event like a stroke or heart attack.

However, when the stem cells arrive to help regenerate and repair the injured ligament, they get stuck. They cant get through the thick membrane that surrounds the knee joint.

We think this discovery will help us to understand how the body responds to an ACL injury, and also how post-traumatic osteoarthritis develops after a joint injury, Dr. Anderson said.

Post-traumatic osteoarthritis is a form of arthritis that develops after a knee injury. Its a common injury that affects veterans, athletes and anyone who puts stress and strain on their knees. But, until now, little was known about how the body attempts to heal these injuries.

As we age, the number of stem cells in our body declines. This could explain why your knee joint doesnt heal as well after a trauma when you are older, Dr. Baker said.

Osteoarthritis affects more than 30 million adults in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and many of these cases occur after trauma to a joint. Its also a leading cause of disability.

The next step of our research will be finding methods to get the stem cells inside the joint. If the stem cells can get through the membrane around the knee, they could help speed up the healing process and perhaps delay or prevent arthritis, Dr. Baker added.

The study, funded in part by the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine, is entitled, Acute mobilization and migration of bone marrow-derived stem cells following anterior cruciate ligament rupture. The authors believe it is the first study of its kind to reveal the bodys systemic stem cell response to an ACL injury.

Dr. Baker and Dr. Andersons research will appear in an upcoming edition of the journal Osteoarthritis and Cartilage. Other members of the research team are Perry Altman, M.D., Beaumont orthopaedic surgery resident, as well as Asheesh Bedi, M.D., and Tristan Maerz, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan.

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Researchers Discover Body's Stem Cell Army Hits a Wall When ... - Newswise (press release)

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Back to Browse Journals International Journal of Women's Health Volume 9

Ahmed Badawy,1 Mohamed A Sobh,2 Mohamed Ahdy,3 Mohamed Sayed Abdelhafez1

1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2Department of Internal Medicine, 3Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt

Objective: Attempting in vivo healing of cyclophosphamide-induced ovarian insufficiency in a mouse model using bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs). Methods: Female BALB/c white mice were used to prepare a model for premature ovarian failure by single intraperitoneal injection of cyclophosphamide (80 mg/kg). Ten mice were injected with BMMSCs and then sacrificed after 21 days for morphometric evaluation of the ovaries. Hormonal profile was evaluated while mice were being sacrificed. Another 10 mice were left for natural breeding with male mice, and 5 of these were injected with BMMSCs. Oocyte-like structures were obtained from 3 mice and were subjected to in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Results: Morphometric analysis of the ovaries demonstrated the presence of newly formed primordial follicles. Contribution of MSCs to the formation of these follicles was proven by a labeling technique. There was a drop in estradiol and rise in follicle-stimulating hormone levels, followed by resumption of the hormonal levels to near normal 21 days after MSCs therapy. The 5 mice that were injected with MSCs became pregnant after natural breeding. Fertilization and further division was reported in 5 oocytes subjected to intracytoplasmic sperm injection, but division did not continue. Conclusion: From this proof-of-concept trial, we can say that healing of damaged ovaries after chemotherapy in mice is possible using in vivo therapy with BMMSCs. This should open the gate for a series of animal studies that test the possibility of in vitro maturation of germinal epithelium of the ovary into mature oocytes.

Keywords: cyclophosphamide, stem cell, POF, ovarian insufficiency

This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License. By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.

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Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell repair of cyclophosphamide-induced ovarian insufficiency in a mouse model - Dove Medical Press

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AUSTIN, Texas -- Gov. Greg Abbott has signed a new law that allows terminally ill or those which chronic diseases receive stem cell treatments in Texas.

Stem cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition, and is often patient's last hope for improvement.

Bone marrow transplant is the most widely used stem-cell therapy, and can often help those with multiple sclerosis and other diseases.

House Bill 810, which was introduced by Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, passed in both the Texas House and Senate.

"It is easy to fall into the trap of viewing legislation as just words on a piece of paper," said Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, the bill's sponsor in the Senate. "But for the many people who are ill with multiple sclerosis and other diseases that stem cell therapy has the hope of solving in our lifetime, I look at this bill, I look at the possibility of what can happen in the 21st Century, with Texas taking the lead on adult stem cell treatments and this bill has the potential to extend lives and make a difference for these patients."

The Texas Medical Board will be responsible for writing the rules for the treatment.

"Everyone has a zest for life. This adult stem cell treatment possibility gets government out of the way to let these new therapies flourish and give these patients hope for a future good quality of life," Bettencourt added.

The legislation takes effect Sept. 1.

-- Value of Stem Cell Therapy --

According to the National Institues of Health, stem cellshave the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth.

In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive.

When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Doctors say stem cells are important for living organisms for many reasons.

In the 3- to 5-day-old embryo, called ablastocyst, the inner cells give rise to the entire body of the organism, including all of the many specialized cell types and organs such as the heart, lungs, skin, sperm, eggs and other tissues.

In some adult tissues, such as bone marrow, muscle, and brain, discrete populations of adult stem cells generate replacements for cells that are lost through normal wear and tear, injury, or disease.

---

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Governor Signs Law to Allow Chronic, Terminally Ill in Texas to Get Stem Cell Treatments - Spectrum News

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Dr. Keith Roach, Syndicated Columnist

DEAR DR. ROACH: I hope you can answer some questions about myelodysplastic syndrome. What does it do to your body? Is there a known cause or cure? What is the prognosis? P.B. ANSWER: The myelodysplastic syndromes are a group of similar diseases, specific types of blood cancers, that prevent your bone marrow from working properly. They also can transform into acute leukemia. These are uncommon cancers, with perhaps 30,000 cases per year in the U.S. The specific myelodysplastic syndromes are now categorized by appearance, genetic abnormalities of the cells, and condition of the bone marrow.

MDS may arise from damage to DNA, such as from radiation or other toxic exposures. However, many cases have no known cause, and its likely that these are spontaneous mutations in the bone marrow cells.

Because MDS is a group of related diseases, the treatment and prognosis vary among the different subtypes. However, supporting the bone marrow with transfusions of red blood cells and platelets often is necessary. Medications to stimulate both red and white blood cell production can be used. A few people will be recommended for bone marrow (stem cell) transplant, but the decision to consider this treatment must be made cautiously, as many people who get MDS will not benefit from this treatment due to age or other medical conditions.

The prognosis depends on the age of the person affected and their specific MDS. A person younger than 60 with a low-risk MDS has a median survival (based on data published in 1997) of about 12 years. However, high-risk MDS has a much worse outcome: Half of people succumb within six months. Advances in treatment since these data were published have improved these results, but not as much as hoped.

DEAR DR. ROACH: My 89-year-old mother suffers from fluttering in her heart. She saw an expert in cardiac arrhythmias, who diagnosed her with tachy-brady syndrome and sick sinus syndrome. A nurse also said she has PVCs. She is taking metoprolol, but still has episodes of fluttering. What are these conditions? Are there other medications she could take to correct this heart condition? M.D.P.

ANSWER: Tachy-brady syndrome (from the Greek roots for fast and slow) and sick sinus syndrome are the same thing. The sinus in sick sinus syndrome refers to the sino-atrial node of the heart, which is the hearts natural pacemaker. It is where every beat normally starts. This part of the heart can become diseased, and the heart can beat both too quickly (tachycardia) and, at other times, too slowly (bradycardia). Sick sinus syndrome can come from many different conditions and, rarely, from medications.

Medications are sometimes used for sick sinus syndrome. Beta blockers, like the metoprolol your mother is taking, are given to slow down the tachycardic component of sick sinus, but it can make the bradycardia worse. Most often, the treatment for sick sinus syndrome is a permanent pacemaker. Not everyone needs it, but Im sure your mothers cardiologist is monitoring her and will recommend a pacemaker if needed. If one is necessary, 89 years old is not too old to put in a pacemaker.

PVCs are very common and do not usually indicate disease in the heart, although they are more common in people with heart disease, especially poor blood flow to the heart. Premature ventricular contractions themselves seldom need treatment.

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TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH: 'Myelodysplastic syndrome' covers a range of diseases - Prescott Daily Courier

Bone Marrow Stem Cells Comments Off on TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH: ‘Myelodysplastic syndrome’ covers a range of diseases – Prescott Daily Courier | June 14th, 2017

Release from the University of Virginia Health System:

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., June 14, 2017 - University of Virginia Cancer Center has earned recognition as a national center of excellence for its care of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a cancer of the bone marrow that often leads to leukemia.

