Lifeline Cord Blood

International stem cell scientists, co-led in Canada by Dr. John Dick and in the Netherlands by Dr. Gerald de Haan, have discovered the switch to harness the power of cord blood and potentially increase the supply of stem cells for cancer patients needing transplantation therapy to fight their disease.

WAILEA, Hawaii — With its anti-inflammatory properties, regular use of regenerative medicine in orthopedics looks promising, according to a speaker at Orthopedics Today Hawaii 2021, here.

The promise of stem cells to treat cardiovascular disease may soon be a step closer to clinical application as scientists seek to perfect and test three-dimensional “heart patches” in a large animal model — the last big hurdle before trials in human patients. In theory, the heart patches, engineered tissue composed of the several different types of cells that make up heart muscle, would be implanted to replace diseased or damaged tissue and would perform all the functions of healthy, beating heart muscle. Using stem cells to treat cardiovascular disease is a grail of regenerative medicine, explains Timothy J. Kamp, a University of Wisconsin-Madison cardiologist and co-director of the UW-Madison Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center. Treating diseased hearts by implanting healthy, lab-grown cells to replace damaged tissue has been an aspiration of stem cell biologists since all-purpose human stem cells were first derived and cultured at UW-Madison in 1998.

By Don Margolis

Hayley Pelletier had been legally blind since birth due to her Optic Nerve Hypoplasia. However, thanks to the wonders of stem cell research using Adult Stem Cells, these days Hayley can now see and in the words of her mother "Basically, her whole quality of life was just bumped up 110 percent."

The key to improving motor function in individuals with cerebral palsy may lie in that person's own umbilical cord.
A study from Duke University Medical Center published last month found that children with spastic cerebral palsy showed improvements in brain connectivity and motor function after receiving infusions of their own umbilical cord blood.

We are at a truly revolutionary time in health and medicine. The introduction of stem cell technology represents innovation on the same level as the development of antibiotics or the invention of modern imaging (MRIs, etc.). Stem cells are already changing the way medicine is delivered, increasing lifespans and saving countless lives.

First study of its kind found no “clinically important” safety issues with treatment

Rosemont, Ill. - A single stem cell injection following meniscus knee surgery may provide pain relief and aid in meniscus regrowth, according to a novel study appearing in the January issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery(JBJS).

Stem cell transplantation in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has the potential to be “an important alternative strategy” in treating the disease, a new study suggests.

Kyle R. Knopes

Sixteen-year-old Kyle Knopes of Janesville recently returned from China where he received eight umbilical cord stem cell injections to improve his Type 2 spinal muscular atrophy. Knopes, an avid Wisconsin sports fan, has gained the ability to roll from his back onto both his left and right sides in his bed.

The MSC trial can complement the growing fields of personalized medicine and biologics (products isolated from natural sources such as humans or animals, produced with biotechnology, to become medicines). “This current trial is opening the door to precision medicine,” says Dr. Chahal. “It’s very exciting, and it allows us at UHN to create an infrastructure for world-class clinical trials related to stem cell therapy for arthritis. The next step is to become a world leader.”

For Barbara, the trial has improved her world, allowing her to occasionally don high heels and smile a lot more because she’s in less pain. “Sometimes I even forget about my knee.”

We are at the cusp of a stem cell revolution.
Understanding and harnessing these unique cells may unlock breakthroughs in longevity and therapeutic solutions to all kinds of chronic diseases and regenerative opportunities.

The recent clinical progress that has been made in the medical space of stem cell transplantation is that now cord blood is considered as a better source than bone marrow cells. This was found in a research study based in US, published in 2020.

December 27, 2020, 21:46 IST

Summary:

A new study suggests that treatment with stem cells from umbilical cord blood might be an effective therapy for patients with moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis. For the clinical trial, 34 patients were randomly assigned to receive a low dose or high dose of the cells subcutaneously. Fifty five percent of patients who received the high dose showed a 50% reduction in what’s known as the Eczema Area and Severity Index score at week 12.

Every now and then, I hear friends talk about stem cells. I had no inkling what it was about and why some people paid money to have their stem cells to be stored in special storage banks. Anyway, I was not interested to know.

The umbilical cord is a connection between the fetus and the placenta. The components of the cord are umbilical arteries, vein, and jelly. The blood in the umbilical cord at birth is usually rich in stem cells. The stem cells are referred to as hematopoietic stem cells. These stem cells are capable of growing into different kind of blood cells; erythrocytes, leucocytes, and platelets. The umbilical stem cells have been useful in the treatment of many hematological and non- hematological diseases. They have also been very useful to researchers. The procedure of collecting the blood does not inconvenience the mother or the newborn in any way. However, they are extracted with the permission of the presence of the baby. In fact, this same blood is normally discarded as waste after delivery.

Volume 35, Issue 12, Pages 1753-1765 (December 2007)

Stem cells have been isolated from human embryos, fetal tissue, umbilical cord blood (UCB), and also from "adult" sources. Adult stem cells are found in many tissues of the body and are capable of maintaining, generating, and replacing terminally differentiated cells. A source of pluripotent stem cells has been recently identified in UCB that can also differentiate across tissue lineage boundaries into neural, cardiac, epithelial, hepatocytic, and dermal tissue...

Cells collected from the umbilical cord may hold therapeutic potential to treat children with cerebral palsy. According to the results of a Phase 2 trial, infusion of autologous cord blood (ACB) cells can improve a child’s motor function and brain connectivity.

McGuckin C, et al. Experimental Cell Research

Study: This group isolated primitive cells from cord blood and placed them in expansion culture. Within two weeks, a portion of the cells took on a neuronal morphology, and after eight weeks the cells expressed neuronal markers indicating that they had differentiated into neuronal progenitors. Conclusion: Cord blood is capable of producing neural progenitors and this stem cell source will widen therapeutic potential for neurological therapies.

Does the key to improving the lives of children with autism lie in their own umbilical cord blood? The answer may be yes, according to a new study by Duke researchers.
Scientists conducted an investigation to determine whether infusing an autistic child with blood from the umbilical cord would reduce symptoms of autism.