Its not often that we get news on Stem Cells in Malaysia but I do think that ever since we've started highlighting the applications, many more doctors are beginning to speak out about the important work that they do.
I read yesterday in the Star about a little girl by the name of Siti who has undergone a peripheral blood stem cell harvest to help her 17 year old brother Muhammad, who was diagnosed 5 months ago with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (see Angel's story).
You can read Siti's story here but I thought that it would be good to pick up on a few key points in the article which supports our preemptive peripheral blood and cord blood stem cell banking service. Its all about providing options for yourself in the future.
The treating haematologist Dr. Ng Soo Chin describes the chances of finding a match within the family:
STEM CELL MATCH
"A blood test, called HLA typing, is done to test whether a potential donor is a match. “There is a 25% chance of a sibling being a match to the patient,” Dr Ng notes. However, parents and half-siblings are usually not such good matches. "
I thought that it was a very well written article and Dr. Ng points out clearly that bone marrow harvesting- which is painful and very unpopular- is on a decline and that now peripheral blood stem cell harvesting is the way to go.
NO MORE PAINFUL BONE MARROW
"Not too long ago, the idea of donating stem cells frightened many people, not least because it required general anaesthesia and painful extraction of the stem cells directly from the bone marrow. Now, 90% of stem cell transplants use peripheral harvesting, instead of bone marrow,” Dr Ng assures. Peripheral harvesting means that the stem cells are collected from the blood stream in a procedure called apheresis. "
Peripheral blood stem cell collection is much preferred over bone marrow because doctors can be assured of a decent harvest. Very often bone marrow extractions require a lot of manipulation and may not obtain a reliable amount of cells for a transplant. Clotting of the blood is often one of the problems, a long with trauma bleeding, anaesthetic risk and patient discomfort.
PERIPHERAL BLOOD STEM CELLS - A VERY SAFE PROCEDURE
Dr. Ng says: “It’s like blood donation, except that it takes longer. However, the actual volume of blood that you donate is only about 50-100ml,” he explains, insisting that this is a very safe procedure.
And he also describes why using one's own stem cells are preferred, although this option is not always available:
When the patient is both the donor and the recipient of the stem cells, there are fewer risks involved – namely, no graft-versus-host disease, no immunosuppression needed and fewer infections.
TRANSPLANT ALREADY PERFORMED
Siti's stem cells had already been transplanted into her brother at the time of the publication and I do hope that he recovers and tells his story so that others may also know how a matching set of stem cells was critical in making the procedure possible.
StemLife provides stem cell collection and banking from the peripheral blood for healthy individuals and families. We also provide services for patients seeking treatment in collaboration with qualified medical specialists.
Please feel free to call us for a no obligation consultation at +603 2163 8800 or at 012 2050 165. We'd be happy to help.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Dad dies waiting for matching stem cells
This article is a sad one. A young 32 year old father, Paul Sim (two sons, 13 & 8 years old) was a wagon driver who broke his hip and twisted his knee. During a two and half month stay in hospital for his treatment, his bone marrow stopped producing the necesary replacement cells (condition known as aplastic anemia) and he had to have blood and platelet transfusions. The aplastic anemia could have been a result of his medication or perhaps a viral infection.
However, his condition continued to deteriorate and a donor could not be found despite his countrymen's best efforts at identifying a suitable match. The doctors probably did try to match his sister Angela's stem cells and his children's but to no avail. Hundreds of people came forward but they didn't match either.
The best thing would have been for Paul to have had banked his own stem cells prior to the accident. He could have called on them immediately for the transplant, saving precious money, time and giving himself the best chance of success.
From the Mayo Clinic Website:
Bone marrow transplantation — replacing diseased bone marrow with healthy bone marrow from a donor — may offer the only successful treatment option for people with severe aplastic anemia.
Many people ask me when the best time is to store their stem cells. Frankly in my personal opinion, there is no time like NOW, because one can't predict when these accidents can occur nor how serious small infections might become.
However, his condition continued to deteriorate and a donor could not be found despite his countrymen's best efforts at identifying a suitable match. The doctors probably did try to match his sister Angela's stem cells and his children's but to no avail. Hundreds of people came forward but they didn't match either.