UVA is the only center in Virginia to receive this designation from the MDS Foundation for the treatment of this condition, which UVA hematologist Michael Keng, MD, said is often referred to as a bone marrow failure disorder.

Bone marrow produces stem cells that make white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. In patients with MDS, the marrow does not produce enough healthy cells. When there are not enough healthy cells, there is an increased risk of infection, bleeding, easy bruising and anemia. Approximately 30 percent of patients diagnosed with MDS will progress to a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia.

According to the MDS Foundation website, centers of excellence have:

UVA provides tailored care for each MDS patient through a multidisciplinary team. UVAs care team includes medical oncologists/hematologists, pharmacists, care coordinators, nurses, infectious diseases specialists, clinical trial coordinators, and support services such as social workers, case workers, and therapists.

UVA is devoted to providing support, research, treatment and education around MDS to all patients, caregivers, physicians, nurses and other healthcare providers, Keng said.

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UVA Honored as Center of Excellence for Bone Marrow Cancer - NBC 29 News

Bone Marrow Stem Cells Comments Off on UVA Honored as Center of Excellence for Bone Marrow Cancer – NBC 29 News | June 14th, 2017

Fat doesn't just sit on top of your bones according to recent research it can also be found inside of your bone marrow too, and running can help shrink it.

According to Dr. Maya Styner, the study's lead researcher and an assistant professor of endocrinology and metabolism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, exercise has the ability to improve bone quality, particularly in obese mice.

Though the research on mice is not directly translated to human results, Styner says, "The kinds of stem cells that produce bone and fat in mice are the same kind that produce bone and fat in humans."

Marrow is the spongy tissue found inside some of your bones and is comprised of stem cells, nerves, blood vessels and fat. In healthy adults, bone marrow is half red and half yellow.

The yellow portion of bone marrow is used to store fats and provide sustenance required for bone function. In the event of severe blood loss or fever, yellow marrow can turn red.

Styner's study suggests that, like other types of body fat, marrow fat can be used as a source of energy.

"There's been intense interest in marrow fat because it's highly associated with states of low bone density, but scientists still haven't understood its physiologic purpose," said Styner. "We know that exercise has a profound effect on fat elsewhere in the body, and we wanted to use exercise as a tool to understand the fat in the marrow."

The study, which looked at the marrow fat in mice, found after six weeks obese mice who ran on a wheel had a significant reduction in the size of their fat cells, and in some cases appeared identical to lean mice.

"One of the main clinical implications of this research is that exercise is not just good, but amazing for bone health," said Styner. "With obesity, it seems that you get even more bone formation from exercise. Our studies of bone biomechanics show that the quality and the strength of the bone is significantly increased with exercise and even more so in the obese exercisers."

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Exercise Can Help Reduce Fat Found In Bone Marrow - Huffington Post Canada

Bone Marrow Stem Cells Comments Off on Exercise Can Help Reduce Fat Found In Bone Marrow – Huffington Post Canada | June 13th, 2017

Keith Roach, To Your Health 6:38 p.m. ET June 13, 2017

Dear Dr. Roach: I hope you can answer some questions about myelodysplastic syndrome. What does it do to your body? Is there a known cause or cure? What is the prognosis?

P.B.

Dear P.B.: The myelodysplastic syndromes are a group of similar diseases, specific types of blood cancers, that prevent your bone marrow from working properly. They also can transform into acute leukemia. These are uncommon cancers, with perhaps 30,000 cases per year in the U.S. The specific myelodysplastic syndromes are now categorized by appearance, genetic abnormalities of the cells, and condition of the bone marrow.

MDS may arise from damage to DNA, such as from radiation or other toxic exposures. However, many cases have no known cause, and its likely that these are spontaneous mutations in the bone marrow cells.

Because MDS is a group of related diseases, the treatment and prognosis vary among the different subtypes. However, supporting the bone marrow with transfusions of red blood cells and platelets often is necessary. Medications to stimulate both red and white blood cell production can be used. A few people will be recommended for bone marrow (stem cell) transplant, but the decision to consider this treatment must be made cautiously, as many people who get MDS will not benefit from this treatment due to age or other medical conditions.

The prognosis depends on the age of the person affected and their specific MDS. A person younger than 60 with a low-risk MDS has a median survival (based on data published in 1997) of about 12 years. However, high-risk MDS has a much worse outcome: Half of people succumb within six months. Advances in treatment since these data were published have improved these results, but not as much as hoped.

Dear Dr. Roach: My 89-year-old mother suffers from fluttering in her heart. She saw an expert in cardiac arrhythmias, who diagnosed her with tachy-brady syndrome and sick sinus syndrome. A nurse also said she has PVCs. She is taking metoprolol, but still has episodes of fluttering.

What are these conditions? Are there other medications that she could take to correct this heart condition?

M.D.P.

Dear M.D.P.: Tachy-brady syndrome (from the Greek roots for fast and slow) and sick sinus syndrome are the same thing. The sinus in sick sinus syndrome refers to the sino-atrial node of the heart, which is the hearts natural pacemaker. It is where every beat normally starts. This part of the heart can become diseased, and the heart can beat too quickly (tachycardia) and, at other times, too slowly (bradycardia). Sick sinus syndrome can come from many different conditions and, rarely, from medications.

Medications are sometimes used for sick sinus syndrome. Beta blockers, like the metoprolol your mother is taking, are given to slow down the tachycardic component of sick sinus, but it can make the bradycardia worse. Most often, the treatment for sick sinus syndrome is a permanent pacemaker. Not everyone needs it, but Im sure your mothers cardiologist is monitoring her and will recommend a pacemaker if needed. If one is necessary, 89 years old is not too old to put in a pacemaker.

PVCs are very common and do not usually indicate disease in the heart, although they are more common in people with heart disease, especially poor blood flow to the heart. Premature ventricular contractions themselves seldom need treatment.

Email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu.

Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/2slyrqK

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Doc: 'Myelodysplastic syndrome' covers range of illness - The Detroit News

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Stem cells might not be a good option for your kid's sports injury Miami Herald They are seen as the body's master cells, and studies have shown these cells have the capacity to differentiate into bone, cartilage, muscle and ligament tissues. MSC cells are usually harvested from bone marrow or fat cells. Evidence from laboratory ...

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Stem cells might not be a good option for your kid's sports injury - Miami Herald

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By Craig Hlavaty, Chron.com / Houston Chronicle

This weekend the Houston Chronicle told the story of a Houston child named Sebastian Romero who has the same condition as the late David Vetter (above) did. Vetter, dubbed "The Bubble Boy", died in 1984 but lessons from his life are helping keep Romero alive.

Click through to see more photos of the boy who lived in a bubble his whole life in Houston...

This weekend the Houston Chronicle told the story of a Houston child named Sebastian Romero who has the same condition as the late David Vetter (above) did. Vetter,

David Vetter was born in 1971 at Texas Children's Hospital with severe combined immunodeficiency.

David Vetter was born in 1971 at Texas Children's Hospital with severe combined immunodeficiency.

Dr. William Shearer visits with his patient, "Bubble Boy" David Vetter, at Texas Children's Hospital in 1979. David died in 1984 at age 12.

Dr. William Shearer visits with his patient, "Bubble Boy" David Vetter, at Texas Children's Hospital in 1979. David died in 1984 at age 12.

David's disorder left him no natural immunities against disease. He died in 1984.

David's disorder left him no natural immunities against disease. He died in 1984.

David Vetter, the "Bubble Boy," in 1983 at age 12.

David Vetter, the "Bubble Boy," in 1983 at age 12.

David Vetter, the boy without an immune system, was placed in a sterile bubble within seconds of his birth in September 1971.

David Vetter, the boy without an immune system, was placed in a sterile bubble within seconds of his birth in September 1971.

04/01/1974 - David the Bubble Boy

04/01/1974 - David the Bubble Boy

David wears a NASA-designed "spacesuit" on his first walk outside of his plastic sterile environment.

David wears a NASA-designed "spacesuit" on his first walk outside of his plastic sterile environment.

Carol Ann Demaret, mother of "Bubble Boy" David Vetter, and his physician, Dr. William Shearer, think the movie "Bubble Boy" makes fun of the disease that killed David.

Carol Ann Demaret, mother of "Bubble Boy" David Vetter, and his physician, Dr. William Shearer, think the movie "Bubble Boy" makes fun of the disease that killed David.

