Category Archives: Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Dominique Friend doesn't look like she's sick. But the Lansdowne resident often deals with bouts of pain so severe she ends up in the hospital for weeks. Friend, 44, was born with sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder that affects an estimated 90,000 to 100,000 in the U.S., according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention information. Her autobiography "Sickle" was released by Tate Publishing on Dec. 9 in a second edition, after she self-published the book in 2009. In the book, she tells of her struggle with the debilitating disease. Friend said she shared her personal account to raise awareness about the disease, which predominantly affects African-Americans. It is also found in those of Hispanic and Mediterranean descent, according to CDC information. Friend said for as long as she can recall, she has dealt with painful episodes that are characteristic of sickle cell disease. Pain develops when sickle-shaped red blood cells, that should be round like a doughnut, block the blood flow to the chest, joints and other parts of the body, Friend explained. It can last for a few hours to a few weeks and such episodes are called "crises," she said. "I would take the pain … Continue reading →

(New York City) A new test may reveal which patients will respond to treatment for graft versus host disease (GVHD), an often life-threatening complication of stem cell transplants (SCT) used to treat leukemia and other blood disorders, according to a study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published online today in the journal Lancet Haematology and in print in the January issue. Patients with fatal blood cancers like leukemia often require allogenic stem cell SCT to survive. Donor stem cells are transplanted to a recipient, but not without the risk of developing GVHD, a life-threatening complication and major cause of death after SCT. The disease, which can be mild to severe, occurs when the transplanted donor cells (known as the graft) attack the patient (referred to as the host). Symptom severity, however, does not accurately define how patients will respond to treatment and patients are often treated alike with high-dose steroids. Although SCT cures cancer in 50 percent of the patients, 25 percent die from relapsed cancer and there remaining go into remission but later succumb to effects of GVHD. "High dose steroids is the only proven treatment for GVHD," said James L. … Continue reading →

The potential of SCs to replace dead or damaged cells in any tissue of the body heralds the advent of a new field of medicine that is delivering cures for diseases now thought to be untreatable Stem cell therapy represents a promising avenue for the treatment of disorders like Q1: What are stem cells? Answer: Stem cells are class of undifferentiated cells that are able to differentiate into specialized cell types .They have the unique properties of self renewal and differentiation. Differentiation property of stem cells help them to form another type of cell with more specialized function such as brain cell, red blood cell or muscle cell and also the entire organ. During the foetal development, cells divide, migrate, specialize and form the organ. After birth, stem cells are also present in bone marrow which can be used to treat various diseases. Q2: Which disorders can be treated using Stem Cells? Answer: Currently stem cells are being used successfully to treat various (disorders) diseases like Cerebral palsy, Spinal Cord Injury, Traumatic brain injury, Paralysis, Brain Stroke Osteoarthritis, Autism etc. Apart from this, stem cells can be used to treat liver disorders and Diabetes. Q3: How is Stem Cell Therapy … Continue reading →

By Noah Trister The Associated Press Hockey great Gordie Howe watches the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks play during an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, B.C., on November 14, 2013. DETROIT Gordie Howes family says the hockey great has made a dramatic improvement after he participated in a stem cell clinical trial. The 86-year-old Howe had a serious stroke in late October, but in a statement released through the Detroit Red Wings on Friday, his family said his physical therapists have been astonished by his progress. Executives from Stemedica Cell Technologies contacted the family and facilitated Howes participation in the clinical trial. He had a two-day, non-surgical treatment earlier this month. The treatment included neural stem cells injected into the spinal canal on Day 1 and mesenchymal stem cells by intravenous infusion on Day 2, the family said. His response was truly miraculous. At the end of Day 1 he was walking with minimal effort for the first time since his stroke. By Day 2 he was conversing comfortably with family and staff at the clinic. The family says Howe has been able to help out with daily household chores, and when tested, his ability to name items has … Continue reading →

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DETROIT - Gordie Howe's family says the hockey great has made a dramatic improvement after he participated in a stem cell clinical trial. The 86-year-old Howe had a serious stroke in late October, but in a statement released through the Detroit Red Wings on Friday, his family said his physical therapists have been "astonished" by his progress. Executives from Stemedica Cell Technologies contacted the family and facilitated Howe's participation in the clinical trial. He had a two-day, non-surgical treatment earlier this month. "The treatment included neural stem cells injected into the spinal canal on Day 1 and mesenchymal stem cells by intravenous infusion on Day 2," the family said. "His response was truly miraculous. At the end of Day 1 he was walking with minimal effort for the first time since his stroke. By Day 2 he was conversing comfortably with family and staff at the clinic." The family says Howe has been able to help out with daily household chores, and when tested, his ability to name items has gone from less than 25 percent before the treatment to 85 percent. "Although his short-term memory, strength, endurance and coordination have plenty of room for improvement, we are hopeful that … Continue reading →