The best thing would have been for Paul to have had banked his own stem cells prior to the accident. He could have called on them immediately for the transplant, saving precious money, time and giving himself the best chance of success.
From the Mayo Clinic Website:
Bone marrow transplantation — replacing diseased bone marrow with healthy bone marrow from a donor — may offer the only successful treatment option for people with severe aplastic anemia.
Many people ask me when the best time is to store their stem cells. Frankly in my personal opinion, there is no time like NOW, because one can't predict when these accidents can occur nor how serious small infections might become.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Stem Cells for the treatment of Ischemic Heart Disease
Finally it looks like the hospitals in the US will soon have results that will get the FDA to approve stem cell therapy as a potential first liner for ischemic heart disease. This report states that approximately 15-20 sites in the US through their respective divisions of cardiology and pathology are investigating 200 randomly selected patients from across the country, harvesting their CD34+ cells and injecting the cells into the heart to investigate the extent of which new blood vessels are formed.
The patients are selected from an existing pool where usual and conventional treatments have already been applied but failed or where no surgical procedures are thought to be helpful. Myocardial ischemia is one of the most severe forms of coronary artery disease, which is the leading killer in the U.S., according to University Hospital officials.
"This is a study to try and reduce chest pain in people that have this coronary disease and have no other options," said Mark Anderson, director of the Division of Cardiology and associate director of the Cardiovascular Research Center, who is involved in the research.
"By increasing the number of those cells present, it encourages the heart to create biological bypasses to connect with another source of blood," he said. "The area of the heart causing pain is not dead. It is alive, but starved."
The disease causes arteries to tighten so that not enough blood passes to areas of the heart, which leads to chest pain and potentially to heart attacks. The stem cells, researchers hope, will spark new paths for blood to get through.
The treatment method is called Autologous Cellular Therapy CD 34-Chronic Myocardial Ischemia Trial or ACT34-CMI, and is funded by Baxter Healthcare Corporation. Appropriately so as Baxter has its own line of products for stem cell harvesting and processing. Increasing the applications for this line of service beyond cancer would add a new revenue stream for the company.
The American Heart Association estimates that 125,000 to 250,000 people with coronary artery disease develop myocardial ischemia each year. In Malaysia, the estimates would range about 12,000 to 25,000 annually. I hope that they would come to us early so that we can help them salvage as many of those starving cells as we can.
On another note, I found this site which tells us what to do if someone is having a heart attack. Could come in handy.
The patients are selected from an existing pool where usual and conventional treatments have already been applied but failed or where no surgical procedures are thought to be helpful. Myocardial ischemia is one of the most severe forms of coronary artery disease, which is the leading killer in the U.S., according to University Hospital officials.
"This is a study to try and reduce chest pain in people that have this coronary disease and have no other options," said Mark Anderson, director of the Division of Cardiology and associate director of the Cardiovascular Research Center, who is involved in the research.
"By increasing the number of those cells present, it encourages the heart to create biological bypasses to connect with another source of blood," he said. "The area of the heart causing pain is not dead. It is alive, but starved."
The disease causes arteries to tighten so that not enough blood passes to areas of the heart, which leads to chest pain and potentially to heart attacks. The stem cells, researchers hope, will spark new paths for blood to get through.
The treatment method is called Autologous Cellular Therapy CD 34-Chronic Myocardial Ischemia Trial or ACT34-CMI, and is funded by Baxter Healthcare Corporation. Appropriately so as Baxter has its own line of products for stem cell harvesting and processing. Increasing the applications for this line of service beyond cancer would add a new revenue stream for the company.
The American Heart Association estimates that 125,000 to 250,000 people with coronary artery disease develop myocardial ischemia each year. In Malaysia, the estimates would range about 12,000 to 25,000 annually. I hope that they would come to us early so that we can help them salvage as many of those starving cells as we can.
On another note, I found this site which tells us what to do if someone is having a heart attack. Could come in handy.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Adult Stem Cell Therapy for Cardiac Patients in Gujarat, India
I like these kinds of stories because firstly, it shows the forward thinking doctors who are willing to pioneer the concept of stem cell therapy in their geographical location and secondly (more importantly) because their work may have genuinely benefitted the patients.