November 4, 1977: Boy out of 'bubble' (David Vetter - Bubble Boy). C

November 4, 1977: Boy out of 'bubble' (David Vetter - Bubble Boy). C

Houston Chronicle section front - September 22, 1974 - Section 2, Page 1. 3-Year-Old David Laughs and Cries in Germ-Free, Bubble Environment (David Vetter - Bubble Boy)

Houston Chronicle section front - September 22, 1974 - Section 2, Page 1. 3-Year-Old David Laughs and Cries in Germ-Free, Bubble Environment (David Vetter - Bubble Boy)

Legacy of Houston's first 'Bubble Boy' helping children born decades later

Though he only lived for 12 years, the life of Houston's David Vetter captivated the public as he grew up isolated from germs and human touch due to a rare, inherited condition calledSevere Combined Immunodeficiency Disorder, or SCID.

This weekend HoustonChronicle.com told the story of a Houston child named Sebastian Romero who suffers from the same condition.

Vetter lacked the white blood cells that fight infection, meaning any germ was a potential killer. When he was born in 1971, there was no treatment. The "Star Wars"-loving kid died in February 1984after doctors attempted an experimental bone marrow transplant.

PREVIOUS:The 'boy in the bubble' who captivated the world

Story continues below...

A TV movie starring John Travolta partially based on Vetter's story was released in 1976, but it took many liberties with his situation. Hollywood has also attempted to turn bubble boy cases into comedy with 2001's "Bubble Boy" starring Jake Gyllenhaal and a 1992 episode of Seinfeld.

Born in February, the cute, chubby-faced Romero has decades of medical research on his side that Vetter did not. But Romero isn't completely out of the woods, as reporter Mike Hixenbaugh writes on HoustonChronicle.com. His family has a hard road ahead of them. SCID is still a very scary condition in any decade, but the doctors at Texas Children's Hospital are calling on lessons from 33 years ago to help save the boy's life.

PREVIOUS:'Bubble boy' medical legacy lives on years after death

Over the past few years, Texas Children's has treated several SCID babies, and most had been cured through bone marrow or stem cell transplants.

After a nationwide search, no matching donor could be found for Sebastian. Texas Children's instead proposed giving a stem cell transplant from a half-matching family member, the same treatment that failed to cure David more than 30 years ago.

If Sebastian is going to survive, it will be his mother's stem cells and lessons from the Bubble Boy that will save him.

The Romero family is currently holding an online fundraiser to help them pay for some of the expenses related to Sebastian's ongoing care.

With additional reporting byMike Hixenbaugh

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Legacy of Houston's first 'Bubble Boy' helping children born decades later - Chron.com

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When President Donald Trump urged the biopharmaceutical industry to reduce the price of new medicines and to increase its manufacturing in the United States, many took it as a threat.

We believe its a call to action. Americas ingenuity in biomedical research is unsurpassed. However, our country is losing out to other nations in the fastest growing biotechnology sector, called regenerative medicine: harnessing the capacity of our cells to repair and restore health and sustain well-being.

Second place is not an option. The regenerative medicine market is growing about 21 percent a year and is expected to be worth over $350 billion by 2050. Today, the U.S. regenerative medicine sector is generating $3.6 billion in revenues and has produced 14,000 jobs. By 2050, the industry could create nearly a million new jobs nationwide.

Regenerative medicine will also reduce the cost of disease. Such therapies will replace drugs, devices, and surgery, saving lives, increasing productivity, and reducing the cost of care. This transformation will add trillions in value to our economy.

Finally, regenerative medicine will also make America more secure. Our nation still lacks the ability to quickly and cheaply mass produce vaccines, antidotes, and cell therapies to counter pandemics and bioterrorism. Our fighting forces need reliable sources of these countermeasures and deserve immediate access to treatments that give them back their lives. We shouldnt outsource the safety and well-being of our nation and our Armed Forces to other countries.

To regain leadership in regenerative medicine, U.S. firms dont need government loans, tax credits or massive de-regulation. Instead, it needs the opportunity to invest in reducing the time and cost of manufacturing cellular therapies. To the extent that regenerative medicine is curative it must be made available at vaccine like prices. At present, only a handful of people can afford such treatments.

China and Japan are now in forefront of reducing the cost of producing stem cells, tissue, and other products with restorative biological properties. As a result, they are attracting more capital and forming more new companies than the U.S.

In 2014 Japan became the first country in the world to adopt an expedited approval system specifically for regenerative medical products and to allow outsourced cell culturing. Two products were approved under the new system within a year of its adoption.

By contrast, the Food and Drug Administration regulates any use of manufactured stem cells as equally risky without regard to prior use, health benefit, or therapeutic potential. Indeed, many of the most common stem cell therapies including bone marrow transplants and blood transfusions would require 10 years of FDA review if they were brought to market today.

The problem isnt over-regulation. Its outdated regulation. Safety checks and benchmarks for cell manufacturing should be based on real world evidence of past applications. Regulation should focus on the specific potential side effects for each specific potential use. In this regard, we agree with incoming FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who has noted, Expediting the development of these novel and transformative technologies like gene- and cell-based therapies doesnt necessarily mean lowering the standard for approval, as I believe other countries have done. But it does mean having a framework thats crafted to deal with the unique hypothetical risks that these products pose.

In fact, the United States has the best regenerative medicine manufacturing technology in the world. But it is literally sitting unused in warehouses.

For example, under the Accelerated Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals program, private companies partnered with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop mobile cell and tissue manufacturing plants that can be set up almost anywhere. The facilities can produce cells and tissues at a fraction of the current cost. These mobile factories make real-time production of vaccines and biologics for potential bioterrorist threats and pandemics possible. They are also low-cost, high-tech platforms for experimental evaluation of any type of regenerative medicine.

AMPs are operating in Indonesia, Singapore, China, and Japan where cell products including vaccines are being mass produced. Not a single AMP is being used in the United States because of outdated regulations.

To remove this regulatory obstacle, the Trump administration should establish a separate regenerative medicine pathway. This pathway, which could be developed by DARPA, FDA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would develop regulatory standards for the safe manufacturing and testing of development of regenerative products to treat battlefield related traumas such as traumatic brain injury, life-threatening limb damage, and drug-resistant pathogens.

The focus on the conditions and circumstances unique to war or counter-terrorism is both appropriate and strategic. After World War II, Franklin Roosevelt directed that the scientific and entrepreneurial talents used to achieve ramp up war-time production of penicillin and blood plasma be used in the days of peace ahead for the improvement of the national health, the creation of new enterprises bringing new jobs, and the betterment of the national standard of living.

What was created exceeded that vision. The cooperative efforts to achieve mass production of penicillin and blood plasma inspired and supported the creation of industries that employ millions of people today.

Similarly,developing an affordable source of cell therapies to heal our fighting forces and protect the homeland will yield a wide array of affordable technologies and cures that will produce, in FDRs words, a fuller and more fruitful employment and a fuller and more fruitful life. Simply put, by making the manufacture of regenerative medicine affordable can help make America great.

Robert Hariri is CEO of Celularity. Robert Goldberg is vice president of Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.

Morning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be foundhere.

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Regenerative Medicine Can Help Make America Great - Morning Consult

Bone Marrow Stem Cells Comments Off on Regenerative Medicine Can Help Make America Great – Morning Consult | June 12th, 2017

Across Utah County, there are people waiting for donations, whether it is a needed organ, bone marrow or blood that will save their lives. Others have given these life-saving donations to complete strangers. Gift of Life highlights those involved in the medical donation process.

They found a perfect match for Robyn Marchant on a bone marrow registry. Robyn, a Santaquin mom with leukemia, needed a stem cell transplant if she wanted to live.

But they were never able to get ahold of the match.

That was hard, Robyn said, sitting on a couch in the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, next to a window that doesnt open and wearing a paisley headscarf. That was in March, at the beginning of my search.

There were two 9/10 matches on the Be The Match bone marrow registry. Doctors preferred her brothers blood work, and they decided to do the transplant with his half match. Its their best option, even if it isnt ideal.

But a lack of a match didnt stop Robyns family from hosting six drives, including ones in Provo and Spanish Fork, and adding more than 1,200 names to the bone marrow registry. They suspect theres more who have registered to Be the Match because of her, but havent used Robyns name as the promo code to link it to her name.

They might not be able to help my daughter, but I am praying there is somebody in the country who is doing the same thing to help my girl, said Shelly Bills, Robyns mother who has organized registration drives.

