Stem Cells for the Cure?

[Bing505z]

Possible? I see research and studies began back in 2005, targeting Systemic Vasculitis ....GPA....
.....I will be in Chicago this June for the 2017 International Vasculitis Symposium with this subject in mind....


....found this very interesting:

https://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/tag/vasculitis/


With over 19 years of teaching experience, Dr. Cristy Kessler has been motivating audiences of all ages with her message of determination, survival, faith, and hope. Cristy has a natural ability for speaking to large groups of people of all ages and a style of speaking that helps them feel like they’re sitting in her living room.
Cristy Kessler has been a role model for countless students from 5th grade through university whose lives she has touched as a social studies teacher, coach, and associate professor in education at the University of Hawaii. This, in spite of a lifetime of pain and a constant battle with health issues throughout her life.
A three-sport standout in high school, Cristy coached both soccer and basketball, including a five-year stint as coach for TourneySport USA in Hawaii. She earned her doctorate in educational leadership and innovation in 2003, and as part of her commitment to being the best teacher and role model she could be, she achieved certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), even though this certification is generally recognized as a program for K-12 teachers. Rarely has a university professor sought (or achieved) this recognition, but Cristy did exactly that in 2005, even as she was recovering from cancer surgery. In her role as an associate professor at the university, she has guided scores of teachers through successful achievement of NBPTS certification.
Plagued by constant pain and fatigue, Cristy was finally diagnosed in 2006 with a constellation of auto-immune diseases: scleroderma, ankylosing spondylitis, and vasculitis, any one of which is ultimately fatal. Following years of treatment for the symptoms of these disorders, it became clear that the only way to save her life was to somehow tackle the diseases themselves, not just the symptoms. Finding no promising treatment programs in the United States, and nothing that would be covered by her health insurance, Cristy traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, in 2011 for a life-saving stem-cell transplant at Anadolu Hospital, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University. Extensive fund-raising efforts by friends and family helped make this incredible journey a reality.
The transplant succeeded such that Cristy has a brand-new immune system and has resumed her work with university students and teachers. She continues to look for opportunities to inspire and encourage others through the story of her determination to live, even in the face of chronic pain and imminent death.

[Alysia]

The queation is where do they take the stem cells from. If they take it from aborted babies that would be immoral. If they take it from the person himself or from a willing donor - those are great news.

[drz]

If this worked like stated in the post why hasn't there been news or others who used such an approach. There are many research programs to experiment with new treatment approaches for many diseases and health issues. I found only one reference to it. If you want to wade through a technical post about it here is one summary:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v435/n7042/full/nature03728.html

There is this one little problem with it:

At present, the substantial mortality and morbidity associated with allo-HCT must be carefully weighed against its therapeutic benefits. The careful and proper choice of prospective patients with refractory autoimmune diseases that are resistant to current pharmacological treatments is essential. It is possible that the therapeutic benefit of auto-HCT could be enhanced by the addition of expanded regulatory cell populations, such as CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells, or mesenchymal stem cells, which have potent immunosuppressive properties and have recently been reported to ameliorate severe GVHD56.

[Bing505z]

If this worked like stated in the post why hasn't there been news or others who used such an approach. There are many research programs to experiment with new treatment approaches for many diseases and health issues. I found only one reference to it. If you want to wade through a technical post about it here is one summary:

Treatment of severe autoimmune disease by stem-cell transplantation : Article : Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v435/n7042/full/nature03728.html)

There is this one little problem with it:

At present, the substantial mortality and morbidity associated with allo-HCT must be carefully weighed against its therapeutic benefits. The careful and proper choice of prospective patients with refractory autoimmune diseases that are resistant to current pharmacological treatments is essential. It is possible that the therapeutic benefit of auto-HCT could be enhanced by the addition of expanded regulatory cell populations, such as CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells, or mesenchymal stem cells, which have potent immunosuppressive properties and have recently been reported to ameliorate severe GVHD56.


Understand completely, and thanks for the article. I did find this earlier from 2005, and will go out on a crazy limb here and hope that after 12 years, in this age of modern medicine in which I have 100% faith in, that advancements...corrections..or what have you have been made...accomplished..and yada yada yada. All I can do is root for success. I am standing on my own two feet in a drug free remission for two years now because I omitted the negative and backed success. Treating the symptoms is the loser when you have bigger options to go after the disease. So I choose to go in for the big win and support advancements. Great inspiration should be flooding all when you see former President Carter cancer free after Immunotherapy targeted the disease in his brain and liver. Advancement!!!!