Essentially, two Gujarati patients aged 35 and 58, Lakshmanbhai Bharwad and Ratanbhai Prajapati respectively, were the first to receive stem cell therapy for their failing hearts. Both patients had poor ejection fractions of 18% and 30% (versus the normal 60-70%), felt exhausted all the time and thus were generally quite unproductive.
The doctors Dr Shalin Thakore together with embryologist Dr Himanshu Patel, of the Krishna Heart and Super Specialty Institute had performed angioplasties for their patients and immediately after diagnosing and widening the relevant blocked arteries, proceeded to mobilize the patient's stem cells and collect them.
The article cites that "About three to four days later, stem cells were cultured into cardiac stem cells and reinjected into the newly reopened arteries via another angiography." I find this rather suspect reporting as I don't think its currently possible to culture and differentiate cells in 3-4 days and identify them morphologically. In any case, the stem cells were re-injected by angiography soon after harvesting.
The patients' ejection rate quite amazingly increased very dramatically, rising from 18% to 45% and 30% to 55% within two months, which is the highest jump that I have ever seen reported.
This rapid increase is unlike any that we've experienced and I am wondering if they are willing to publish their work. One important parameter that is likely to influence the outcome is the number of cells delivered to the injured site and the timing of the delivery.
My questions would be:
How many mobilizing injections did they give?
How many cells did they harvest and use?
How did they measure the ejection fraction? (some equipments are said to be notoriously variable in result)
Does this increase in EF only apply to those who have stem cells within 15 days of the heart attack?
Dr. Thakore's final statement was that this was a one-time procedure but could be repeated in 3 months should the results not meet expectations. Very interesting. I'm waiting to hear if they proceed with more cases and long term follow up.
StemLife currently offers stem cell therapy for cardiac conditions with 2 leading centers in Malaysia, HSC Medical Center and Gleneagles Intan Medical Center and look forward to serving more. Our patients have reported significant symptomatic improvements on 3 and 6 month follow ups.
If you would like to have stem cell therapy for your cardiac condition, please contact us at +6012 2050 165 and we'll be happy to refer you to a doctor or open the dialogue with your doctor in the hospital of your choice.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Do not misinterpret NHS Trust Doctor's stance on Cord Blood Collection
A quick search on cord blood reveals a number of articles citing a senior consultant obstetrician, Dr. Leroy Edozien, commenting on cord blood collection. I felt that the headlines proclaiming that he was totally against cord blood collection is unfairly represented by the press, as his actual comments relate mostly to the cord blood collected in public hospitals and its logistic issues poses to the doctors.
My analysis of the comments that I could find are as follows:
His concern: "Time spent on collecting cord blood is time away from the care of this mother, the baby, and, critically, other patients."
This may be true in government facilities as staff numbers are sometimes limited and due to the overwhelming load of patient deliveries, doctors and nurses often have to manage multiple ladies in various stages of labor. However, the time spent also does depend on the method of cord blood collection. Some companies provide syringes (cheaper) and expect the doctor to load the anti-coagulant prior to collection. However, StemLife makes this as easy as possible for one doctor/ nurse to perform the collection with sterile, pre-loaded blood bags with anti-coagulant which saves time and manipulation.
He adds: ""As well as being given a realistic assessment of the value of cord blood banking, parents need to know how their care, and the care of other women, can be affected by cord blood collection and what could go wrong during collection. There could also be risks that the cord blood could be contaminated or mislabeled, which could lead to legal action."
True, except that all cord blood stem cell banks should have already signed agreements with parents and counselled them sufficiently to understand that the collection of cord blood is never guaranteed. Some mothers may have emergency deliveries where it may be deemed that cord blood cannot be safely collected. Dr. Edozien's specialty is managing mothers with pregnancy problems and if these ladies requested cord blood collections, this may have bearings on the delivery process.
