Since stem cell treatment cannot be administered in the United States due to federal restrictions, many U.S. citizens are traveling abroad to get this form of treatment.

Health officials call the procedures, which have been proven safe in many cases, risky and experimental. Despite the criticism, it seems the scientific evidence has trumped any attempt at diminishing the very real therapeutic potential of stem cells. Patients are traveling to countries in Central America and India and spending thousands of dollars to undergo stem cell treatment procedures.

Brian Sheridan, who is the supervisor for the Center for Spinal Cord Injury at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan in Detroit said that, “there are always risks.”

“You can end up with an adverse event. That’s the nature of some of these experimental procedures.”

With the hope of regaining her ability to walk, Jeni Rummelt is currently in Europe receiving her 6th stem cell treatment. The 32-year-old was paralyzed from the waist down following a car accident.

“(These abilities) would have never come back without the stem cells,” said Rummelt, who spent $25,000 on the first procedure and $7,000 for each subsequent therapy. “It’s a slow progress. You know it’s not going to happen overnight, but it’s worth it.”

Since the destruction of human embryos is required for embryonic stem cell research, many individuals say this type of research is unethical.

However, it is now possible to transform adult stem cells which are derived from the skin, into the equivalent of embryonic stem cells. This new discovery should quiet many critics, especially with further advancements of the technology already on the way.

“I can understand their motivation, their desperation but it’s not something I can recommend if the treatments have not been proven to be safe and effective,” said Mervin Yoder, an Indiana-based doctor who is president of the International Society for Hematology and Stem Cells.

Critical information has been unveiled that could lead to novel therapies for repairing previously irreversible nerve damage in the injured spinal cord. Key elements in the in the body’s reaction to spinal cord injury have been discovered in this seminal study which has been published in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Why the adult nervous system is unable to repair itself following spinal injury is still unknown. This is unlike a skin wound for example, where the repair process is well documented.

Even following severe injuries, repair and regeneration is common place in non-mammals and the developing brain. The role of stem cells and their potential to develop into different cell types has been suspected to play a major role in the rejuvenation of these cases.

“Because of their regenerative role, it is crucial to understand the movements of stem cells following brain or spinal cord injury,” says Dr. Philip Horner, co-lead investigator and neuroscientist at the University of Washington. “We know that stem cells are present within the spinal cord, but it was not known why they could not function to repair the damage. Surprisingly, we discovered that they actually migrate away from the lesion and the question became why – what signal is telling the stem cells to move.”

The migratory pattern of stem cells following injury is controlled by a key molecule called netrin-1. This was discovered after scientists tested numerous proteins. Guiding nerve cells to their proper targets, netrin-1 acts as a repulsive or attractive signal in the developing nervous system. Preventing stem cells from replenishing nerve cells, scientists found that netrin-1 specifically repels stem cells away from the injury site in the adult spinal cord.

“When we block netrin-1 function, the adult stem cells remain at the injury site,” says Dr. Tim Kennedy, co-lead investigator and neuroscientist at the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University. “This is a critical first step towards understanding the molecular events needed to repair the injured spinal cord and provides us with new targets for potential therapies.”

The National Institutes of Health and the Craig H. Nielsen Foundation funded the study.

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine are reporting that six weeks after receiving grafts of human spinal stem cells (hSSCs), paralyzed rats regained almost normal ambulatory function. The animals were paralyzed due to loss of blood flow. The study has been published in the June 29, 2007 edition of Neuroscience. UC San Diego professor of anesthesiology Dr. Martin Marsala, M.D. led the study.

“We demonstrated that when damage has occurred due to a loss of blood flow to the spine’s neural cells, by grafting human neural stem cells directly into the spinal cord we can achieve a progressive recovery of motor function,” said Marsala.

“This could some day prove to be an effective treatment for patients suffering from the same kind of ischemia-induced paralysis.”

Marsala hopes to be prepared to carry out human clinical trials by next year. The current focus is on using animal models to establish effectiveness and safety of the human stem cell therapy.

For those individuals who undergo aortic cross-clamping, 20 to 40 percent of patients experience spinal cord ischemia as a consequence of the surgical procedure. It is a serious complication and causes paraplegia. During the procedure to correct a potentially lethal aneurysm, blood flow from the heart must be temporarily blocked with a clamp as the surgeon works on the aorta. Even though the spinal cord remains intact, loss of muscle control or irreparable rigidity and spasticity of the lower limbs can occur due to the lack of blood flow that results in the death of spinal inhibitory neurons which are specialized spinal cord neurons. After only 30 minutes, the neurons become susceptible to death.

“The important difference between spinal cord ischemia and spinal cord trauma, such as might occur in a diving or car accident, is that in the ischemia model, no mechanical damage has occurred to the spinal cord,” said Marsala.

“The spinal cord and brain motor centers are still partially connected, but there has been a selective loss of inhibitory neurons in the spinal cord. Since these cells are necessary for coordinated motor activity, our research aims to replace these lost neurons by grafting new spinal stem cells, which repopulates the pool of degenerated neurons.”