If Robyns transplant doesnt take, shell need another one.

And even if she doesnt need another donor from the registry, theyre hoping the names theyve added will save someone elses life.

Theres a lot of people who have never heard of the Be the Match Registry, which in all honesty we have never heard about until this happened, and now our whole town down in Santaquin knows about it, said Kevin, Robyns husband.

Diagnosis

Robyn, mom to 9-year-old Kassidy, 6-year-old Korbin, 4-year-old McKinley and 1-year-old McKellan, is a busy woman who served as a former Relief Society president for her ward in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

She started to feel really tired at the end of January and brushed it off as being worn out from having a baby. Things started to get worse to the point where shed feel like she was going to pass out when she climbed up the stairs.

It was originally thought to be anemia, but that treatment wasnt changing anything. Then her spleen started to ache.

Kevin, a pharmacist, told Robyns doctor he suspected his wife had leukemia.

Nobody expects a 31-year-old mom of four kids to get cancer, Robyn said. We were all just so overwhelmed.

She didnt ask for percentages, and only knew she wasnt going to live without a stem cell transplant.

As the oldest, Kassidy started to piece things together. The kids, who knew a neighborhood child who died after being diagnosed with cancer, were devastated.

Our kids immediately associate cancer with death, which made it hard, Kevin said.

According to Be the Match, 70 percent of patients who need a bone marrow transplant dont have a fully matched donor in their family, and 14,000 patients a year will need a transplant for someone outside their family.

For Robyn, it wasnt supposed to be hard to find someone.

The doctors at the beginning said we wont have trouble finding you a match, Robyn said. Youre Caucasian, female, of western descent, theres tons of people out there. Well find you a match. But apparently Im one in a million because we just couldnt find one.

Finding a match

Bills woke up in the middle of the night a few weeks after Robyns diagnosis knowing she had to do something.

Even though they dont plan to hold another registration drive for a while, Bills is still handing out registration kits, and a friend started the hashtag #SwabbinForRobyn.

My mind keeps saying people are so willing, they just dont know, they dont know there is something they can do to save a life, Bills said.

Shes also encouraging people already on the registry to update their contact information so another family doesnt have the same experience theyve had.

Signing up for the registry is quick process that requires a cheek swab to add a donors tissue type to the registry. Once signed up, they will remain on the registry until they are 61 or request to be removed.

Registration can be done online at Join.BeTheMatch.org. To link the registration to Robyns name, use the promo code Robyn.

Potential donors have to be between the ages of 18 and 44 and willing to donate to any patient in need.

If a match is made, there are two ways to donate. One way is through a peripheral blood stem cell donation, a nonsurgical outpatient procedure. The other is a marrow donation, a surgical, outpatient procedure that is performed in an operating room.

Only a small percentage of people on the registry will ever be called to be a match.

As she showed up to a registration drive held in a Brigham Young University LDS stake (against advice to stay away because of her compromised immune system), Robyn was touched to see hundreds of people sign up for the registry.

She didnt know a single one of them.

These kids didnt have a clue who I was, but they were willing to do something, Robyn said.

Whats next

Robyn received her brothers transplant at the end of May. Since then, shes had side effects like diarrhea, mouth sores down her throat, insomnia and nausea.

Shell be in the hospital for a couple more weeks. After that, if the transplant isnt rejected, shell have to be constantly monitored by an adult for 100 days. If all goes well, that should be it.

Her hospital room is filled with pictures of her family and has a large window that looks out to the mountain. But for now, shes not supposed to leave the unit.

Lots of pokes and prods and illnesses, I can handle that, Robyn said. But being away from my kids is hard.

She video chats with her kids at least twice a day and reads to them from the Harry Potter books before bedtime.

Shes learning to cross-stitch. Her current project, a quote from Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, reminds them that happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.

Kevin is getting help taking care of the kids from family. On weekends, they make the drive up to Salt Lake City to visit Robyn.

For now, theyre focusing on staying positive.

We are trading 2017 so we can have the rest of our lives with her, Kevin said.

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Gift of Life: Santaquin mom searching for a bone marrow match adds 1200 names to registry - Daily Herald

Bone Marrow Stem Cells Comments Off on Gift of Life: Santaquin mom searching for a bone marrow match adds 1200 names to registry – Daily Herald | June 11th, 2017

Panchwati Tower on Harmu Road in Ranchi where the stem cell bank is expected to come up. (Hardeep Singh)

In what may be a game-changer for healthcare in Jharkhand, a group of doctors from Ranchi have teamed up with a Mumbai-based pioneering research firm to plan the first stem cell bank of eastern India in the state capital.

Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialised cells and divide to produce more stem cells. They can be transplanted routinely to treat a variety of blood and bone marrow diseases, including cancer and immune disorders, while extensive research is underway on their potential to cure neurological and muscular problems.

In short, a stem cell bank in Ranchi will allow residents to store their embryonic or adult stem cells, which can be accessed anytime to treat ailing blood relatives.

Dr Deepak Verma, a senior orthopaedic consultant in the city specialising in difficult trauma surgery, said if everything went according to plan, the stem cell bank was expected to debut at Panchwati Tower on Harmu Road in another three to six months.

Dr Verma, along with pathologist Dr Sangita Agrawal and orthopaedic surgeon Dr S.N. Yadav, will form the core team of the Rs 6.5-crore facility, which will be set up in association with stem cell banking company ReeLabs, Mumbai.

"Ranchi will boast the fifth stem cell bank in India after Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Ahmedabad. It will be first such facility in eastern India. We plan to establish a stem cell treatment centre and a cancer immunotherapy centre to turn Ranchi into a healthcare destination," Dr Verma told this newspaper on Sunday.

While the bank will sprawl over an area of 5,000sqft, another 6,000sqft will be reserved for the therapy centres.

Elaborating on the banking system, the doctor said stem cells would be stored in cryogenic vials at minus 176 degrees and liquid nitrogen would be used to acquire the very low temperatures.

"People wishing to use the stem bank service will have to open an account. The bank will then collect stem cells from different sources such as placenta, amniotic sac, amniotic fluid, umbilical cord blood and cord tissue, menstrual blood, dental pulp, bone marrow and peripheral blood," Dr Verma said.

To deposit the stem cells, one may have to pay Rs 45,000 to Rs 2 lakh, depending on the package chosen.

"Those who will deposit stem cells can access the same for blood relatives suffering from 110 listed diseases that cannot be treated using conservative medicines," the doctor said, adding that stem cell therapy could help in cases of leukemia, thalassemia, Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, diabetes and cirrhosis of liver, among others.

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Bank on stem cells, gift a life - Calcutta Telegraph

Bone Marrow Stem Cells Comments Off on Bank on stem cells, gift a life – Calcutta Telegraph | June 11th, 2017

Updated June 09, 2017 10:59:15

Leukaemia patient Jake Cooper, 14, is desperately searching for the cure to his cancer, but his hopes of a life-saving fix now rest with strangers, not scientists.

Jake has chronic myeloid leukaemia and as his condition progresses will need a bone marrow transplant.

So why, when there are 29 million accessible donors on worldwide bone marrow registries, do so many patients, including Jake, struggle to find a match?

The answer is ethnicity, where your cultural background can turn your chance of survival into a desperate needle-in-a-haystack search.

Bone marrow transplants, sometimes called stem cell transplants, can be used to treat patients with cancers such as leukaemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma.

But first a suitable donor needs to be found and that in itself can be a months or years-long process, one that usually starts with a patient's siblings, Red Cross bone marrow donor centre operations manager Paul Berghofer said.

"There's a one-in-four chance that [any one] sibling will be a match," he said.

While those odds aren't bad, and obviously improve if you're from a big family, they don't always deliver a match.

Then, the search broadens to the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry and beyond that, to a global registry, but for many patients these offer little hope.

While donors of north-west European backgrounds are over-represented on the registries, other ethnic groups are desperately under-represented.

"The chance of finding you a matched donor who is not related to you is best with people of a similar ethnic background," Mr Berghofer said.

The process wasn't drawn out but there were a bunch of general health check-ups, the initial typing and there was a discussion about the process involved.

I was told I could stop anytime up until a point of no return, I think a week or two before the transplant. You can't pull out in the last week because the [recipient] will almost certainly die.

Part of the workup is self-administering a course of an artificial hormone for five days into the flesh of my stomach. By day four or five, everything ached - like growing pains or shin splints.