And not only do cord blood volumes vary from baby to baby (think small, large, long, short umbilical cords) but also despite thorough cleaning of the cord by the doctor, a single bacteria which may remain on the cord may enter the blood bag and contaminate the unit. This is not the doctor's fault nor the cord blood banks' as bacteria exist naturally everywhere, in the mucosa, vaginal tract and also in the digestive tract. All it would take would be a small amount of urine, poo or fart* to get the bacteria onto the cord and perhaps into the blood.
Cord blood banks do not usually accept contaminated units in accordance with good banking practices (StemLife does not, although I understand that there are some in asia who do...) and will discard them after informing the parents of the result. In this event, StemLife provides a full refund to the client and this happens in a small number of collections each month. I suppose if there was no refund involved, then not only would the client have lost the opportunity to bank the stem cell unit but also some money (the sum which is involved in the processing and testing of the unit).
Dr. Edozien also poses the concern of mislabelling but StemLife addresses this issue in 2 ways: 1) pre-labelling the cord blood kit with the mother's name prior to the birth of the baby and 2) ensuring that our collection team member checks on the name of the mother against our delivering database. I'm curious as to how the UK cord blood banks manage this point.
He says: "Even if the rapid pace of technological advancement results in today's speculation becoming tomorrow's reality, risk management, medicolegal, ethical, and public policy considerations militate against commercial collection of cord blood in NHS maternity units. It should therefore be NHS policy not to facilitate umbilical cord blood collection by its staff."
-If I had a child with thalassemia major and my next baby's cord blood could help treat the condition, would you prevent me from collecting the cord blood?
Can you guarantee a matching unit for my child in the public cord blood bank?-
....Its pretty tragic if no exceptions can be made in the NHS hospitals as there may be mothers who really require the service although they may not necessarily know it at the birth of their child. Private cord blood stem cell banks have already facilitated transplants for these patients and the numbers continue to grow.
He admits:"Increasing numbers of women in maternity units across the United Kingdom are requesting collection of umbilical cord blood at delivery to enable storage of stem cells for possible autologous transfusion in the future."
There is no denying that many mothers will come to know about cord blood stem cells. UK Mothers who wish to have cord blood stem cells collected may need to go to private centers. That would be a pity as it would be a step back from making another simple procedure routinely available for all mothers. I'm no expert on the NHS policies and I'm sure the doctors are doing the best they can under the circumstances available, but perhaps they could consider having those mothers who wish to have their cord blood collected check in to specific rooms and pay a small procedural fee to have a doctor, nurse or trained cord blood bank staff perform the collection. This may also provide some financial alleviation on the healthcare budget of the hospital.
*please excuse my use of this colloquialism
Friday, October 13, 2006
Adult Stem Cells Help Repair Radiation Damaged Tissue
I was excited to see this news release by the Director of the Clinic for Radiation Therapy as a result of the 25th Annual Congress of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO) held in Germany on the 9th of October.
In a nutshell, adult stem cells when infused after radiation therapy for cancers helps to alleviate the side effects of mucosa (think nasal passages, throat, digestive tracts etc) and skin.
The news release was so clear in its message that I'd like to post it almost in its entirety:
"Stem cell research will have many consequences for various fields of medicine", predicts Catherine Verfaillie, Director of the Stem Cell Institute of the University Leuven (Belgium), in a review lecture during the Presidential Symposium of the ESTRO conference on October 9. For example, stem cells that settle in the organ systems could be stimulated and then repair tissue damage. Radiation therapists have been following this track for some time in various projects that are presented at the ESTRO conference.
Even though the results were obtained in studies on mice, I hope that the radio-oncologists are taking note...!
INTERNATIONAL PROJECT. Rob Coppes of the University Groningen (The Netherlands) presents an EU-sponsored international undertaking at the conference, which is called the "FIRST Project" for short. (FIRST stands for "further improvement of radiotherapy through side effect reduction by stem cell transplantation").
The researchers have discovered that the side effects of a radiation therapy on various healthy tissues, such as skin and mucosa, can be reduced by treatment with adult stem cells. The stem cells migrate to the radiated tissue and support its regeneration. If studies confirm that this stem cell effect also occurs in humans, this would expand the treatment options for tumours because currently valid radiation dosage limits could be surpassed.
