More than 5 million people in the U.S. alone are currently afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, and the global number is increasing dramatically each year. Now, researchers at the University of South Florida, in collaboration with Saneron CCEL Therapeutics, Inc., an affiliate of Cryo-Cell International, have demonstrated the ability of cord blood stem cells to slow the progression of this debilitating disease.

In this study, mice with symptoms mimicking those of Alzheimer’s were treated with a series of infusions containing stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. The scientists then tested the mice for the two main markers of Alzheimer’s, and found that the myloid-beta proteins had been reduced by 62%, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy had been reduced by 86%. Currently, Alzheimer’s disease is considered to be irreversible since an effective conventional medical therapy does not exist. This study, however, demonstrates that Alzheimer’s disease can in fact be reversed with the potency of certain types of adult stem cells such as those derived from umbilical cord blood.

Although conservative groups often promote the use of adult stem cells over embryonic stem cells for ethical reasons, scientists are increasingly turning to adult stem cells over embryonic stem cells purely for scientific reasons. Increasingly, studies such as this indicate significant success with adult stem cells while embryonic stem cells still remain plagued with numerous unsolved scientific problems. According to Mercedes Walton, Chairman and CEO of Cryo-Cell International, an organization of cord blood banks which funded the study, “The scientific community has only skimmed the surface in uncovering the many potential therapeutic uses for cord blood stem cells, and this new research in Alzheimer’s disease may pave the way for discoveries around the use of these cells for a host of neurodegenerative and other chronic conditions.”

According to Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, a senior fellow in economics at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, “The use of umbilical cord blood is more humane than the use of embryos for two reasons. First, no human life has to be destroyed to produce the umbilical cord blood. Second, the use of umbilical cord blood will undoubtedly be less costly than the use of embryonic stem cells. The supply of umbilical cords is pretty much umlimited.”

Ever since 2004 when a South Korean woman who had been paralyzed for 20 years was able to walk again following cord blood stem cell therapy which repaired the damaged tissue in her spine, this particular source of adult stem cells has been a topic of of intense interest by numerous researchers and clinicians around the world. According to Cryo-Cell, cord blood offers one of the most viable sources of stem cells, as cord blood has already been used in over 7,000 transplantations since 1988, and stem cells derived from cord blood have been clinically administered to human patients for the treatment of more than 70 life-threatening illnesses, which include cardiac injury, neurological injury, type I diabetes, type II diabetes, leukemia, multiple sclerosis, and numerous other types of diseases and injuries.

Next, Alzheimer’s disease may also be added to the list.

Leah Telder of Surrey, British Columbia, had enjoyed ballet dancing until struck with multiple sclerosis in her teens. The demyelinating, auto-immune disorder eventually robbed her of her vision and confined her to a wheelchair. Now 24 years old, Leah is the youngest of seventeen MS patients who have been treated in Canada with their own (autologous) adult stem cells.

Conducted in October of 2007 in Ottawa, the procedure was led by the neurologist Dr. Mark Freedman and the bone marrow transplant specialist Dr. Harold Atkins. In this procedure, stem cells are harvested from the peripheral blood of each patient and are then expanded in a laboratory and readministered after the patient has received a heavy dose of chemotherapy, which is administered with the specific intent of destroying the immune system. Although 16 of the 17 patients are improving as a result of the stem cells, one patient in the study died as a result of the chemotherapy. In fact, at these high doses, each patient has a 5% (or a one in 20) chance of dying from the chemotherapy. Whether or not the chemotherapy even needs to be administered at all is increasingly a topic of debate, and there is strong scientific evidence to support the claim that chemotherapy is unnecessary in this type of stem cell treatment.

Meanwhile, as a result of being treated with this particular chemotherapy procedure, and as a result of being successfully rescued by her own adult stem cells immediately following the chemotherapy procedure, Leah is once again able to walk by herself, and most of her blurred vision has been restored to normal.

In a bipartisan briefing in Washington, D.C., members of Congress were updated both on the increasing number of successful cases of adult stem cell therapy, and on the increasing number of failures of embryonic stem cells, which have never advanced beyond the laboratory stage.

