Scientists from the Institutes of Ophthalmology and Child Health (University College London) and Moorfield’s Eye Hospital in London performed retinal stem cell transplants on blind mice in an attempt to restore their vision. The procedure was successful and reversed their condition. Humans blinded by diabetes or age-related macular degeneration have renewed hope as the results of this study could ultimately lead to sight restoration for those individuals.

The journal Nature has published the complete study.

The mice suffered from a type of eye damage which is a common cause of human blindness – photoreceptor loss.

Preventing or delaying the loss of the cone and rod photoreceptors is the existing focus of treatment for individuals who are losing their eyesight. But for people who have already lost their vision, there is no present medical procedure to restore their sight. The study may help blind individuals regain the cone and rod photoreceptors in the retina – and see again.

Connections to the brain are there even when the photoreceptors are gone, so in the world of cell transplant, the retina is considered to be a good candidate. Some of the parts may be missing, but he wiring is still there. Previous trials were unable to develop photoreceptor cells because the cells were too immature.

This time, the cells were set up so that they would develop into photoreceptors. The transplant cells were still immature, but less so than before in the new study. 3-day-old mice provided the cell samples from the retina. The blind mice were then given the cells via transplant directly into the eyes.

Gradually, the mice began to recover their eyesight. Scientists were able to conclude this because when the mice were exposed to light, their pupils contracted.

The scientists aim to find a way of using adult stem cells in order to see whether this can be done with humans. Another method would be to use cells from a fetus that is 3-6 months old; however, the scientists will not pursue this avenue for ethical reasons.

The scientists say that adult retinas have areas with cells that might be usable. They also added that there will be extensive research before and reliable medical procedure is offered to patients.

With the hope of extending his stay in this world a little longer, Dick has finished a journey of a lifetime; a trip to the opposite end of the world and back.

The 70 year old Dick received treatment with a new procedure in which adult stem cells extracted from his own blood were injected directly into his ailing heart to strengthen it. A heart specialist in Bangkok, Thailand, performed the procedure on September 26th. Prior to Dick’s operation, the Bangkok Heart Institute had only done 80 of these operations.

Accompanied by his son Dusti, the two of them stayed in Bangkok for almost four weeks as Dick underwent and recovered from the process.

Gaining strength and in good spirits, Dick returned home on October 10th. He is hoping the operation will give him more energy and extend his life by rejuvenating his heart.

“Things weren’t going well,” says Dick.

He still loves to go inline skating, play golf, and is a life long athlete. But as a child, he was afflicted with rheumatic fever twice. His heart was weakened, and after getting two artificial valves and then a pacemaker during operations in recent years, he suffered a stroke this spring on a golf course in Florida. Dick’s heart was only functioning at about 11 percent of its total capacity by late summer.

“For the last year or so my dad’s been talking about having the stem cell procedure done,” Dusti said. “He had read articles and was fascinated with it. Finally we were to the point where his cardiologist in Springfield said we had done all we can. My dad had had two mechanical valves and a pacemaker put in. Things weren’t going well at all.”

Three out of the four Bangkok doctors that Dick asked to perform the procedure on him, refused, due to his age and frailty. There are two types of procedures done – a direct injection where they are injected directly into the heart, or a coronary procedure where stem cells injections are administered directly into the arteries.

Dick was accepted and approved for the direct injection procedure by a Bangkok cardiologist named Dr. Permyos. The next step was making the 30-hour flight to Bangkok on September 15th.

After blood was drawn and the stem cells harvested, the doctors began administering the injections. It was not easy due to a large quantity of scar tissue surrounding his heart from past surgeries.

“Normally they do 10 injections, but mine took 30,” Dick said. “The operation normally takes about 15 minutes, but for me it was over two hours.”

For now, the Watson family is encouraged by Dick’s continued recovery. Just before the surgery he weighed 96 pounds and now he has gained another 15. Three times a week, he goes to physical therapy sessions in Galesburg. He should have a better idea as to how his body is handling the cells injected into his heart in late December, three months after the surgery. According to his doctors, his heart should be working at a about a 21 percent rate at the three month mark – this would be considered a success.

“We were very optimistic,” Dusti said. “Before we went, he felt he was at the point where he was sitting around at his home with his head down, very tired. We felt he was down to a month or two left to live. He was not doing well at all, but we were very optimistic. They told us there was a 10 percent chance of death from the procedure and that there was no guarantee this procedure will work. But they said of the 80 procedures they’d done, it had been effective on 85 percent on them.”