For instance, a radiation-biological research team led by Wolfgang Dörr of the Clinic for Radiation Therapy and Radiooncology at the Technical University Dresden reports that adult stem cells can reduce the side effects of radiation therapy on the mouth mucosa in mice. The scientists observed that the radiation tolerance of the mucosa was clearly increased if the animals received a bone marrow transplant prior to or during a fractionated radiation - during which adult stem cells are also transferred practically automatically.
A comparable effect was also observed by the scientists when they lured the stem cells from the bone marrow of the radiated animals into the blood circulation by injecting a growth factor, called G-CSF for short.
MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS PROTECT. A team led by Dr. Michèle Martin of the Service de Génomique Fonctionnelle from Evry (France) also reports on studies in mice. The researchers had treated the animals with a radiation dose that led to tissue damage of the skin within three weeks. Without treatment, it took eight weeks until this damage had healed. Part of the mice was injected by the researchers with human mesenchymal stem cells 20 hours after the radiation exposure. The stem cells were adult stem cells from, e.g., the bone marrow that can differentiate into fat, cartilage, tendon, skin or muscle cells.
The scientists noted that the skin damage in the treated animals healed faster and better than in the untreated animals. In addition, the scientists examined tissue samples from the damaged skin areas. The stem cells - so the result - had indeed migrated to the radiated skin regions. As Martin reports, their morphology was similar to that of the epithelium.
I have a few friends who are currently undergoing chemo and radiotherapy. If eating and breathing could be made more comfortable, I'm sure they'll want to know about it. I'll tell them about it tomorrow.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Updates on Cord Blood Stem Cell News
Congratulations to the St. Louis Cord Blood Bank which has just announced the 1,000th cord blood stem cell unit which has been exported for transplant!
It is the world's second-largest cord blood repository and its continued development is testament to the value of cord blood stem cells in disease treatment. The article states "Cord blood is a source of adult stem cells which are as effective as a bone marrow transplant in fighting leukemia and lymphoma. Cord blood is collected from the umbilical cord at birth."
The bank began shipping units of cord blood for exportation worldwide in 1997 and is a member of the NMDP, a consortium of public cord blood banks. Their website FAQ makes it clear that although donation does not cost the donor any money, the donor also has no exclusive rights to the stored unit, as it is in the bank's discretion to provide it to another patient in need or to a laboratory for research purposes. Most of the public banks charge patients for the release of units, with the cost typically being in excess of USD 21,000. So in this regard the St. Louis bank is probably the most cash-generative public access bank in the world, although the release fees probably still don't cover the high costs of operating this facility in the US.
In a separate article, a famous Netherlands-based medical researcher Dr. Pieter Doevendans criticized the practice of private cord blood banking, alleging that mothers have to pay a hefty fee for an idea that may not yield any results for another 50 years.
The press went on to quote him as saying "There is no proof that one can use cord stem cells to cure a disease, be it leukemia or thalassaemia...Storing cord blood cells may help 50 years down the line, but not before."
Dr. Doevedans is wrong, wrong, wrong. Who knows what his sources are, but if he had been reading this blog or the Malaysian newspapers, he could have learned about how in the last four years StemLife has assisted in two life-saving cord blood stem cell transplants; one for leukemia and one for thalassemia major. There have been similar leukemia transplants in Europe. Dr. Doevedan's mis-informed comments are a dis-service to patients, doctors and scientists seeking therapies using cord blood stems cells. Perhaps he should re-read the hippocratic oath.
Apparently, private banks in the Netherlands charge large sums to bank cord blood stem cells for a period of ten years and the same applies in India. In Malaysia our pricing is very reasonable (less than a teh-tarik per day!) and anyone who knows the costs of medical consumables and what it takes to run a good service would know that we're very prudent about managing the pricing to make stem cell banking affordable. Compare the upfront charge to the amount that public services charge, with no greater guarantees that the unit would be available, and the banking fee in Malaysia is actually very affordable.
Perhaps Dr. Doevendans comments are explained by the fact that instead of working with cord blood stem cells he works on highly speculative (though important) embryonic stem cell research to generate cardiomyocytes from pigs and mice. He is hoping that the research will result in tissues which are able to be sewn onto the heart within 5 years. Notably, he is also a scientific advisor to a Singapore company Embryonic Stem Cell International (ESI).