House Representatives Randy Forbes, a Republican from Virgina, and Daniel Lipinski, a Democrat from Illinois, co-hosted the event in conjunction with the Family Research Council (FRC). Among the researchers testifying before the Congressmen was Dr. Richard Burt of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, whose publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February of 2008 garnered widespread attention for its analysis of hundreds of adult stem cell studies that had been conducted between 1997 and 2007, and from which Dr. Burt gathered together an entire decade’s worth of quantitative proof that adult stem cells derived from blood and bone marrow have already been safely and effectively used to treat a number of cardiac and autoimmune disorders.

Congressmen Forbes and Lipinski are promoting the “Patients First Act”, which would legislate and prioritize the funding of stem cell research by stem cell type. According to a representative of the FRC, “Embryonic stem cells have yet to treat a single human patient and this is unlikely to change in the future. Adult stem cells are already providing therapeutic benefit to human patients for 73 diseases and condition.” Also appearing before the Congressmen were several patients who have been successfully treated with adult stem cell therapy, which included Barry Goudy who had been treated for multiple sclerosis, Amy Daniels who had been treated for systemic sclerosis, and Jill Rosen who had been treated for lupus. Each of these individuals spoke about their personal experiences with adult stem cell therapy.

After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1995, Barry Goudy experienced the slow deterioration of his central nervous system with symptoms that included failing vision, a loss of muscular control and an absence of sensory perception in his limbs. Then in 2003 he enrolled in a clinical trial in which his own adult stem cells were used to rebuild his immune system. As he now states, “I have no symptoms of MS. I do no treatment for MS, I do no shots.”

Dr. Richard Burt and colleagues at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine conducted the clinical trial on 2,500 patients who underwent the stem cell transplants. The results have indicated not only that many patients with autoimmune diseases are now in remission, but also many patients who had suffered heart attacks were found to have improved significantly after receiving the adult stem cell therapy.

As Dr. Burt says, “It’s a whole new approach to these diseases.” In an interview conducted this year, Mr. Goudy adds, “I’ve had 5 years of a good life. Five years. If I didn’t do the transplant I would probably be in a wheelchair today.” Among other activities, Mr. Goudy’s active lifestyle now includes playing and coaching hockey. Similar clinical trials are currently underway in the U.S. for the use of adult stem cells in the treatment of numerous other diseases which typically have been unresponsive to conventional medical therapies.

The New York based investor and public relations firm known as “Consulting for Strategic Growth 1” (CFSG1) has selected the adult stem cell company NeoStem, Inc., as a sound business model with positive growth and strong financial results.

According to CFSG1, NeoStem’s performance was so successful in 2007 that the company was selected as one of only 3 “stock picks” by the firm for the entire year. NeoStem deals exclusively with adult stem cells, thereby avoiding entirely not only the ethical and political quagmires that are entangled in the topic of embryonic stem cells, but also the countless scientific problems that are caused by embryonic stem cells as well. To date, embryonic stem cells have never actually been used in the treatment of any disease or injury in human patients, and for good reason, since embryonic stem cells have proven to be highly problematic in the laboratory. Ethical and political controversies aside, embryonic stem cells have never advanced beyond the laboratory stage purely for scientific reasons. Consequently, financial experts are now discovering what scientists have known all along: namely, that adult stem cells not only make sound scientific sense, but they also make sound business sense as well.

NeoStem manages a nationwide network of adult stem cell collection centers throughout the U.S., and is one of a handful of companies that are pioneering the collection, processing and long-term storage of adult stem cells for future autologous (in which the donor and recipient are the same person) medical use. As such, not only do companies such as NeoStem eliminate all concerns regarding embryonic stem cells, but problems associated with matching a compatible donor to the recipient are also avoided. Additionally, NeoStem has developed proprietary technology in the collection and isolation of specific types of adult stem cells from the peripheral blood of adults through apheresis, a procedure which is safe, painless, minimally invasive and highly preferable to “bone marrow aspiration”, the process by which stem cells have typically been collected from bone marrow in the past and which is usually performed under general anesthesia due to the amount of pain that is involved.

A number of recent breakthroughs have been reported with adult stem cells in the treatment of various diseases including systemic lupus, multiple sclerosis, scleroderma, peripheral vascular disease, heart disease, and a variety of osteopathic conditions, all of which are included in NeoStem’s research. By contrast, embryonic stem cells have never even been attempted for use in the treatment of any disease or injury in human patients, which is why there is currently no successful business model that exists for the actual treatment of human patients with embryonic stem cells. Also for this reason, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are currently conducting more than 750 clinical trials with adult stem cells in the treatment of human patients, and zero clinical trials in which human patients are treated with embryonic stem cells.