Here is some info from a Giostar, a stem cell company:



We have mastered the technology for isolating maximum number of viable stem cells from either the autologous sources of your own body or allogeneically with the matched donor to treat various patients with Vasculitis. We are the licensed, private organization with the excellent, well equipped state of the art facility to isolate process and enrich the viable number of stem cells, which can be re infused back into the patient’s body. Generally, these cells are administered through any one of the below mentioned methods depending upon our expert’s advice:

Local Administration:-Through this mode, cell are infused directly at the targeted site of injury. Thus in case of various organs, stem cells are infused directly at the target through catheter based delivery.



Sub-Cutaneous Administration: – In case of skin Vasculitis; stem cells can as well be administered in the fat layer of the skin. They can help regenerating skin cells, promote restructuring of skin tissue.



Intravenous Administration:- Through this mode, cells are infused through the veins along with the mannitol to expand blood volumes in the central nervous system, to ensure that the maximum number of cells are reaching to the targeted area.

Once infused back in the body, these cells can be repopulated at the damaged parts of the organ, through their strong paracrine effects and differentiate into lost or damaged cells to restore back the function. These cells can regulate immune system and minimize the impact of autoimmunity. One of the important properties of mesenchymal stem cells is to promote vascularisation and vessel formation, which can improve the strength of the blood vessels and also promote synthesis of new vessels.http://www.giostar.com/Therapy/vasculitis/

[Bing505z]

The queation is where do they take the stem cells from. If they take it from aborted babies that would be immoral. If they take it from the person himself or from a willing donor - those are great news.

Right you are, cells from aborted babies is a no...horrid. You can hire a company to freeze cord blood and tissue from your child's birth, and you can save your child's baby teeth for the stem cells. My wife is expecting (proof for other men out there that GPA will not stop you from having children) and we hired a cryogenic company to store cord blood and tissue, and in the future his baby teeth for the cells.

[Alysia]

Right you are, cells from aborted babies is a no...horrid. You can hire a company to freeze cord blood and tissue from your child's birth, and you can save your child's baby teeth for the stem cells. My wife is expecting (proof for other men out there that GPA will not stop you from having children) and we hired a cryogenic company to store cord blood and tissue, and in the future his baby teeth for the cells.

Then, the teeth fairy is indeed a fairy :)
Congratulations to you and your wife :)

[Bing505z]

Then, the teeth fairy is indeed a fairy :)
Congratulations to you and your wife :)

:smile1:Thank you!

[Bing505z]

First tests in 2005:


With the success of these animal experiments, he then tested the monocytes in a patient with a rare form of vasculitis (where the immune system attacks the body’s own blood vessels) known as granulomatosis with polyangiitis (previously called Wegener’s granulomatosis) in 2005.
The patient, who was on high-dose immunosuppresive drugs for her progressively severe condition, reported that she had had no acute episodes in the three months since the treatment, although she still exhibited symptoms of the disease.
Now, nine years later, the patient is only on one drug, which had not worked on her earlier, and is quite well.

Read more at Reprogramming our cells - Health | The Star Online (http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/health/2014/02/23/reprogramming-our-cells/#VOBLt882wqoiLPB0.99)


Phase 2 clinical trials began in late 2014, targeted diseases included GPA:

Since 2005, he has treated hundreds of patients on a personal basis without any side effects, as the therapy uses the patient’s own white blood cells.
But his monocytes will be put to the proper scientific test in three phase II clinical trials projected to start at the end of the year. The trials will look at coronary artery disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and vasculitis in granulomatosis with polyangiitis and systematic lupus erythematosus, respectively.
“I would like to look at diseases where patients don’t have another option, where standard care doesn’t offer anything,” he says.

Read more at Reprogramming our cells - Health | The Star Online (http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/health/2014/02/23/reprogramming-our-cells/#VOBLt882wqoiLPB0.99)

[Bing505z]

A New Era in Cell Biology: German Company Develops Groundbreaking Alternative to Stem Cell Therapy
Blasticon has at its disposal a patented technology based on which monocytes (mature white blood cells) from blood extracted from veins can be turned into cells with programmable properties comparable to those of stem cells and differentiated into different functional cells for diverse applications in diagnostics and therapy.

http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/a-new-era-in-cell-biology-german-company-develops-groundbreaking-alternative-to-stem-cell-therapy-155009825.html


The post above talks about the clinical trials with these monocytes. Better than stem cells!