Umbilical cord blood stem cells have effectively been used to treat thalasemia and leukemia and a number of other illnesses. How many leukemia patients have been saved with embryonic stem cell transplants? NONE.
It is the world's second-largest cord blood repository and its continued development is testament to the value of cord blood stem cells in disease treatment. The article states "Cord blood is a source of adult stem cells which are as effective as a bone marrow transplant in fighting leukemia and lymphoma. Cord blood is collected from the umbilical cord at birth."
The bank began shipping units of cord blood for exportation worldwide in 1997 and is a member of the NMDP, a consortium of public cord blood banks. Their website FAQ makes it clear that although donation does not cost the donor any money, the donor also has no exclusive rights to the stored unit, as it is in the bank's discretion to provide it to another patient in need or to a laboratory for research purposes. Most of the public banks charge patients for the release of units, with the cost typically being in excess of USD 21,000. So in this regard the St. Louis bank is probably the most cash-generative public access bank in the world, although the release fees probably still don't cover the high costs of operating this facility in the US.
In a separate article, a famous Netherlands-based medical researcher Dr. Pieter Doevendans criticized the practice of private cord blood banking, alleging that mothers have to pay a hefty fee for an idea that may not yield any results for another 50 years.
The press went on to quote him as saying "There is no proof that one can use cord stem cells to cure a disease, be it leukemia or thalassaemia...Storing cord blood cells may help 50 years down the line, but not before."
Dr. Doevedans is wrong, wrong, wrong. Who knows what his sources are, but if he had been reading this blog or the Malaysian newspapers, he could have learned about how in the last four years StemLife has assisted in two life-saving cord blood stem cell transplants; one for leukemia and one for thalassemia major. There have been similar leukemia transplants in Europe. Dr. Doevedan's mis-informed comments are a dis-service to patients, doctors and scientists seeking therapies using cord blood stems cells. Perhaps he should re-read the hippocratic oath.
Apparently, private banks in the Netherlands charge large sums to bank cord blood stem cells for a period of ten years and the same applies in India. In Malaysia our pricing is very reasonable (less than a teh-tarik per day!) and anyone who knows the costs of medical consumables and what it takes to run a good service would know that we're very prudent about managing the pricing to make stem cell banking affordable. Compare the upfront charge to the amount that public services charge, with no greater guarantees that the unit would be available, and the banking fee in Malaysia is actually very affordable.
Perhaps Dr. Doevendans comments are explained by the fact that instead of working with cord blood stem cells he works on highly speculative (though important) embryonic stem cell research to generate cardiomyocytes from pigs and mice. He is hoping that the research will result in tissues which are able to be sewn onto the heart within 5 years. Notably, he is also a scientific advisor to a Singapore company Embryonic Stem Cell International (ESI).
Umbilical cord blood stem cells have effectively been used to treat thalasemia and leukemia and a number of other illnesses. How many leukemia patients have been saved with embryonic stem cell transplants? NONE.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Prince Hisahito's cord blood stem cells
Does anyone know if Prince Hisahito's cord blood stem cells were successfully donated? I'm wondering if maybe they may have kept the cord blood stem cells for the Prince.
Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko offered to donate their baby's cord blood stem cells during her Caesarean section at Aiiku Hospital in Tokyo. Prince Hisahito was born on September 6th and is the male heir in line for the throne.
You can find out more about the story here.
Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko offered to donate their baby's cord blood stem cells during her Caesarean section at Aiiku Hospital in Tokyo. Prince Hisahito was born on September 6th and is the male heir in line for the throne.
You can find out more about the story here.
Friday, October 06, 2006
"A 40-Year-Old-Man WITH 20-Year-Old-Legs"..... Rebuilding Muscle Strength with Stem Cells
Following the previous article published by the Times mentioning famous footballers banking their babies' umbilical cord blood stem cells, this article expresses why athletes apart from footballers may be interested in this area.