As reported by CFSG1, NeoStem’s “business model is non-capital intensive, does not depend on risky biopharmaceutical R&D, and is a service model that is completely scalable and can be implemented immediately. All fees flow directly to NeoStem and do not require third-party payment.” Additionally, NeoStem “grew substantially in 2007, meeting all of its milestones for the year.” NeoStem (symbol NBS) is listed on Amex.

As the clinical wisdom and logic of adult stem cells begins to gain popularity over the clinical folly and futility of embryonic stem cells, more and more companies such as NeoStem, which deal exclusively with adult stem cells, are expected to become increasingly financially successful as they fill a widespread, international need for the safe and effective treatment of numerous diseases and injuries, including congenital and age-related conditions, many of which have already been found to be treatable with adult stem cells. One of the world’s premier, most highly respected medical research firms, Frost & Sullivan, has estimated that within two years, by 2010, the global market for adult stem cell therapy will be $20 billion per year. Clearly, excellent investment opportunities are to be found today in those companies which are built upon the sound science of adult stem cell therapies.

Without the ability to even walk a short distance, Cathy Zuker suffered from Multiple Sclerosis for 27 years. Her condition had progressed to an absolute worse case scenario.

Before she got a stem cell transplant, she had to lift her legs manually when she got into the car. Her left leg would drag behind her when she walked. Her condition started improving after a stem cell transplant on May 21st, 2007. She began to notice a difference in her legs on the 24th. She said her legs started to feel lighter on the 25th, and considered her improvement to be amazing. On June 7th, 2007, she was able to not only move her legs but could get into a car without any help. Not only that, but her energy returned as well.

According to her,

By injecting sufferers of neurological diseases with therapeutic quantities of cultured adult stem cells, scientists based at Jerusalem’s Hadassah University Hospital have broken new ground in the field of stem cell research.

The researchers extracted stem cells from the hip bone marrow of 26 multiple sclerosis (MS) and amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. The cells were re-injected into the patients via lumbar puncture following a two-month long process of in vitro cleansing, multiplication and chemical ‘tagging’. The researcher team was led by Professor Dimitrious Karussis and Prof. Shimon Slavin, the recently retired head of Hadassah’s bone marrow unit.

The particular type of stem cell used in the trial, marked a world first according to Karussis.

“The sole aim of this study was to explore the feasibility and the safety of this treatment, since it is applied for first time,” Karussis told ISRAEL21c.

The experiment was deemed a success with no adverse effects reported. Leading the way for further developments in forthcoming clinical trials, it was encouraging that patients also displayed anecdotal improvements in clinical symptoms.

“Most MS patients reported a stabilization of their condition and some an improvement in function, especially in sphincter control, muscle power in arms, tremor and stability in walking,” Karussis said. “ALS patients continued to show signs of deterioration – though at a lesser than previous degree.”

This is good news for both groups of patients. Resulting in impaired sensory, motor, balance and vision function, MS causes damage to the body’s central nervous system and affects over 2.5 million people worldwide. Causing the gradual and fatal loss of the patient’s capacity for movement, ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, involves a similar degeneration of neuronal cells. ALS is more rare and progresses more rapidly.

Both conditions are ideal targets for stem cell treatment since they are both caused by the deterioration of a specific type of cell.

Suggesting that it might be possible to regenerate damaged nervous systems through cell re-growth, the Hadassah researchers found that transplanted adult stem cells began to differentiate into the kinds of cells which the diseases had destroyed. This was observed during extensive experimentation on animal models of MS and ALS.

Despite suffering from a similar motor neuron disorder, the treated lab mice retained 90 percent of their neurons after the equivalent of one or two years in the human progression of the diseases.

Marking the first time such adult stem cells have been injected into human patients, Karussis cited the most recent safety study. The study has paved the way for a larger efficacy trial to be held over the course of the next few years, despite remaining highly experimental since the small-scale study lacked a control group.

“We are encouraged as these are patients with advanced cases, many of them in wheelchairs,” Karussis told the Jerusalem Post.

Since most of the attention in recent years has been directed towards embryonic stem cell research, the current work utilizing adult stem cells is significant say scientists. There are advantages to using adult cells. The chances of immune rejection are significantly reduced since the patient can serve as his or her own donor. The ethical issues which surround embryonic stem cells is also avoided with this approach.