The procedure itself was sitting in a chair, sticking my arms out by my side and local anaesthetic [being injected] in the crook of both elbows. To prevent damaging blood and increase the flows, they use big needles, they were ridiculous. That's why you have the anaesthetic!

Then I just lay in a chair and listened to music for four hours.

The process wasn't painful or bad, just uncomfortable and a little bit cold.

I don't regret it at all, I'd definitely do it again - it helped someone and it might be their only chance.

For Jake, whose dad is Samoan and German, and his mum Australian and British, his "incredibly rare" DNA means, despite monthly checks of the global registry, there is no bone marrow match available to tackle the "monster" in his body.

"The condition is bad enough but if it came to him [urgently] needing the transplant, I'd have to say to him, 'there's nothing I can do, we don't have a match'," his mum Renee Cooper said.

Complicating Jake's search is the fact Samoa does not have its own bone marrow registry, meaning thousands of potential matches are missed.

"It drives me crazy, there's not a day I don't think about it that someone is out there [possibly] with the cure," she said.

"The most frustrating part is I could be walking past them in a shopping centre and not even know."

Ms Cooper started Jake's Quest for a Cure on Facebook, a page she hoped would be shared to spread Jake's search around the world.

She said a lack of awareness of the registry and misinformation about the donation process were hurting patients' chances of a cure.

"There are no advertisements on bone marrow, there's no education around it in schools the way there is with organ donation," she said.

"People hear bone marrow and they think, 'oh my God, they're cutting my bones out'. People just have no idea at all."

Mr Berghofer said in 80 per cent of cases, the donation process was done as a peripheral blood stem cell collection which was not dissimilar to donating blood.

"The donor gets a needle in one arm, the blood goes through the apheresis machine and filters off blood stem cells and returns the rest of the blood back into their other arm," he said.

Pamela Bousejean, founder of Ur the Cure, an organisation striving to boost ethnic diversity on bone marrow registries, said potential donors were "slipping through our fingers everyday".

"People don't even know the bone marrow registry exists and how easy it is to donate stem cells if you're called up. You're saving a life doing something so simple," she said.

Ms Bousejean launched her campaign for a more representative registry after her own search for a donor, when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2010.

After chemotherapy and radiation treatments failed, she was told her "last chance" was to have a stem cell transplant.

"But they also told me it was going to be difficult to find me a match because of my Lebanese background," she said.

"That was really hard to hear."

For the next six months while his sister waited for a life-saving match, Ms Bousejean's brother took matters into his own hands, launching a social media campaign to find a donor.

"You're stuck in this limbo state," Ms Bousejean said.

"You know the cure to my cancer is out there in someone else's body."

In many ways, the campaign was successful raising awareness of the need for ethnic diversity on the Australian and international bone marrow registries but it didn't deliver the adult match she had been hoping for.

Instead, a "plan b" treatment in the form of a cord-blood donation gave the marketing professional her cure and she went into remission in 2012.

Now, she is on a mission to improve education programs targeted at ethnic and Indigenous communities and boost opportunities to recruit ethnically diverse bone marrow donors.

"We can make some small changes that would make a big difference," she said.

Topics: blood, diseases-and-disorders, leukaemia, perth-6000, australia

First posted June 09, 2017 06:00:36

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Bone marrow transplants: When your heritage leads to a needle-in ... - ABC Online

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Last Updated On 10 June,201705:37 pm

Stem cells can be harvested from certain parts of the human body.

(Online) - The Lipogems technology has great promise, but experts say itll take time to assess how successful the new procedure isThe technology is ideal for patients with certain orthopedic conditions, such as painful joints including the knee, ankle, or shoulder with limited range of motion. Additionally, it can be used in soft tissue defects located in tendons, ligaments, and/or muscles to improve the biologic environment, said Dr. Brian Cole, professor of orthopedic surgery, and section head of the Rush Cartilage Restoration Center, in a press release.

They are believed to help the natural regenerative processes in the body.

Hence they have earned the nickname as mini drug stores based on their ability to secrete a spectrum of bioactive molecules and support the natural regeneration of focal injuries.

Stem cells can be harvested from certain parts of the human body, most notably bone marrow and adipose tissue (fat).

Harvesting bone marrow stem cells is a significantly more invasive and time-consuming procedure that is performed using general anesthesia.

Lipogems offers a novel approach to orthopedic stem cell treatments by using a persons own fat.

The procedure uses a small incision into an area of subcutaneous fat, from which a quantity of fat tissue is harvested and processed by the Lipogems apparatus.

The technology itself, which really is the device that processes the fat, creates a concentration of fat that has been cleansed of all the extraneous things like red blood cells and fibrous tissues, Cole told Healthline.

The concentrated stem cells within that fat tissue are then applied to the problematic joint or bone area.

Lipogems offers a streamlined procedure for stem cell treatment, but there is nothing new about the science itself.

The use of stem cells to treat a variety of conditions has been ongoing for some time now.

What were lacking is really good data at this point in the clinical setting, Cole said. There is substantial data in the laboratory suggesting that these cells may function in the way Ive described: reducing inflammation and so forth. But, we really dont have yet much in the way of good solid clinical data saying that definitively this is making a difference.

Instead, he would like those seeking orthopedic treatment to understand that Lipogems is just one part of a much larger and more complex suite of tools used by physicians.

It has to be taken into context of all the other possible treatment options, from simply icing down a swollen ankle, to changing your daily activity, to surgery.

The unfortunate thing is that people think, well this is the solution that can be used instead of, say, a joint replacement and no longer do we need to do surgery, said Cole.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Nonetheless, Cole and his team are still excited about the possibilities of the Lipogems procedure.

Using a readily available and easily accessible substance like fat as a source of stem cells could have far-reaching implications for procedures in the future.

Were optimistic and intuitively there is a good argument to be made that this is as good or better than any other source of stem cells, said Cole.

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New technology uses body fat to help relieve joint pain - DunyaNews Pakistan

Bone Marrow Stem Cells Comments Off on New technology uses body fat to help relieve joint pain – DunyaNews Pakistan | June 10th, 2017

Stem Cell Therapy: Repair and Regenerate Our Bodies

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Stem Cells 101: The primary purpose of stem cells is to maintain, heal and regenerate tissues wherever they reside in the body. This is a continuous process that occurs inside the body throughout life. If we did not have stem cells, our lifespan would be about 1 hour, because there would be nothing to replace exhausted cells or damaged tissue.

Notably: any time the body is exposed to any sort of toxin, the inflammatory process causes stem cells to swarm the area to repair the damage.

While it is easy to think of stem cell therapy as some sort of magic, it is wise to implement strategies that nourish and optimize the stem cells we already have in your body.

Dr. Kristin Comella, a notable Stem Cell innovator, writes: You have to create an appropriate environment for these cells to function in. If you are putting garbage into your body and youre constantly burdening your body with toxins, your stem cells are getting too distracted trying to fight off those toxins. By creating an appropriate environment, optimizing your diet and reducing exposure to toxins, that will allow the stem cells that were putting in to really home in and focus on the true issue that were trying to treat.

The other thing weve discovered over the years is that [stem cell therapy] is not the type of thing where you take one dose and youre cured forever. Your tissues are constantly getting damaged Youre going to have to repeat-dose and use those stem cells to your advantage.

When you think about a lizard that loses its tail, it takes two years to grow back the tail. Why would we put unrealistic expectations on the stem cells that were trying to apply to repair or replace damaged tissue? This is a very slow process. This is something that will occur over months and may require repeat dosing.

Stem cells historically were isolated from bone marrow, and have been used for bone marrow transplants for cancer patients since the 1930s. However, we can get stem cells from just about any tissue in the body, every tissue contains stem cells.

Actually our marrow has very low amounts of mesenchymal stem cells, which are now believed to be the most important, from a therapeutic perspective.

Mesenchymal stem cells help trigger an immunomodulatory response or a paracrine effect, which means they send signals out to the rest of the body, calling cells to the area to help promote healing.

What weve discovered in more recent years is that a more plentiful source of stem cells is actually your fat tissue. [Body] fat can contain up to 500 times more cells than your bone marrow, as far as these mesenchymal type stem cells go.

One thing thats also critically important when youre talking about isolating the cells is the number of other cells that are going to be part of that population. When youre isolating a bone marrow sample, this actually is very high in white blood cells, which are pro-inflammatory, Ms. Comella writes.

White blood cells are part of the human immune response.