Stem cells can treat diseases and save lives, but now their full range of potential is being explored in tissue regeneration - not just in repairing organs that fail- but to heal soft tissue injuries (think aching muscles) and according to the article "boost strength, endurance, and provide a lasting edge over the competition".
Paul Griffiths, managing director of an umbilical cord blood stem cell bank called Cryogenesis International in the UK believes that injecting stem cells into healthy muscles might "increase their size and even restore them to their youthful capacity".
"You could potentially find a 40-year-old man with 20-year-old legs," Paul Griffiths said.
SPORTS ETHICS
It is already well-known that some athletes are at a greater advantage than others, by taking advantage of environmental enhancements. Those who have adequate sponsorship can pursue high-altitude training or have personal trainers and physiotherapists. Could stem cells be the next unfair advantage?
The issue might be how to detect if an athlete has had stem cell injections for performance enhancement (sports doping) and whether it has any real effect on the long term sustainability of the athelete. Even if the athlete's own stem cells were injected back into the muscles, those muscles may only regenerate to a limited amount with a short space of time. So sports doping with stem cells is probably going to be difficult as it does take months to build up the muscles and the injected cells may have already blended into their new environment making it almost impossible to detect.
HEALING OF SOFT TISSUE
It has already been shown in animal trials that stem cells have been able to regenerate soft tissue such as ligaments, tendons and muscles. Whilst soft tissue has a very healthy rate of repair, som injuries are too great and lead to scarring and ultimately weak fibers that are unable to withstand much further tension.
RESEARCH FROM ITALY & CANADA
Separately, in an article published in The Genome News Network 2003 both Canadian and Italian scientists found that stem cells were able to regenerate damaged muscle to give rise to new muscle fibers. But the interesting work, in my opinion is what they discovered with muscular dystrophy.
EXTRACTED FROM THE ARTICLE: The research could lead to new treatments for muscle-wasting diseases, such as muscular dystrophy, and for restoring muscle strength in elderly people. Athletes may also be interested in the new findings, which lend credence to the “no pain, no gain” approach to strength training and may lead to new strategies for bulking up.
In one study, Giulio Cossu, of the Stem Cell Research Institute in Milan, Italy, and his colleagues restored muscle function to mice with muscular dystrophy. The researchers injected stem cells from the blood vessels of healthy mice into leg arteries of mice with muscular dystrophy. The stem cells, which they call “mesoangioblasts,” accumulated in the diseased muscle within hours and eventually gave rise to healthy muscle tissue.
The Canadian study demonstrated that the muscle's amazing ability to regenerate stems from a particular protein known as Wnt (if you are a molecular biologist, check this out), which is released from damaged muscles and stimulates the stem cells to form new muscles. However, as people age, these signals diminish and the cells lose their ability to regenerate. The understanding of this process could lead to new strategies for increasing muscle strength in both aging and diseases tissues.
One of the Canadian researchers has since started a company by the name of Stempath to discover drugs which can be used to stimulate muscle stem cell production. Those types of drugs used in athletes, could be certainly considered as "sports doping".
Coming full circle again, the younger the stem cells are, the better the chance of regeneration and repair. Whether you fancy yourself as a weekend athlete or a true sports professional, perhaps stem cells may be able to help with your condition. If its your own cells and not drug based, no harm in trying. :)
StemLife has banked stem cells for several keen tennis players and runners. We look forward to more healthy Malaysian athletic stem cell bankers in the near future!
Stem cells can treat diseases and save lives, but now their full range of potential is being explored in tissue regeneration - not just in repairing organs that fail- but to heal soft tissue injuries (think aching muscles) and according to the article "boost strength, endurance, and provide a lasting edge over the competition".
Paul Griffiths, managing director of an umbilical cord blood stem cell bank called Cryogenesis International in the UK believes that injecting stem cells into healthy muscles might "increase their size and even restore them to their youthful capacity".
"You could potentially find a 40-year-old man with 20-year-old legs," Paul Griffiths said.
SPORTS ETHICS
It is already well-known that some athletes are at a greater advantage than others, by taking advantage of environmental enhancements. Those who have adequate sponsorship can pursue high-altitude training or have personal trainers and physiotherapists. Could stem cells be the next unfair advantage?