The researchers hope to launch a controlled clinical trial of the therapies after first enlarging the safety study to include more patients. Applications from potential trial patients are a welcome sight.

However, a license must first be obtained from the Ministry of Health, as well as funding to cover the expense of treating patients; a cost that can be up to $20,000 per patient. Despite these significant challenges, the team says it will all be worthwhile in the long run.

Stem cells, Karussis notes, “have already shown some promise in the treatment of joint and bone diseases, immune conditions and ischemia of the heart.” And he is optimistic, he says, that MS and ALS will join that auspicious list one day “not far into the future.”

Leaving him hobbled and unable to work for nearly three years, Perry Anderson’s spine injury has changed the man’s life considerably. But stem cells are now being implanted into his spine and may work wonders in repairing his spine from a surgery that failed the first time.

The stem cells being used are not from human embryos. They come from bone marrow, and they not only have the potential to heal Perry’s spine, but the same type of cells allow diabetics to continue producing insulin, end the suffering caused be inflammatory bowel disease, and help heart attack patients heal.

Bone marrow stem cells, harvested both from cadavers and from live donors, are being developed for use against a range of illnesses. This is all while the ethical debate rages over the use of stem cells taken from discarded human embryos.

To control diseases caused by the sometimes harmful effects of the body’s own immune system these cells are proving useful in experimental drug therapies and have exhibited a remarkable ability to form fat, cartilage, ligaments, bone and tendons.

An adult stem cell-based drug is being tested at UC Davis by stem cell scientist Jan Nolta. She will be treating patients with Crohn’s, a chronic and painful bowel disease. Also using the cells in spine surgery, is the Sacramento based Dr. Pasquale Montesano.

Found in the tissue tucked inside the bone cavity are MSC’s, or mesenchymal stem cells.

Kept frozen, MSC’s can be stored for up to five years. But they must be used within 48 hours once removed in order to remain viable.

Anderson’s stem cells arrived in a tiny jar carefully packed in dry ice and stored in a foam cooler on Thursday in the operating room at Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento.

Back in 2004, Anderson fell from a 6-foot ladder while he was painting. This resulted in an injured back. Searing headaches and pain were the symptoms of a bad disk pinching a nerve in his neck. In August of 2006, he had surgery to remove the damaged disk and fuse the vertebrae. But the procedure was not 100% successful.

“The headaches aren’t as bad, but my hands get numb, my arms are aching, I have lower back pain, anxiety attacks and depression,” Anderson, 42, said before his surgery Thursday. “I have worked since I was 17. Now I can’t do anything. I can’t mow the yard, I can’t go grocery shopping. It’s ridiculous.”

Careful to avoid Anderson’s carotid artery and spinal cord, Montesano first removed the scar tissue and bony fragments from between the damaged vertebrae.

He then took the crystal-like stem cell and packed them into a graft made from cadaver bone and shaped like a square nut from a hardware store. He tucked more cells around the graft after gently placing it into Anderson’s spine.

By screwing a small metal plate into his spine to anchor the bone in place while it heals, Montesano completed Anderson’s operation.

“Now we have to let Mother Nature take its course,” he said.

A handful of companies worldwide are currently taking mesenchymal stem cells from live donors in order to develop drugs. In Japan, researchers are studying the treatment of severe gum disease, England is working on multiple sclerosis, and in Iran, scientists are looking for a way to use MSC’s to treat cirrhosis.

Researchers used new blood forming stem cells to replace the immune systems of mice.

Creating a new immune system for people with genetic or autoimmune blood diseases by transplanting adult stem cells is the eventual goal that researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have taken a small but significant step towards in their mouse studies.

Effectively replacing their immune systems, the scientists found a way to transplant new blood-forming stem cells into the bone marrow of mice.

Irving Weissman, MD, a co-senior author of the study and director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine said that many aspects of the technique would need to be adapted prior to human testing.

Weissman suggested the remaining hurdles could eventually be overcome, which include the type of mice that was used which were a poor mimic of the human immune system.

The benefits have great potential when those barriers are overcome.

A person’s immune cells attacks their own body when they are afflicted with an autoimmune disease such as multiple sclerosis. Their defective immune system could potentially be replaced with an entirely new immune system that would not attack the body; an immune system transplant, live a heart or liver transplant, could be performed in order to accomplish this.

