Lifeline Cord Blood

The results of the study showed that in both normal and stroke-injured brains had improved neurological outcomes as a result of treatment. The researchers say, “the results of this study clearly support the hypothesis that MSC transplantation or injection promotes endogenous neurogenesis and improves behavioral deficits after ischemic stroke.” 

Stem Cells Dev

When human umbilical cord blood cells (HUCBCs) are administered intravenously after a middle cerebral artery occlusion, they reliably produce behavioral and anatomical recovery, and protect neural tissue from progressive change...

RANDI DRUZIN, NATIONAL POST | November 1, 2016 | Last Updated: Nov 3 11:49 AM

When he was born at Mount Sinai Hospital, Jack was not breathing. Doctors whisked him away from his mother and started efforts to resuscitate him. They managed to save his life but soon had to deliver some bad news to his parents, Stephen Pankratz and Kim Kucher.
Their son had Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE), brain damage caused by lack of oxygen to the brain and other organs compounded by low blood flow to vital organs.

CBS News Washington USA: Doctors have long used umbilical cord blood to treat sick babies, but now that treatment has given new hope to thousands of babies born with brain damage and their parents. Nancy Cordes reports.

University of South Florida Health

An experimental treatment that spares disability from acute stroke may be delivered much later than the current three-hour treatment standard - a potential advance needed to benefit more stroke victims...

It started as a small ‘hiccup-like’ movement.

Rebecca Coates had given birth to her daughter Bailey only hours earlier when she noticed something was not quite right with her infant.

“She was moving really strangely, even under the swaddle, so I called the nurse just to make sure she was breathing okay,”

In an early test, researchers report they've safely injected stem cells into the brains of 18 patients who had suffered strokes. And two of the patients showed significant improvement.

All the patients saw some improvement in weakness or paralysis within six months of their procedures. Although three people developed complications related to the surgery, they all recovered. There were no adverse reactions to the transplanted stem cells themselves, the study authors said.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A routine ultrasound turned frightening for a local mom as she learned her baby would be born with a life-threatening condition.

Lindsey Musgrave remembers the day when she learned her son Vincent would soon have a sister.

In a new clinical trial conducted at Memorial Hermann Hospital, researchers from UTHealth have shown it’s possible to reduce brain inflammation by harvesting stem cells from a trauma patient’s bone marrow and re-infusing them into the bloodstream within 48 hours of injury. The results are promising, said Dr. Charles Cox, who’s been working on the experimental treatment for more than 15 years.

Henry Ford News

In the study led by Michael Chopp, Ph.D., scientific director of the Henry Ford Neuroscience Institute, rats injected with umbilical cord blood cells 24 hours after the onset of stroke showed dramatic improvement in recovery two to three weeks later...

Scientists have used human umbilical cord blood cells (HUCB) to treat cultured rat brain cells (astrocytes) deprived of oxygen, which protected them from cell death after stroke-like damage.

ScienceDaily

When human umbilical cord blood cells (UCBC) were injected into aged laboratory animals, researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) found improvements in the microenvironment of the hippocampus region of the animals’ brains and a subsequent rejuvenation of neural stem/progenitor cells.

Lenita Powers, Reno Gazette-Journal

Recovering from stroke: Ex-judge's wife optimistic about the treatment.

Minneapolis / St. Paul

Discovery suggests potential treatment for regenerating nerve tissue after stroke. Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School have discovered a new population of cells in human umbilical cord blood that have properties of primitive stem cells...

A FIVE-YEAR-OLD boy could be able to hug his family for the first time after receiving a stem cell transplant from his baby brother.

A stroke therapy using stem cells extracted from patients’ bone marrow has shown promising results in the first trial of its kind in humans. The therapy uses a type of cell called CD34+ cells, a set of stem cells in the bone marrow that give rise to blood cells and blood vessel lining cells. Rather than developing into brain cells themselves, the cells are thought to release chemicals that trigger the growth of new brain tissue and new blood vessels in the area damaged by stroke.

Infusing stem cells into the brain may help boost recovery after a stroke, according to a pilot study by Imperial College London.

Scientists believe the cells encourage new blood vessels to grow in damaged areas of the brain.

They found most patients were able to walk and look after themselves independently by the end of the trial, despite having suffered severe strokes.

Larger studies are needed to evaluate whether this could be used more widely.

In this early trial - designed primarily to look at the safety of this approach - researchers harvested stem cells from the bone marrow of five people who had recently had a stroke.

'Independent living' 

They isolated particular types of stem cells - known as CD34+. These have the ability to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels.

They were infused directly into damaged sections of the brain, via the major artery that supplies this area.

Scientists monitored the patients for six months, charting their ability to carry out everyday activities independently.

Four of the five patients had suffered particularly severe strokes - resulting in the loss of speech and marked paralysis down one side of the body.

This type of stroke usually has a high fatality and disability rate.

But researchers found three of the four patients were able to walk and look after themselves independently at the end of the six-month period.

And with some help, all five were mobile and could take part in everyday tasks.

'Natural protection' 

Though other stem cell treatment has shown promise as stroke therapy before, this is the first UK study to investigate using this type of approach in the first week after a stroke.

Scientists hope getting to patients early will improve chances of success.

Dr Soma Banerjee, who led the study, told the BBC: "This is encouraging and exciting early research.

"Now we need to look at a larger group of patients and hope eventually to develop a treatment based on this approach."

But Dr Tim Chico, from the University of Sheffield, who was not involved in the study, said: "It is important to understand this is only the very earliest step towards a possible new treatment for stroke and does not prove the stem cell treatment improved these patients' recovery.

"A much larger trial will be needed to compare stem cell treatment with no stem cell treatment.

"Anyone who has seen the suffering a stroke can cause will be encouraged that doctors and scientists are continually exploring new ways to treat this devastating disease."

The study is published in Stem Cell Translational Medicine.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-28694656                

LIF REF 231014

Helen Pilcher

Stem cells will be grafted into the brains of patients during the new trial. UK researchers have been given the go-ahead for a clinical trial to assess the use of stem-cell transplants for stroke. Twelve people will take part in the preliminary safety study, the first time that brain-derived stem cells have been used to treat stroke patients.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI), which can lead to disability, dysfunction, and even death, is a prominent health problem worldwide. Effective therapy for this serious and debilitating condition is needed. Human umbilical cord matrix, known as Wharton’s jelly (WJ), provides a natural, interface scaffold that is enriched in mesenchymal stem cells.