Tag Archives: Ligament

News

British boy becomes first in the world to have stem cell transplant

Leave a comment

Science Daily explains what the scientists did.

Excerpt:

Dr Mark Lowdell, Director of Cellular Therapy at Royal Free Hospital and a senior lecturer at UCL Medical School, received the donor trachea from Italy and some bone marrow from the patient at the beginning of surgery.

They stripped cells from a donated trachea, used it to replace the entire length of the damaged airway, and then used the child’s own bone marrow stem cells to seal the airway in the body.

He and his colleagues prepared two different types of stem cells from the bone marrow together with some growth signalling chemicals and returned them to GOSH with the donor trachea.

Professor Paolo Macchiarini, from Careggi University Hospital, who is an Honorary Consultant at GOSH and Honorary Professor at UCL, applied the cells and the growth factors to the trachea in the operating theatre.

Martin Elliot, Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UCL and Director of the Tracheal Service at GOSH, led the operation to repair the damaged aorta and implant the new trachea.

The application of this technology — which has never been used on a child before — should reduce greatly the risk of rejection of the new trachea, as the child’s stem cells will not generate any immune response.

Now, it seems to me that the pro-abortion lobby is always asking for laws and subsidies to push for more and more embryonic stem-cell research. And no wonder, since they want to protect their profitable abortion business from public disapproval. But where are the real cures coming from? It seems to me that adult stem cell research is leading to all the significant medical breakthroughs. (Here’s another one from Science Daily, for example)

Related posts

Videos

ABC News reports on how adult stem cells produce innovative cures today

1 Comment

Great video, and only 3 minutes long. (H/T Laura from Pursuing Holiness)

My previous posts on ASCR

Previous posts on abortion

News

Round up of articles on adult stem-cell research from FRC

1 Comment

I found these on their blog.

Adult Stem Cells–Saving Legs, Saving Lives

Excerpt:

Previous stories focused on the science of treating peripheral artery disease with adult stem cells. Often overlooked are the people whose lives have been changed or even saved by adult stem cell treatments.

Helen Thomas, 80, of Hastings, Michigan is one of those people. Helen’s painful circulatory problem in her leg meant she had trouble walking, rarely left home, and was facing amputation of her leg. But her physician, Kenneth Merriman of Hastings, asked around at a medical conference and found Dr. Randall Franz, who was doing a clinical trial at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. Franz injected Helen’s own adult stem cells into her leg, causing new blood vessels to grow. Helen is now up and about, back to normal.

A Neurological Save with Adult Stem Cells

Excerpt:

When she was 30, Jennifer Osman was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), a neurological disorder that attacks the peripheral nervous system, progressively weakening and numbing its victim.

[…]Then Jennifer signed up for an adult stem cell study run by Dr. Richard Burt, chief of the Division of Immunotherapy at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her adult stem cells were collected and she received chemotherapy to knock out the rogue immune cells attacking her nervous system. Shortly after, on April 1, 2005, Jennifer received a transplant of her own adult stem cells and her immune system, now rebooted, began to rebuild itself. The process was slow and grueling, but she has taken no medication for the disease since 2008. Today, almost five years since her transplant, she is nearly symptom-free.

You Call That “Success”?

Excerpt:

A news story out yesterday exemplifies the “successes” of embryonic stem cells. The story proclaimed that scientists had “successfully used mouse embryonic stem cells to replace diseased retinal cells and restore sight in a mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa.” Sounds pretty good? Later there is the requisite hyperbole about treatments, that “Once the complication issues are addressed” and a list of retinal diseases that will be treated with embryonic stem cells.

Seeing Real Success with Adult Stem Cells

Excerpt:

In a paper published February 15, 2010, Oregon scientists showed that they could use bone marrow-derived adult stem cells to treat a rat model of retinitis pigmentosa. Visual function was significantly preserved in this study. An added benefit was that the cells could be easily grown in culture and administered intravenously; once injected, they traveled to the retina where they exerted their protective effect. The study highlights the possibility of using a patient’s own adult stem cells for treatment of retinitis, diabetic retinopathy, and macular degeneration.

A study by Canadian and Japanese researchers used human retinal stem cells that had been modified to increase their differentiation potential. When injected into the eyes of mice, the adult stem cells survived and differentiated into photoreceptors. Injected into a mutant mouse strain that lacks functional photoreceptors, the adult stem cells significantly improved visual function. The study was published online in the journal Stem Cells December 11, 2009.

Something to think about when the topic of embryonic stem cells comes up.