Now, within a days drive all over the Midwest, Dusti is back at his job fixing pipe organs. The third-generation family company, Watson Pipe Organ Sales and Service, was started by his grandfather in 1929. Dick is retired from the company, but Dusti still works on about 95 organs regularly. The normal routine is starting to settle in. Dusti and his wife Julie, along with their two children met up with Dick and his wife Patti for pizza a week ago.

“I think (this procedure) is remarkable,” Dusti said. “There are other methods of harvesting stem cells but when they come from your own blood, the compatibility issues would be great.”
The procedure is the future of cardiac treatment said Dick’s doctors.

“Though stem cell procedures still are not commonly done, people like me will help change it,” Dick said. “I think it will cut way down on heart transplants.”

Dick’s attitude and faith have been helpful with his recovery.

“He has a very strong faith and always had a very positive attitude,” Dusti said. “He knew thousands of people were praying for him and he was so grateful. Every day I’d read the comments people would post on the Web site. I think a strong faith and a positive attitude are paramount. It definitely helped him. I know as he gets stronger he hopes to share his story with people to help them.”

Suffering from critical limb ischemia, a diabetic faced the loss of a lower limb. But a private hospital in Chennai saved the patient by using bone marrow stem cell treatment.

“The 68-year-old woman, hailing from Andhra Pradesh and suffering from critical ischemia, with a very large ulcer at the left calf and foot and advised amputation of the left lower limb, successfully underwent autologous (one’s own) bone marrow stem cell treatment at the vascular department of Chennai’s Vijaya Hospital,” the hospital’s chief vascular surgeon, Dr. Subrammaniyan, said recently.
New blood vessel formation improved circulation to the affected leg and the women’s ulcer healed in 60 days.

A team of doctors assisted Dr. Subrammaniyan as bone marrow was injected into the affected portion of the woman’s calf muscle after it was tapped under general anesthesia. Due to the patients advanced condition, bypass surgery to salvage the limb was ruled out. The 100ml dose of bone marrow was repeated a month later.

Health granulation started covering the previously ischemic portion as the healing process commenced very rapidly said the doctors. Close to 40 per cent of the foot area, 20 per cent of the calf area and 100 per cent of the lateral wound had been covered with skin. The remaining portion healed successfully and was treated with skin grafting.

“The patient is now able to use her left foot,” he said.

Dr. Subrammaniyan claimed that 20 percent of the country’s population would be diabetic by 2015. The treatment alone would cost about INR 50,000 (about $1,100 U.S. dollars) he added.

Patients with lung diseases have hope for new treatments in the future due to an advance in adult stem cell research. Embryonic stem cells have once again been trumped by adult stem cells as the advance shows that they continue to be more ethical and effective. Embryonic cells, on the other hand, have not helped any patients and are only obtained by destroying human embryos.

According to a statement released by the University of Minnesota, for the first time, researchers have been able to coax umbilical cord blood stem cells to differentiate into a type of lung cell.

The cord blood cells differentiated into a type of lung cell called type II alveolar cells. The cells allow air sacs in the lungs to remain open (which allows air to move in and out of the sacs) by secreting surfactant.

Helping to repair the airway after injury is another responsibility the cells have.

“In the future, we may be able to examine cord blood from babies who have lung diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, to do more research to understand how these diseases evolve as well as to develop better medical treatments,” said Dr. David, M.D.

David is the medical director of the Clinical Cell Therapy Lab at the University of Minnesota Medical Center and an assistant professor of lab medicine and pathology.

The discovery is a “step toward developing treatment for various lung diseases” David said.

The journal of Cytotherapy will publish David’s findings in their November 7th, 2006 issue.

Some premature babies are born with underdeveloped lungs and this is because Type II alveolar cells develop late in fetal development. Through a child’s first few years of life, the cells and the air sacs as a whole continue to mature and develop.

The cells could be used as a research aid to enhance our understanding of lung development and disease as the researchers will try to better characterize the cells for the future. Testing for new drugs could also be another potential use for the cells.

David and his team first derived the Multi-Lineage Progenitor Cell from umbilical cord blood during the process of differentiating the lung cells from the cord blood.

This particular stem cell is a precursor cell that can be expanded in culture, then differentiated into different types of tissue representative of all three embryonic lineages, mesoderm, ectoderm, and endoderm.

The MLPC differentiated into the lung cells, an endoderm-type cell, after they were cultured by David and his group in a series of experiments. They were able to find cells that exhibited key markers present in type II alveolar cells by testing them using various methods.

In a breakthrough that will one day supply entire organs for transplants, British scientists have grown the world’s first artificial liver from stem cells.

The technique will be developed to ultimately create a full-size functioning liver. The liver that was grown, dubbed the “mini-liver”, is currently the size of a one pence piece.

The tissue was created from blood taken from babies’ umbilical cords just a few minutes after birth and the Newcastle University researchers called it a “Eureka moment”.