All the cells of the blood are generated by blood forming stem cells in the bone marrow. A new immune system can be created by transplanting new blood-forming cells into the bone marrow, but the defective cells must be eliminated first. Radiation or intensive chemotherapy is the typical method used to wipe out the existing system. However, increased risk of cancer, brain damage, infertility, and other tissue damage can be caused by chemotherapy while it eliminates the cells of the bone marrow. This makes the therapy inadequate, since the exchange of brain function in order to rid one’s self of multiple sclerosis is not a fair trade.

One potential path around the problem would be to eliminate only the blood-forming stem cells without affecting bone marrow cells or other tissues thought Weissman and co-first author Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in Weissman’s lab. The cells can be effectively destroyed by injecting mice with molecules that latch on to specific proteins on the surface of the blood-forming stem cells. This feat was accomplished by the team which included Agnieszka Czechowicz, first author and medical student. Without further harming the mice, the technique eliminated the blood-forming stem cells.

“It is essentially a surgical strike against the blood-forming stem cells,” said Weissman, the Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research.

A new blood and immune system was established after the transplanted new blood-forming stem cells took residence in the bone marrow.

The new immune system would no longer attack tissues of the body in the person with autoimmune disease. For example, eliminating the cause of the disease in people with a genetic disorder such as sickle cell anemia, the new blood system would not have the sickle-cell mutation. But the hurdles that stand in the way are tall.

First, the researchers don’t know whether the same molecule on human blood-forming stem cells would be the right one to target with a therapy. Additionally, a functioning immune system is missing in the mice involved in the study. Before tests can begin on humans, the technique must first be tested on mice with normal immune systems.

Weissman said he considered this work to be the beginning of research that could lead to human studies although the steps will take time to overcome.

The November 23rd issue of Science published the study.

Also contributing to the work was postdoctoral scholar, Daniel Kraft, MD.

The National Institutes of Health, the Cancer Research Institute, and the Stanford Medical Scholars Program provided fellowships to fund the research.

Scientists have discovered a way to alter the immune system and in the process, given new hope to the thousands of individuals who suffer from multiple sclerosis and arthritis.

A faulty immune system that attacks the body is responsible for the condition. The condition can be effectively cured by replacing the existing immune system with a healthy one. This is accomplished by taking stem cells from a healthy donor, and transplanting them via injection into the patients body.

Before providing new cells from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, or another suitable source, the existing immune system was traditionally destroyed using an aggressive form of radiotherapy. This was the only way doctors could proceed: until now.

In the new method, the healthy immune system is still established after the unhealthy immune system is destroyed, but a toxin is used to clear out the old system instead of radiotherapy. The stem cells are injected after the initial purging is complete.

The benefits are potentially enormous for humans and could be used to treat MS and rheumatoid arthritis according to scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. However, the procedure has only been utilized on mice thus far.

In the UK, one out of every 5 individuals is afflicted with arthritis. And Multiple Sclerosis affects about 85,000 people as well.

The journal Science reported the research results of Agnieszka Czechowicz, Dr. Deepta Bhattacharya, and Professor Weissman. Stem cells attached to bone marrow, and a new blood and immune system was established when the 3-person team transplanted new, blood-forming stem cells into mice.

So with this method, the new immune system will no longer attack the nerves of the body, when stem cells are taken from a donor and implanted into a person with a good tissue match who has an auto-immune disease such as multiple sclerosis.

In order for the technique to work on humans, researchers must first work out the kinks with more animal testing.

Dr. Laura Bell, the research communications officer at the MS Society, said: “Stem-cell studies are an important avenue of research that hold promise in terms of treatments for MS. This early-stage study is interesting and we look forward to seeing how the work translates into studies in people with MS.”

Professor Edward Tuddenham, of the Royal Free Hospital, London, said: “For those whose blood stem cells contain a severe genetic defect such as that causing sickle cell anaemia, replacing them with normal stem cells would enable restoration of normal blood.”

“Bone marrow transplantation has been used for sickle cell anaemia with good results in children, but in adults it is difficult to get the new stem cells to take in the face of rejection by the resident stem cells and their progeny – the immune system.”

Professor Lars Fugger, of the Medical Research Council Human Immunology Unit, Oxford University, said: “This study has great potential.”