When an injury occurs, or a foreign body enters our system, white blood cells will attack. Unfortunately, white blood cells do not discriminate, and can create quite a bit of damage as they clean the area out.

Stem cells, in particular the mesenchymal cells, quiet down the white blood cells and then start the regeneration phase, which leads to new tissue. Bone marrow tends to be very high in white blood cells and low in the mesenchymal cells.

So, isolating stem cells from fat tissue is preferred not only because its easier on the patient, but fat also contains a higher population of mesenchymal cells and fewer white blood cells.

The benefit also of isolating [stem cells from] fat is that its a relatively simple procedure. Theres typically no shortage of fat tissue, especially in Americans, Dr.. Comella says. Also, as you age, your bone marrow declines with regards to the number of cells in it, whereas the fat tissue maintains a pretty high number of stem cells, even in older individuals.

Fat can be successfully harvested from just about anyone, regardless of their age or how thin they are. The procedure is done under local anesthesia, meaning that the patient stays awake. We can harvest as few as 15 cubic centimeters of fat, which is a very small amount of fat, and still get a very high number of stem cells.

A stem cell procedure can cost anywhere from $5,000 15,000, depending on what one is having done, and rarely if ever will insurance cover it.

Still, when compared it to the cost of long-term medications or the out-of-pocket cost of getting a knee replacement, stem cell therapy may still be a less expensive alternative.

Also, a single extraction will typically yield enough stem cells for 20 to 25 future treatments, should one decide to store his/her stem cells for future needs.

I think its accessible for patients, Dr.. Comella says. Its an out-patient procedure. You plan to be in clinic for about two hours; no real limitations afterwards, just no submerging in water, no alcohol, no smoking for a week. But other than that, patients can resume their normal activities and go about their regular daily lives.

She notes that patients who eat a very healthy diet, focusing on Organic and grass fed foods, have body fat that is very hearty and almost sticky, yielding high amounts of very healthy stem cells.

We can grow much better and faster stem cells from that fat than [the fat from] somebody who eats a grain-based diet or is exposed to a lot of toxins in their diet, she says. Their fat tends to be very fluffy, buttery yellow. The cells that come out of that are not necessarily as good a quality. Its just been very interesting. And of note, patients that are cigarette smokers, their fat is actually gray-tinged in color. The stem cells do not grow well at all.

What has been described above is whats called an autologous donation, meaning a person is getting the stem cells from oneself. A number of companies provide non-autologous donations using cells harvested from other people, typically women, like amniotic or embryonic mesenchymal cells.

This is an important distinction.

There are now just a couple of studies that have been published comparing an autologous source, meaning cells from you own body, to an allogeneic source, meaning cells from someone else.

So far, what has been discovered is that the autologous cells will outperform somebody elses cells inside ones body. This is not fully understood yet. It may be that the environment that ones own cells function in, and that they used to that environment. They recognize it. It is the same DNA and they can function well there.

But, once the culture is expanded and a pure population of these mesenchymal cells, not necessarily the sample thats coming right off of the liposuction, but a sample that has been taken to the lab and grown, those cells will not elicit an immune response if you use them in someone else. You could scientifically and medically use those in an unmatched person. However, there are some regulatory aspects of that with regards to the FDA.

In the US, there are a variety of new stem cell products available, referred to as amniotic, cord blood products or placenta products, which are prepared at a tissue bank. Such facilities must be registered with the FDA, and the products must undergo additional processing.

For example, they must be morselized, or snap frozen or blended in some way. Such processing typically breaks the membrane, releasing growth factors, and the resulting products are called acellular, meaning there are no living cells remaining in the sample.

The amniotic products available in the US are not so much stem cell products as they are growth factor products.

Dr. Comella notes: They can be useful in creating an immunomodulatory response, which can help to promote healing, but that still differs from the living stem cell procedures that can be done by either isolating cells from your fat or bone marrow. As a general rule, you do not achieve the clinical benefits when using an amniotic product, primarily because they do not contain living stem cells.

I want to contrast that to what are called embryonic stem cells, Dr. Comella adds. The products obtained from cord blood, from women who are having babies, are not embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are when you are first bringing the egg and sperm together. Three days after that, you can isolate what is called an inner cell mass. This inner cell mass can be used to then grow cells in culture, or that inner cell mass could eventually lead to the formation of a baby.

Those are embryonic stem cells, and those are pluripotential, meaning that they have the ability to form an entire being, versus adult stem cells or stem cells that are present in amniotic tissue, [which] are multipotential, which only have the ability to form subsets of tissue.

When youre dealing with different diseases or damaged tissue or inflammation, mostly you want to repair tissue. If somebody has damage in their knee, they dont necessarily need embryonic cells because they dont need a baby in their knee. They need new cartilage in their knee.

A common question is whether stem cells can cause overgrowth, leading to cancer or tumor formation.

As noted by Dr. Comella, this is a problem associated with embryonic stem cells, which tend to grow very rapidly and can form a teratoma because of the rapid cell growth. Adult stem cells, the cells obtained from ones own body, have growth inhibitions and will not form teratomas.

The theoretical concern that has been addressed in animal models or in petri dishes is that if you take cancer cells that are growing in a dish and apply stem cells, it may make those cancer cells grow more rapidly. But this does not translate in-vivo to humans.

If there was truly an issue with applying stem cells to a patient who has cancer, we would know about it by now, because weve been dosing cancer patients with stem cells since the 1930s. The safety profile is strong and there are tens of thousands of patients documented with these treatments, Dr. Comella says.

Another useful therapy is platelet-rich plasma (PRP).

Our peripheral blood contains platelets, which act as 1st responders when theres an injury. They come in and start the clotting mechanism, thereby preventing one from bleeding to death. They also give marching orders to other cells.

For example: platelets can command stem cells to multiply and grow, or to differentiate and form new tissue.

These platelets also have many different growth factors associated with them, which can help to promote healing and stop inflammation. PRP involves taking a blood sample and then spinning the blood in a centrifuge to isolate the platelets. The platelet-rich plasma is then injected back into the area that is inflamed.

One of the most common uses of platelet-rich plasma or PRP is in a joint. Now, platelets are going to be most successful in something that is rich in stem cells [such as] an acute or a very recent injury.

If you just hurt your knee, the first thing you should do is get PRP, because its going to help promote healing, and those platelets will attach to the surface receptors of the stem cells that are already going to the area to promote healing. It would be like putting fertilizer on your seed, which are the stem cells.

If you have something more chronic, this tends to be a stem cell-poor environment. In other words, you have osteoarthritis or youve got knee pain thats 5 years old and its been there for a long time; just putting PRP in it would be like putting fertilizer on dirt without planting a seed first.

The beauty of stem cell therapy is that it mimics a process that is ongoing in the human body all the time. Our stem cells are continuously promoting healing, and they do not have to be manipulated in any way. The stem cells naturally know how to home in on areas of inflammation and how to repair damaged tissue.

All were doing is harnessing the cells from one location where theyre sitting dormant and relocating them to exactly where we want them and we need them to work, Dr. Comella says. Basically, anything inside your body that is inflamed, that is damaged in some way, that is lacking blood supply, the [stem] cells can successfully treat.

That means orthopedics, knee injections, shoulder injections, osteoarthritis, acute injuries, anterior cruciate ligament tears in the back, back pain associated with degenerative disc disease or damaged tendons or ligaments, herniated and bulging discs. You can also use it in systemic issues, everything from diabetes, to cardiac, to lungs, any tissue organ inside your body that has been damaged.

Autoimmune diseases can also be treated. The stem cells are naturally immunosuppressant, meaning they can help quiet down an over reactive immune system and help the immune system function in a more normal way. Neurological diseases, traumatic brain injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinsons. All of these have to do with tissue thats not functioning properly. The cells can be used to address that.

It is very impressive, the list of different diseases that could benefit from this intervention.

Again, it is not magic, but one can dramatically improve the benefits of this intervention by combining it with other healthy lifestyle factors that optimize mitochondrial function, such as eating a healthy Real food diet, exercising, sleeping well, avoiding toxins and detoxifying from toxic influences.

Stem Cells for Anti-Aging: Stem cells can also be used as part of an anti-aging program.

Dr. Comella has used stem cells on herself for several years, and report feeling better now than she did 10 year ago.