Hockey legendGordie Howehas made strides in his recovery from a stroke after underdoing adult stem-cell treatment earlier this month inMexico. The 86-year-old Howe had a significant stroke in October and his family said in an update on Friday that he has shown significant improvement since participating in a clinical trial. In a statement issued through theDetroit Red Wings, the family described the procedure and his recovery: "Following the press coverage of our father's deteriorating medical condition, the Howe family was contacted in late November by Dr.Maynard Howe(CEO) andDave McGuigan(VP) ofStemedica Cell Technologies. McGuigan knew our family as a result of his previous employment with theDetroit Red Wings. "Stemedica is abiotechnologycompany that manufactures allogeneic adultstem cellsin itsU.S. governmentlicensed,cGMP facilityinSan Diego,California. Although no relation, Dr. Howe and his brothers Drs. David and Roger are hockey players and bigGordie Howefans, having grown up inMinnesota. They wished to help our father by generously facilitating Dad's participation in a stem cell clinical trial at Novastem, a licensed distributor of Stemedica's products inMexico. Novastem (www.novastem.mx) is currently conducting federally licensed andInstitutional Review Boardapproved clinical trials for several medical conditions, including stroke, using Stemedica's stem cell products. At the time, we were contacted, Mr. Hockey had been … Continue reading →

Updated DEC 19, 2014 6:19p ET Call it a Christmas miracle. That's pretty much the way Gordie Howe's family is describing his extraordinary recovery -- thanks to an experimental stem-cell treatment -- from a series of strokes that appeared to threaten the 86-year-old hockey legend's life only a few weeks ago. "This is truly a Christmas miracle," said Dr. Murray Howe, a Toledo physician and one of Gordie's four children. "I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. " Howe, gravely ill at the time, underwent the treatment on Dec. 8 in San Diego. "As a family, we are thrilled that Dad's quality of life has greatly improved, and his progress has exceeded our greatest expectations," the Howe family said Friday in a news release in which it thanked a legion of fans praying for its father's recovery. "Once again, we cannot emphasize how much you have fueled Mr. Hockey's recovery, and we thank everyone for their continued prayers and support." The neural stem cells were injected into the spinal canal on Day 1 and mesenchymal stem cells by intravenous infusion on Day 2, according to the release. "His response was truly miraculous," … Continue reading →

DETROITGordie Howes family says the hockey great has made a miraculous improvement after he participated in a stem cell clinical trial. The 86-year-old Howe had a serious stroke in late October, but in a statement released through the Detroit Red Wings on Friday, his family said his physical therapists have been astonished by his progress. Executives from Stemedica Cell Technologies contacted the family and facilitated Howes participation in the clinical trial. He had a two-day, non-surgical treatment that included neural stem cells injected into the spinal canal and mesenchymal stem cells by intravenous infusion. For the first time since the stroke, Howe has been able to walk with minimal effort and converse comfortably with family. The treatment included neural stem cells injected into the spinal canal on Day 1 and mesenchymal stem cells by intravenous infusion on Day 2, the family said. His response was truly miraculous. At the end of Day 1 he was walking with minimal effort for the first time since his stroke. By Day 2 he was conversing comfortably with family and staff at the clinic. The family says Howe has been able to help out with daily household chores, and when tested, his ability to … Continue reading →

As the main component of connective tissue in the body, fibroblasts are the most common type of cell. Taking advantage of that ready availability, scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the Wistar Institute, Boston University School of Medicine, and New Jersey Institute of Technology have discovered a way to repurpose fibroblasts into functional melanocytes, the body's pigment-producing cells. The technique has immediate and important implications for developing new cell-based treatments for skin diseases such as vitiligo, as well as new screening strategies for melanoma. The work was published this week in Nature Communications. The new technique cuts out a cellular middleman. Study senior author Xiaowei "George" Xu, MD, PhD, an associate professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, explains, "Through direct reprogramming, we do not have to go through the pluripotent stem cell stage, but directly convert fibroblasts to melanocytes. So these cells do not have tumorigenicity." Changing a cell from one type to another is hardly unusual. Nature does it all the time, most notably as cells divide and differentiate themselves into various types as an organism grows from an embryo into a fully-functional being. With stem cell therapies, medicine is learning how to … Continue reading →