When Will Stem Cells Heal Spinal Cord Damage?

By daniellenierenberg

They hold huge promise, but stem cell-based spinal cord treatments wont be clinically available in the near future

My three-year-old son was born with a very large spinal lipoma. He was considered quadriplegic. Through conventional physical and occupational therapies and surgery to remove some of the lipoma he has gained enough function to walk with a walker and use his arms. However, he is experiencing some regression as his nerves are dying.

I have saved the cord blood from his younger brother and sister. New research where mice are being paralyzed and then injected with stem cells looks very promising to us. The mice nerves that are sick or weak are being protected and strengthened. Our son needs his nerves protected from degeneration.

Conventional surgery is no longer an option because the nerve roots travel in and out of the lipoma and cannot be separated from the lipoma. Our only hope is to protect and strengthen what function he currently has.

My question is: How long before this type of stem cell therapy will be used on humans, more specifically children? And how do we get to be first in line? If it is 10 or 20 years away, there may be no way to save the function our son has worked so hard to gain. I havent read anything about risks or side effects. There have to be some, what are they? Also, are there other countries that are more aggressive in their use of stem cells on humans for treating paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury?

Barbara BourgeoisCentreville, Virginia, USA

There isnt an easy answer here, and Im not clear as to why function is being lost at this pointin particular, whether the lipoma is recurring. If this is the case, resolution of the lipoma is the main issue. In some instances, it is impossible to completely remove the tumor, severely limiting the potential benefits of secondary therapeutics (such as stem cells). However, on the topic of stem cells in particular, there are several issues to discuss.

First, there are many sources of stem cells, and this affects their potential clinical use. Cord blood-derived stem cells are probably the farthest away from potential clinical use for spinal cord injury at this point, because there has been less basic research done with them so far. Human embryonic and adult stem cell lines may be somewhat closer, but research on these in the laboratory has been somewhat mixedsome very promising results with regaining motor function, and some big potential concerns, such as causing tumor formation.

As a result, we are most likely still years away from testing these treatments in patients, even to establish safety. Some other kinds of cell treatments, such as ensheathing glial cells, are being tried in the clinic in China, Russia and Portugal based on previous laboratory research in the US. However, none of these overseas trials has been designed in accordance with US standards to rigorously test safety and efficacy, and it is very difficult to evaluate the patchy data coming out so far.

To sum up, as a researcher, I think stem cells hold a huge amount of promise, but we arent yet at a point where this work will be translated to the clinic in the immediate future.

Answered by Aileen J. Anderson ~ 1/22/2004

Posted on January 27th, 2004 in General SCI and Human Interest. Tagged: stem cells

Go here to see the original:
When Will Stem Cells Heal Spinal Cord Damage?

Related Post


categoriaSpinal Cord Stem Cells commentoComments Off on When Will Stem Cells Heal Spinal Cord Damage? | dataMay 13th, 2020

About...

This author published 4761 posts in this site.

Share

FacebookTwitterEmailWindows LiveTechnoratiDeliciousDiggStumbleponMyspaceLikedin

Comments are closed.





Personalized Gene Medicine | Mesenchymal Stem Cells | Stem Cell Treatment for Multiple Sclerosis | Stem Cell Treatments | Board Certified Stem Cell Doctors | Stem Cell Medicine | Personalized Stem Cells Therapy | Stem Cell Therapy TV | Individual Stem Cell Therapy | Stem Cell Therapy Updates | MD Supervised Stem Cell Therapy | IPS Stem Cell Org | IPS Stem Cell Net | Genetic Medicine | Gene Medicine | Longevity Medicine | Immortality Medicine | Nano Medicine | Gene Therapy MD | Individual Gene Therapy | Affordable Stem Cell Therapy | Affordable Stem Cells | Stem Cells Research | Stem Cell Breaking Research

Copyright :: 2024