Adult Stem Cells Effectively Treat Liver Disease

In a human trial using patients' own bone marrow adult stem cells, alcohol-caused cirrhosis of the liver has been treated and the patients improved. From the story:

All patients tolerated the procedure well and over 12 weeks of follow-up there were significant decreases in serum bilirubin. A significant reduction in levels of alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase was seen 1 week after the transfusion and showed improvement through the study period.

Seven of the patients showed an improvement in Child-Pugh scores, and on imaging at 12 weeks, three patients showed a complete resolution of ascites and two had a significant reduction.

"This is an area of medicine where there is tremendous progress day by day," concluded Dr. Habib. "We hope that stem cell therapy will help many patients with liver disease."

Oh hum: Another day, another adult stem cell success.

Embryonic Stem Cells Help Diabetic Mice

A few years ago this would have been a huge story. No more. The wind is slackening behind the embryonic stem cell research sails.

Still, it is worth pointing out what the Times reported, and then, what they--so unsurprisingly--left out of the story:

The scientists, at the biotechnology company Novocell, turned the stem cells into cells that produced insulin in the mice. Those cells kept blood sugar in check after the mice’s own insulin-producing cells were destroyed...Still, a small number of the mice developed tumors, and some experts said the cells might not be well-characterized enough for use in people. In any event, Novocell said it would be several years before any human tests could begin.

The story proceeds to discuss some alternatives, such as islet cell transplantation.

But completely missing in the story are the far more advanced methods of treating diabetes with adult stem cells and other substances. Fourteen human patients were able to go off insulin with a combinatin of blood stem cell therapy and a one-time immune suppression. As I recall, the NYT didn't think that story worthy of being reported even though it was published in a peer reviewed medical journal. Yet, a mouse study makes the paper. How telling.

Last year adult stem cells showed great promise in treating Type 2 diabetes in mice.

A Harvard study showing that Freund's Complete Adjuvant, a mixture of water, oil and parts of dead bacteriam over stimulates the immune system cells that are attacking the pancreas, cured Type 1 diabetes in mice, has been confirmed in follow up reports. In an earlier study, adding adult stem cells from the spleen provided increased efficacy rates.

Perhaps the reason the story was not the subject of a banner headline is that the adult/umbilical cord blod stem cell and the recent IPSC breakthroughs have penetrated into the public consciousness at last. Or to put it another way, there is little use in beating a dying horse.

Adult Stem Cells Create Beating Heart

This animal study may pave the way for wonderful medical treatments. From the story:

Scientists have created a beating heart in the laboratory in a breakthrough that could allow doctors one day to make a range of organs for transplant almost from scratch.

The procedure involved stripping all the existing cells from a dead heart so that only the protein "skeleton" that created its shape was left. Then the skeleton was seeded with live "progenitor" cells, which multiplied and grew back over it, eventually linking together into a new organ. Such cells are involved in the formative stages of specialised types of tissue such as those found in the heart.

The research, by scientists at the University of Minnesota, has so far been done only with rats and pigs and is highly experimental. It is unlikely to be applied to humans for years. However, Professor Doris Taylor, director of the university's centre for cardiovascular repair, believes it could be a significant step towards creating custom-built hearts, blood vessels and other organs for people with serious illness.

The big advantage of such an approach is that organs so built would use stem cells taken from the patient so the body’'s immune system would not reject them.

Yes, well some of us have been saying that adult stem cell research offered that particular benefit for years, but "the scientists" insisted we had to do cloning to deal with immune rejection. But now, that never very strong argument wears ever more thin as well, what with the IPSC breakthrough that also would solve the rejection issue, assuming that technology works out and scientists are ever able to overcome the difficult tumor issue that prevents pluripotent stem cells from being used in human patients.

At this point in posts about stories such as this, I usually make a crack about how embryonic stem cells don't offer the only hope after all. But that is so abundantly clear by now, it basically goes without saying.

Talking Horse Sense About Adult Stem Cells

Bone marrow stem cells have apparently been helping to repair injuries in horses for some time. They are about to be tried in humans now. From the Reuters story in the Washington Post (good for it):

Stem cell therapy may be controversial in human medicine but in the world of horse racing it is becoming the odds-on favorite for tackling tendon damage, which accounts for one in three race course injuries.

An odd sentence for a story about adult stem cells, which are not at all controversial. But rather than go into conspiracy theory mode, let's continue:

In contrast to the controversial field of embryonic stem cell research, which involves the destruction of days-old embryos, the focus in the orthopaedic area is on adult mesenchymal stem cells that are found in bone marrow. These immature versions of normal cells can morph into different forms of tissue, such as bone, cartilage and tendon.

In the case of horses, Smith has developed a technique to extract stem cells from the animal's own sternum and then purify and multiply them in a laboratory. After two or three weeks they are injected back into the horse's tendon, where they regenerate new tissue that fills up ruptures caused by excessive exercise.

Amazing, those adult stem cells. Simply amazing.

Stem Cell Products About to Hit the Market

Of course they are adult stem cell derived. From the CNN story:

Cytori (down $0.02 to $5.62, Charts) is planning to launch its first stem cell medical device in Europe this year, said Eric Daniels, senior director of business development for the company, with a market debut planned for Spain and Italy. The company's Celution System uses stem cell technology to rebuild breast tissue in cancer survivors....

The Celution System extracts stem cells from liposuction fat, which are then used to grow breast tissue in women who have undergone partial mastectomies to remove cancer, said Daniels.

"It turns out that subcutaneous fat is a very rich source of stem and regenerative cells," he said. The device would be used to inject "a cocktail of therapeutic cells" into the woman's body. Daniels speculated that product sales could reach several hundred million dollars a year...

Osiris...based in Columbus, Maryland, currently has the only stem cell-based product that's been approved by the FDA. OsteoCell, which stimulates bone growth and is already on the U.S. market, is actually considered an implant rather than a drug or device.

But Osiris also has a potential stem cell drug in its pipeline - Prochymal - that CEO Randal Mills wants to launch into the U.S. market, possibly by 2008.

"We want to be the first company to get a stem cell drug approved by the FDA," said Mills. He said that Prochymal, a potential treatment for acute Graft vs. Host Disease (also known as GVHD) and Crohn's disease, is in late-stage trials. GVHD is an immune condition affecting cancer survivors with bone marrow transplants, while Crohn's causes inflammation of the intestinal tract.

Now you know why most of the venture capital that is invested in stem cell research, goes to the ethical variety. Pretty cool, huh?

Adult Stem Cells Grow Heart Valves

If this works in animal testing, it could be a great breakthrough in the treatment of heart disease. Scientists have taken stem cells from bone marrow and, using a scaffold, engineered them into new heart valves. From the story in the Guardian:

Growing a suitably-sized piece of tissue from a patient's own stem cells would take around a month but he said that most people would not need such individualised treatment. A store of ready-grown tissue made from a wide variety of stem cells could provide good matches for the majority of the population.

As I always say: Most biotechnology is not controversial. This is a wonderful example. Let us hope that the reality meets the dream.