Preventing disasters such as the recent “Elephant Man” drug trial is a possibility since the mini organ can be used to test new drugs. Animal experiments would also be reduced by using the lab-grown liver tissue.

Repairing livers damaged by disease, injury, alcohol abuse, and paracetamol overdose could be possible within the next 5 years.

Entire organ transplants could take place using organs grown in a lab in only 15 years.

Hundreds of Britons are in desperate need of a new liver each year; the breakthrough provides renewed hope for the future.

72 people died waiting for a suitable donor in 2004. And 336 patients are currently waiting for a liver transplant.

The liver tissue is created from stem cells – blank cells capable of developing into different types of tissue – found in blood from the umbilical cord.

The stem cells were successfully separated from the blood removed from the umbilical cord minutes after birth by the Newcastle scientists working in partnership with US experts.

The stem cells were placed inside a piece of electrical equipment developed by NASA to mimic the effects of weightlessness, called a “bioreactor”. The cells multiplied more quickly than usual because they were free from the force of gravity.

The cells were then coaxed into becoming liver tissue using various hormones and chemicals.

So far, tiny pieces of tissue, less than an inch in diameter have been created.

Sections of tissue, large enough for transplant into sick patients will eventually be possible given some time.

The tissue could be used to test new drugs within the next two years say the Newcastle scientists. Prior to animal and human trials, the current method of testing drugs is conducted within a test tube.

However, the testing procedure is not without risk. Six healthy volunteers were left fighting for their lives during Northwick Park drug trials earlier this year.

Before new drugs are given to humans, lab-grown human tissue could be used to determine if there are any flaws in the formula that need to be corrected.

“We take the stem cells from the umbilical cord blood and make small mini-livers,” said Colin, a professor of regenerative medicine at Newcastle University.

“We then give them to pharmaceutical companies and they can use them to test new drugs on.

“It could prevent the situation that happened earlier this year when those six patients had a massive reaction to the drugs they were testing.”

The number of animal experiments could also be reduced with the use of mini-livers.

The artificial liver could be used to directly benefit people’s health within 5 years.

In much the same way a dialysis machine is used to treat kidney failure, the researchers envision sections of artificial liver being used to keep patients needing liver transplants alive.

The liver’s remarkable ability to quickly regenerate itself would be taken advantage of with this technique.

All of the functions that are usually carried out by a patient’s own liver would be taken over by an artificial liver that the patient would be hooked up to.

The patients own liver would be afforded enough resting time to regenerate and repair any damage while the artificial liver would do the work during several “dialysis” sessions a day over a period of several months.

The search for a suitable donor for transplant could also be extended by prolonging the health of the individual patient.

For those whose livers have been damaged beyond repair, it is hoped that it will be possible to create sections of liver suitable for transplant within the next 15 years.

This procedure would eliminate the need for an entire liver transplant in many cases.

Whole livers created in a lab for transplant use would come several years later.

The Newcastle team is the first to create sizeable sections of tissue from stem cells from the umbilical cord. Other researchers have created liver cells from embryonic stem cells.

However, the latter process leads to the death of the embryo. This makes the Newcastle team’s breakthrough incredibly appealing given that it will be ethically acceptable.

The Newcastle researchers foresee a time when cord blood from millions of babies born each year is banked, creating a worldwide donor register for liver dialysis and transplant.

For patients with liver problems, computerized registries could then match the cord blood with their tissue type or immune system to minimize the risk of rejection.

There are approximately a dozen cord blood banks around the UK and more than 11,000 British parents have so far chosen to preserve their children’s cord blood. It is already used to treat leukemia.

“One hundred million children are born around the world every year – that is 100 million different tissue types,” says Professor McGuckin.

“With that number of children being born every year, we should be able to find a tissue for me and you and every other person who doesn’t have stem cells banked.”

Co-researcher Dr. Nico said that their, “dream is that every metropolitan city would have such a bank.”

“If you could type the blood all, you would have to do is dial it up on your computer and fly it from Bristol to Newcastle or even Newcastle to Kuala Lumpur,” he added.

Many liver experts have welcomed the breakthrough.

“The stem cell is going to change the way we deliver treatment,” said Professor Nagy, of London’s Hammersmith Hospital.

Alison, Chief Executive of the British Liver Trust said that, “stem cell technology represents a huge leap forward in treating many diseases. With liver disease in particular it has the potential for tremendous advances.”

A spokesman for UK Transplant, which runs the country’s organ donor register, added that, “there is a lot going on in research that may have benefits for transplant patients. But, in the here and now, the obvious way to help these people is by more people adding their names to the organ donor register and to make their wishes known to their family.”