The issue might be how to detect if an athlete has had stem cell injections for performance enhancement (sports doping) and whether it has any real effect on the long term sustainability of the athelete. Even if the athlete's own stem cells were injected back into the muscles, those muscles may only regenerate to a limited amount with a short space of time. So sports doping with stem cells is probably going to be difficult as it does take months to build up the muscles and the injected cells may have already blended into their new environment making it almost impossible to detect.
HEALING OF SOFT TISSUE
It has already been shown in animal trials that stem cells have been able to regenerate soft tissue such as ligaments, tendons and muscles. Whilst soft tissue has a very healthy rate of repair, som injuries are too great and lead to scarring and ultimately weak fibers that are unable to withstand much further tension.
RESEARCH FROM ITALY & CANADA
Separately, in an article published in The Genome News Network 2003 both Canadian and Italian scientists found that stem cells were able to regenerate damaged muscle to give rise to new muscle fibers. But the interesting work, in my opinion is what they discovered with muscular dystrophy.
EXTRACTED FROM THE ARTICLE: The research could lead to new treatments for muscle-wasting diseases, such as muscular dystrophy, and for restoring muscle strength in elderly people. Athletes may also be interested in the new findings, which lend credence to the “no pain, no gain” approach to strength training and may lead to new strategies for bulking up.
In one study, Giulio Cossu, of the Stem Cell Research Institute in Milan, Italy, and his colleagues restored muscle function to mice with muscular dystrophy. The researchers injected stem cells from the blood vessels of healthy mice into leg arteries of mice with muscular dystrophy. The stem cells, which they call “mesoangioblasts,” accumulated in the diseased muscle within hours and eventually gave rise to healthy muscle tissue.
The Canadian study demonstrated that the muscle's amazing ability to regenerate stems from a particular protein known as Wnt (if you are a molecular biologist, check this out), which is released from damaged muscles and stimulates the stem cells to form new muscles. However, as people age, these signals diminish and the cells lose their ability to regenerate. The understanding of this process could lead to new strategies for increasing muscle strength in both aging and diseases tissues.
One of the Canadian researchers has since started a company by the name of Stempath to discover drugs which can be used to stimulate muscle stem cell production. Those types of drugs used in athletes, could be certainly considered as "sports doping".
Coming full circle again, the younger the stem cells are, the better the chance of regeneration and repair. Whether you fancy yourself as a weekend athlete or a true sports professional, perhaps stem cells may be able to help with your condition. If its your own cells and not drug based, no harm in trying. :)
StemLife has banked stem cells for several keen tennis players and runners. We look forward to more healthy Malaysian athletic stem cell bankers in the near future!
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Transplants In Malaysia
In the STAR newspaper last week, I read about the transplant scene as updated by the National Transplant Resource Centre in Malaysia. Although not totally related to stem cell transplants (although you'll see why chronologically), some of the statistics are quite interesting and I thought it would be good to record them in this blog entry (for posterity!)
1st organ transplant that took place at KLGH (Hospital Kuala Lumpur) on the 15th of December 1975 was a renal transplant.
To date, there have been 1,005 renal transplants in the country.
1st Heart transplant was performed at Institut Jantung Malaysia (IJN) on 18th December 1997.
15 Heart transplants have been done to date.
1st Liver transplant was performed at Subang Jaya Medical Center in 1995 and subsequently at Selayang Hospital.
To date approximately 50 liver transplants have been performed (mostly living donors to related children).
1st Corneal transplant was performed in Malaysia in late 1960's.
A total of 1,231 have been reported to date.
1st Bone marrow transplant was performed in University Hospital (UMMC) for children in 1987 and later for adults. HKL started their ward in 1994 and followed subsequently by HUKM and SJMC.
Up until 2003, a total of 634 bone marrow transplants were performed, of which 372 were for children and 262 were for adults.
Since 2003, StemLife has enabled 2 cord blood stem cell transplants from parents who would not otherwise have banked their baby's cord blood stem cells.
We're looking forward to assisting more families in the future for their stem cell treatments- its the reason we started StemLife.
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