She writes,The ability to reduce inflammation inside your body is basically making yourself live longer. Inflammation is what kills us all. Its what makes our telomeres shrink. Its what causes us pain and discomfort. Its what makes the tissues start to die. The ability to dose yourself with stem cells and bring down your inflammation, which is most likely caused by any sort of toxin that youve been exposed to, breathing air is exposure to toxins, this is going to lengthen your lifespan.

I typically will do a dose every six to 12 months, regardless of whats going on. If I have anything that is bothering me, if I tweak my knee at the gym, then I absolutely will come in and do an injection in my knee. I want to keep my tissue healthy for as long as possible.

I want to stay strong. I dont want to wait until something is wrong with me. I think that this is the future of medicine. This is what were going to start to see. People will begin to get their regular doses of [their own] stem cells and itll just be common practice.

Keep in mind theres a gradual and progressive decline in the quality and the number of stem cells as we age, so if considering this approach, it would be to your advantage to extract and bank your stem cells as early on as possible. US Stem Cell provides a stem cell bank service, so one can store them until a later date when you might need them.

Your stem cells are never as young as they are right now. Every minute that you live, your telomeres are shrinking. The ability to lock in the youth of your cells today can be very beneficial for you going forward, and for your health going forward. God forbid something happens. What if you have a heart attack? Youre not going to get clearance to get a mini-lipo aspirate procedure.

If you have your cells waiting in the bank, ready for you, it becomes very easy to pull a dose and do an IV delivery of cells. Its almost criminal that were not doing this for every single one of our cardiac patients. This should be standard practice. We should be having every single patient bank their stem cells at a young age and have them waiting, ready and available. The technology is there. We have it. Im not sure why this technology is not being made available to everyone, she says.

I think stem cell therapy is very different than traditional medicine. Stem cell therapy may actually make it so that you dont have to be dependent on pharmaceutical medications. You can actually repair the tissue and thats it. This is a very different way of viewing medicine.

For a Physician in your area providing the service, you can go there. US Stem Cell can help you locate a qualified doctor.

Eat healthy, Be healthy, Live lively

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Paul A. Ebeling, polymath, excels in diverse fields of knowledge. Pattern Recognition Analyst in Equities, Commodities and Foreign Exchange and author of The Red Roadmasters Technical Report on the US Major Market Indices, a highly regarded, weekly financial market letter, he is also a philosopher, issuing insights on a wide range of subjects to a following of over 250,000 cohorts. An international audience of opinion makers, business leaders, and global organizations recognizes Ebeling as an expert.

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Stem Cell Therapy: Repair and Regenerate Our Bodies - Live Trading News

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The Lipogems technology has great promise, but experts say itll take time to assess how successful the new procedure is.

What if you could put that little bit of body fat around your midsection to good use?

A procedure called Lipogems utilizes a persons body fat as a source of stem cells to help treat arthritis and joint conditions.

At least thats the promise.

Lipogems was approved for widespread use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November 2016, and its already garnering a lot of attention.

Rush University Medical Center recently became the first sports medicine specialists in the Midwest to offer treatment with the device.

The technology is ideal for patients with certain orthopedic conditions, such as painful joints including the knee, ankle, or shoulder with limited range of motion. Additionally, it can be used in soft tissue defects located in tendons, ligaments, and/or muscles to improve the biologic environment, said Dr. Brian Cole, professor of orthopedic surgery, and section head of the Rush Cartilage Restoration Center, in a press release.

Read more: Stem cell therapies offering hope for MS patients

Stem cells work by growing and differentiating themselves into different cells in the body based on the site of injection.

They are believed to help the natural regenerative processes in the body.

Hence they have earned the nickname as mini drug stores based on their ability to secrete a spectrum of bioactive molecules and support the natural regeneration of focal injuries.

Stem cells can be harvested from certain parts of the human body, most notably bone marrow and adipose tissue (fat).

Harvesting bone marrow stem cells is a significantly more invasive and time-consuming procedure that is performed using general anesthesia.

Lipogems offers a novel approach to orthopedic stem cell treatments by using a persons own fat.

The procedure uses a small incision into an area of subcutaneous fat, from which a quantity of fat tissue is harvested and processed by the Lipogems apparatus.

The technology itself, which really is the device that processes the fat, creates a concentration of fat that has been cleansed of all the extraneous things like red blood cells and fibrous tissues, Cole told Healthline.

The concentrated stem cells within that fat tissue are then applied to the problematic joint or bone area.

The procedure can be completed in under 30 minutes.

Read more: Stem cell therapy a possible treatment for rheumatoid arthritis

Lipogems offers a streamlined procedure for stem cell treatment, but there is nothing new about the science itself.

The use of stem cells to treat a variety of conditions has been ongoing for some time now.

As Healthline reported earlier this year, stem cells have been touted as a breakthrough treatment for some time, but real proof of efficacy is still being researched.

The same is true for Lipogems.

What were lacking is really good data at this point in the clinical setting, Cole said. There is substantial data in the laboratory suggesting that these cells may function in the way Ive described: reducing inflammation and so forth. But, we really dont have yet much in the way of good solid clinical data saying that definitively this is making a difference.

He further cautions individuals thinking that the new procedure, or that stem cells in general, are a panacea.

Read more: Unproven stem cell treatments offer hope but also risks

Instead, he would like those seeking orthopedic treatment to understand that Lipogems is just one part of a much larger and more complex suite of tools used by physicians.

It has to be taken into context of all the other possible treatment options, from simply icing down a swollen ankle, to changing your daily activity, to surgery.

The unfortunate thing is that people think, well this is the solution that can be used instead of, say, a joint replacement and no longer do we need to do surgery, said Cole.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Nonetheless, Cole and his team are still excited about the possibilities of the Lipogems procedure.

Using a readily available and easily accessible substance like fat as a source of stem cells could have far-reaching implications for procedures in the future.

Were optimistic and intuitively there is a good argument to be made that this is as good or better than any other source of stem cells, said Cole.

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New Technology Uses Body Fat to Help Relieve Joint Pain - Healthline

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The BMT program at MedStar Georgetown is a joint effort with specialists from John Theurer Cancer Center and a key component of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, the only cancer program in the Washington, D.C. region designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a comprehensive cancer center.

"Once considered experimental, BMT is today's established gold standard for treating patients with a number of malignant and other non-malignant diseases of the immune system, blood, and bone marrow, including multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and acute and chronic leukemia. For some conditions, blood stem cell transplant can provide a cure in patients who have failed conventional therapies," says Scott Rowley, M.D., chief of the BMT program at MedStar Georgetown as well as a member of the John Theurer Cancer Center's Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation. "For some conditions, it can actually be a cure; for others, it prolongs survival and improves quality of life. Having performed 100 BMTs at MedStar Georgetown including allogenic transplantation illustrates the strength and maturity of our program achieved in rather short time."

MedStar Georgetown's program is also the only comprehensive BMT center within Washington, D.C. and southern Maryland with accreditation from the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) for adult autologous procedures, where the patient donates his or her own cells.

The BMT program at John Theurer Cancer Center is one of the top 10 transplant programs in the United States, with more than 400 transplants performed annually.

A BMT involves a two-step process: first, collecting bone marrow stem cells from the patient and storing them for future use. Then, a week or so later, patients receive high dose chemotherapy to eliminate their disease. The previously stored cells are reinfused back into the bloodstream, where after reaching the bone marrow, they begin repopulating and allow the patient to recover their blood counts over the following 2 weeks.

"Even though BMT is considered standard therapy for myeloma worldwide, in the United States fewer than 50 percent of the patients who could benefit from BMT are referred for evaluation," says David H. Vesole, M.D., Ph.D., co- chief and director of Research of John Theurer Cancer Center's Multiple Myeloma division and director of MedStar Georgetown's Multiple Myeloma Program.

"That's mostly due to physicians' concerns that a patient is too old or compromised from other health conditions like diabetes, cardiac disease or renal failure. But new techniques and better supportive care have improved both patient outcomes and the entire transplant process, extending BMT to more patients than ever before."

The MedStar Georgetown/Georgetown Lombardi Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplant Program is part of a collaborative cancer research agenda and multi-year plan to form an NCI-recognized cancer consortium. This recognition would support the scientific excellence of the two centers and highlight their capability to integrate multidisciplinary, collaborative research approaches to focus on all the aspects of cancer.

The research areas include expansion of clinical bone marrow transplant research; clinical study of "haplo" transplants use of half-matched stem cell donor cells; re-engineering the function and focus of key immune cells; and the investigation of "immune checkpoint" blocking antibodies that unleash a sustained immune response against cancer cells.

