Adult Stem Cells to treat ALS: UBC study

By Alex Schadenberg

A possible breakthrough treatment for people with ALS is being developed at the University of British Columbia (UBC) by Dr. Neil Cashman with results being published in the journal, Muscle & Nerve.
http://www.exacom.net/firstlibrary/Articles/Ontario%20Issues/Health/Drugs%20and%20bio%20research/Adult%20Stem%20Cells%20to%20treat%20ALS.htm

The pilot study has established a safe pathway for using bone-marrow stem cells to slow down and potentially treat ALS.

The study tested the use of a growth factor stimulant in ALS patients and found that bone-marrow stem cells became activated with no adverse effects to the patients.

Cashman stated that "This pathway, if one day successful, may provide a new therapy that will avoid the ethical debate surrounding embryonic stem cells"

The researchers have found that Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) is the safest growth factor to use for ALS patients.

Cashman said that "There have been many misgivings in using stem cell stimulators in ALS patients but now we know we can safely do this. This is an important first step in providing a new treatment for ALS."

This is one more example of the many therapies that are being derived from ethical adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells continue to have no successful applications and they remain an ethical mine field

Adult Stem Cells from Uterus Treat Parkinson's in Mice

Well, the old days of "the scientists" such as some of the people over at Amendment 2 in Missouri telling reporters and legislators that adult stem cells are merely "unipotent," that is, that they can only create their own kind of tissue, are beyond defending any more. Uterine stem cells have been injected into mice--and they grew new brain cells helping to ease the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. From the story:

The injection of uterine stem cells trigger growth of new brain cells in mice with Parkinson's disease, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in an abstract presented at the 2008 Society for Gynecologic Investigation (SGI) Annual Scientific Meeting held March 26-29 in San Diego, California. "Previously, we were able to coax these multipotent stem cells to differentiate into cartilage cells," said lead author Hugh S. Taylor, M.D., professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine and section chief of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Yale School of Medicine. "Now we have found that we can turn uterine stem cells into neurons that can boost dopamine levels and partially correct the problem of Parkinson's disease." ...

The stem cells in this study were derived from human endometrial stromal cells that were cultured under conditions that induce the creation of neurons. These cells then developed axon-like projections and cell bodies with a pyramid shape typical of neurons. "The dopamine levels in the mice increased once we transferred the stem cells into their brains," Taylor said. "The implications of our findings are that women have a ready supply of stem cells that are easily obtained, are differentiable into other cell types, and have great potential use for other purposes."

A few years ago, I watched,my mouth agape at the baldness of the mendacity, as a scientist in Missouri testified to a legislative committee that adult stem cells were merely unipotent. It wasn't true then, and it is beyond any repeating now.

And Those Adult Stem Cell Hits Just Keep on Coming

A man's jaw was refashioned using adult stem cells from his own fat. From the story:

Scientists in Finland said they had replaced a 65-year-old patient's upper jaw with a bone transplant cultivated from stem cells isolated from his own fatty tissue and grown inside his abdomen...Using a patient's own stem cells provides a tailor-made transplant that the body should not reject.

I can't think of anything pithy to write here, there are so many of these stories being reported these days. But we shouldn't let that make us sanguine about how remarkable moral regenerative medicine is turning out to be.

Adult Stem Cells Found in Pancreas in Mice

This could be great news aways down the road for diabetics. From the story:

An international team of researchers has finally managed to locate stem cells in the pancreas--in mice, at least.

If the findings are confirmed in humans, they could pave the way for dramatic new therapies for diabetes, namely the regeneration of beta cells so the body could once again produce its own insulin. Until now, scientists had all but abandoned hopes that the pancreas made its own stem cells because they had failed to find evidence to support the theory. But any clinical advances from the new research are still a long way off, experts cautioned.

Adult stem cells are ubiquitous. I am not a scientist, but from what I am reading, it may turn out that pluripotency will not be so important after all for clinical uses because ASCs exist in so many tissues.

Adult Stem Cells Appear to be Working as Treatment for Heart Disease

As I pointed out in an earlier post, the syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman recently castigated President Bush for "betting on the wrong horse," e.g., adult stem cells, in the stem cell debate. This was ignorant and ridiculous, as even casual readers of SHS know. Adult stem cell research is producing amazing, if early, results. Here's another little story in that continuing stream:

OSAKA--A medical team at Osaka University Hospital has succeeded in restoring function to the heart of a patient with severe cardiac disease using muscle cells taken from one of the patient's thighs, it has been learned.

The male patient in his 50s, who had been waiting for a heart transplant, is now able to walk unaided, and will leave the hospital in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, on Thursday, according to the hospital. It is the first time in the world that a patient waiting for an organ transplant has been successfully treated using their own cells. [Me: I am not sure this is the first.] "The treatment can be a good alternative to heart transplants," said Yoshiki Sawa, director of the Medical Center for Translational Research at the hospital...

The medical team took the myoblast cells [a form of stem cell] from the patient at the end of March this year, and then spent two months creating 25 myoblast sheets. At the end of May, the team attached the sheets to the patient's heart, mainly around the organ's left ventricle, which is key to circulation.

After the treatment, the patient's heart functions, including pulse rate and quantity of blood pumped, all improved rapidly. On Sept. 5, or 98 days after the treatment, it became possible to remove the pacemaker. According to the hospital, the man's heart functions have almost fully recovered, and he is able to lead a normal daily life.

One patient does not a cure make, as I always say. But this is remarkable.