"In this partnership, we've combined John Theurer's strength in clinical care with Georgetown Lombardi's strong research base that significantly contributes to clinical excellence at MedStar Georgetown. By working together, we have broadened our cancer research to offer more effective treatment options for tomorrow's patients," says Andrew Pecora, M.D., FACP, CPE, president of the Physician Enterprise and chief innovations officer, Hackensack Meridian Health. "This is one of many clinical and research areas that have been enhanced by this affiliation."

"Our teams are pursuing specific joint research projects we feel are of the utmost importance and significance in oncology particularly around immuno-oncology as well as precision medicine," says Andr Goy, M.D., MS, chairman of the John Theurer Cancer Center and director of the division chief of Lymphoma; chief science officer and director of Research and Innovation, RCCA; professor of medicine, Georgetown University. "Together our institutions have a tremendous opportunity to transform the delivery of cancer care for our patient populations and beyond."

ABOUT THE JOHN THEURER CANCER CENTER AT HACKENSACK UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center is New Jersey's largest and most comprehensive center dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment, management, research, screenings, and preventive care as well as survivorship of patients with all types of cancers. The 14 specialized divisions covering the complete spectrum of cancer care have developed a close-knit team of medical, research, nursing, and support staff with specialized expertise that translates into more advanced, focused care for all patients. Each year, more people in the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area turn to the John Theurer Cancer Center for cancer care than to any other facility in New Jersey. Housed within a 775-bed not-for-profit teaching, tertiary care, and research hospital, the John Theurer Cancer Center provides state-of-the-art technological advances, compassionate care, research innovations, medical expertise, and a full range of aftercare services that distinguish the John Theurer Cancer Center from other facilities.www.jtcancercenter.org.

ABOUT MEDSTAR GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is a not-for-profit, acute-care teaching and research hospital with 609 beds located in Northwest Washington, D.C. Founded in the Jesuit principle of cura personaliscaring for the whole personMedStar Georgetown is committed to offering a variety of innovative diagnostic and treatment options within a trusting and compassionate environment. MedStar Georgetown's centers of excellence include neurosciences, transplant, cancer and gastroenterology. Along with Magnet nurses, internationally recognized physicians, advanced research and cutting-edge technologies, MedStar Georgetown's healthcare professionals have a reputation for medical excellence and leadership. For more information please visit: medstargeorgetown.org/bmsct

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH HACKENSACK UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center, a 775-bed nonprofit teaching and research hospital located in Bergen County, NJ, is the largest provider of inpatient and outpatient services in the state. Founded in 1888 as the county's first hospital, it is now part of one of the largest networks in the state comprised of 28,000 team members and more than 6,000 physicians. Hackensack University Medical Center was listed as the number one hospital in New Jersey in U.S. News & World Report's 2016-17 Best Hospital rankings - maintaining its place atop the NJ rankings since the rating system was introduced. It was also named one of the top four New York Metro Area hospitals. Hackensack University Medical Center is one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America's 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more years in a row. Becker's Hospital Review recognized Hackensack University Medical Center as one of the 100 Great Hospitals in America 2017. The medical center is one of the top 25 green hospitals in the country according to Practice Greenhealth, and received 25 Gold Seals of Approval by The Joint Commission more than any other hospital in the country. It was the first hospital in New Jersey and second in the nation to become a Magnet recognized hospital for nursing excellence; receiving its fifth consecutive designation in 2014. Hackensack University Medical Center has created an entire campus of award-winning care, including: the John Theurer Cancer Center; the Heart & Vascular Hospital; and the Sarkis and Siran Gabrellian Women's and Children's Pavilion, which houses the Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital and Donna A. Sanzari Women's Hospital, which was designed with The Deirdre Imus Environmental Health Center and listed on the Green Guide's list of Top 10 Green Hospitals in the U.S. Hackensack University Medical Center is the Hometown Hospital of the New York Giants and the New York Red Bulls and is Official Medical Services Provider to The Northern Trust PGA Golf Tournament. It remains committed to its community through fundraising and community events especially the Tackle Kids Cancer Campaign providing much needed research at the Children's Cancer Institute housed at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital. To learn more, visit http://www.HackensackUMC.org.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/john-theurer-cancer-center-and-medstar-georgetown-university-hospital-announce-100th-blood-stem-cell-transplant-300471445.html

SOURCE Hackensack Meridian Health

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John Theurer Cancer Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital Announce 100th Blood Stem Cell Transplant - PR Newswire (press release)

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If youve donated blood, you probably received a follow-up message asking you to consider a platelet donation. Donation centers must constantly replenish their blood supplies, but the need for platelets is particularly acute. Compared to other components of blood, platelets are fragile and short lived, which puts high demand on the small supply of these cell fragments that are key to stopping bleeding.

Plasma separated from blood can be frozen and red blood cells can be refrigerated for up to 42 days. But platelets, which must be stored at room temperature, last just five days. After pathogen screening and transport, platelets have about two days to reach a patient, says Sven Karlsson, president and co-founder of Boston-based Platelet Biogenesis.

Karlssons startup aims to bring hospitals an alternative: platelets produced as needed from stem cells. Platelet BioGenesis, a spinout from Harvard University and Brigham and Womens Hospital, now has $10 million from a Series A round of funding to support preclinical testing of its regenerative medicine technology.

The body produces the components of blood in bone marrow. Platelets are made by a type of bone marrow cell called a megakaryocyte. Platelet Biogenesis produces its platelets in a two-step process. It first develops megakaryocytes from stem cells in culture, Karlsson says. Next, the megakaryocytes are fed into a device that the company developed that puts the cells through a process the company says is similar to what occurs in natural bone marrow physiology and results in the production of platelets.

Were making real, functional platelets, Karlsson says. Instead of mimicking the platelet, were mimicking the process of making a platelet.

Platelet transfusions are needed by patients whose bodies dont produce enough platelets, as well as those who have clotting problems. These transfusions are also used to treat patients who have cancer or are undergoing surgery. Since most platelet donation centers are in urban areas, the short shelf life of platelets makes supplies tight in rural areas. Donations dont entirely solve the problem, Karlsson says. While donating whole blood takes about 15 minutes, platelet donation takes 90 minutes, which makes it harder to get donors.

Researchers have tried to address the platelet shortage problem by developing synthetic platelets. But Karlsson says that the synthetic versions can cause side effects. The idea for replicating the bodys process of producing platelets stems from more than a decade of research. Jonathan Thon, the CEO and co-founder of Platelet BioGenesis, was pursuing ways to extend the shelf life of platelets. But Karlsson says Thon concluded a better approach might be developing a way to replace human donors. As a post-doctoral researcher at Harvard, he invented a microfluidic device that mimics a human bone marrow.

Before Platelet BioGenesis can bring its platelet-making technology to the market, it will need FDA approval. The regulator treats blood products as therapeutics, which means that the company will need to conduct clinical trials. Karlsson says the funding round will support preclinical research. Within three years, he expects the startup will be able to start Phase 1 safety studies. For those trials, Platelet BioGenesis will need to raise additional funds. The current financing round was led by Qiming US Healthcare Fund and included participation from Vivo Capital, VI Ventures, Adena Partners, eCoast Angels, as well as other unidentified investors.

If Platelet BioGenesis wins FDA approval, Karlsson says the company plans to become a manufacturer, selling its platelets in the existing blood supply chain. Its early to talk about pricing, but he says that Platelet Biogenesis products could be more affordable because they are produced from a pathogen-free source. They could also be produced on demand. While the startups platelets should have the same shelf-life as platelets from human donors, Karlsson says that the parent cells that produce platelets can be stored frozen. When platelets are needed, thawed cells can be placed in the companys microfluidic device, which produces platelets within hours.

Karlsson says Platelet BioGenesis might be able offer another advantage: beating the five-day shelf life of donor platelets. In the body, a platelet lasts 10 days. If all of Platelet BioGenesis platelets are born on the same day, they should theoretically have the same 10-day life, he says. Thats one of the things the company plans to test in upcoming trials. The company will also evaluate its platelets to make sure that they are comparable to donor platelets.

Imageby Wikimedia user Erhabor Osarovia a Creative Commons license.

Frank Vinluan is editor of Xconomy Raleigh-Durham, based in Research Triangle Park. You can reach him at fvinluan [at] xconomy.com

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Harvard Biotech Spinout Lands $10M to Make Platelets From Stem Cells - Xconomy

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