Human spinal stem cells were injected into nine rats 21 days after spinal cord ischemia was induced. There were a total of 16 rats used in the study and the seven non-stem cell rats were injected with a placebo medium containing no stem cells. Every seven days the motor function was recorded and in the rats that received stem cells, a progressive recovery of ambulatory functions was observed.

In all lower extremity joints, three of the nine rats injected with hSSC’s improved their mobility, but most compelling was that another three actually returned to walking after six weeks. According to Marsala, in all nine rats, the majority of transplanted human spinal stem cells survived and became mature neurons. In the spinal area, all the animals had a constant presence of transplanted cells and compared to the control group the hSSC’s rats all achieved significantly better motor scores. Similar results were achieved during a second study which was conducted over three-months.

“Other human stem cell transplants in the spinal cord have focused on repairing the myelin-forming cells,” said co-author Karl Johe, a researcher at Neuralstem, the company that manufactures the hSSCs used in the study. “In this study, we succeeded at reconstructing the neural circuitry, which had not been done before.”

The researchers believe that the therapy may eventually be confirmed to be even more successful in human patients, who would be able to receive physical therapy once treated.

Saying that the goal is to offer a significant gain in functional mobility of the patient’s legs Johe added that, “physical therapy may accelerate integration of the grafted stem cells and enhance their therapeutic benefit.”

Marsala has a history working with human neuronal stem cells. A previous work also using rat models was published in the October 2004 issue of the European Journal of Neurosciences. 40 to 50 percent of the animals tested in that study had significant improvement in motor function. The progress was measured by recording improved muscle tone and the suppression of spastic movements. In the spinal cords of the rats that received transplanted neuronal cells, a post-mortem study showed an increase in the expression of inhibitory neurotransmitters and a robust maturation of neurons.

Spinal drug treatments using implanted pumps or continuous systemic drugs make up the current and somewhat effective standard treatment for debilitating muscle spasticity. These treatments are susceptible to eventual drug tolerance which lessens their efficacy, and are also accompanied by side effects.

“These research findings could offer great hope to people with spinal ischemic injury who suffer from resulting spasticity and rigidity,” said Marsala.

The placenta and umbilical cord contain blood that is jointly referred to as umbilical cord blood. Following the delivery of a baby, the blood is extracted right away. This blood is an extremely rich source of adult stem cells. Stem cells can begin replenishing or repairing old cells in the body by adjusting at anytime. And by having the capability to transform into new brain, blood, heart, and other types of cells; stem cells can bee viewed as the architects of the human body.

Information about birth defect, various diseases, and other ailments, can be discovered by scientists through stem cell research. The underlying secrets responsible for deformities and genetic diseases can be discovered with study. Stem cells have the power to create any cell the body needs by multiplying many times over until the body has repaired itself.

There are a vast number of conditions and diseases that are currently being treated using umbilical cord blood stem cells.

Extensive research is being conducted the benefits of cord blood stem cells in ailments like Brain tumor, Ovarian cancer, Small cell lung cancer, testicular cancer, Rheumatoid Arthritis, spinal injury, diabetes, Parkinson

Slumped in a blue reclining chair, Michael sits in his father’s front room.

Underneath the teenager’s sweatpants, the fifteen year old wears powder-blue diapers.

Moving forward and to the right, his head droops, only to jerk up as Michael tries to make eye contact with others.

After traveling 9,000 miles for adult stem cell therapy, this jerky head movement could perhaps be a sign that the treatment he received is working.

Doctor’s injected stem cells several times into his bloodstream and spine while his father sat hoping for positive results in the Chinese hospital.

And even though David, Michael’s father, is afraid to hope that his son will make some sort of recovery because he doesn’t want to be heartbroken again; he is equally afraid not to.

“Believe me, when you’re in this condition, you look for any change you can,” he said.

After becoming intoxicated at a beach party with other teens, the then fourteen year old Michael drowned. He was resuscitated but the damage was done. Extensive brain damage occurred when he went without oxygen for a period between 10 and 30 minutes.

Just like Terry Schiavo was lost in a vegetative state, Michael has been locked in this persistent condition since his drowning in June of 2005.

After communicating with other parents of brain-injured children on an internet support group, David decided to look into stem cell therapy.

“Parents have to be careful. It’s your child. You’ll do anything. People will take advantage of you,” said David, who added that there are a number of alternative therapies available.

But he said that the most hope was offered by adult stem cell therapy.

“It’s not a magic bullet. On the other hand, it’s not black magic, either,” he said.

Certain stem cells therapies are being used in the United States today, however, the procedure is limited to experiments and specific diseases such as leukemia.

Since a patient receives healthy bone marrow stem cells from a donor to replace abnormal ones, a bone marrow transplant is technically stem cell therapy.

But there are no stem cell therapies available for neurological injuries such as Michael’s.

David’s internet research returned few results. He found that only three countries, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and China, offered the kind of stem cell therapy Michael needed.

It was a mix of eastern and western medicine, and the $20,000 six-week hospital stay included fee, that made China his choice.

David and his wife of two years, Dana, flew to China with Michael in late November. It was trip made possible with money withdrawn from David’s 401(k).

Michael was in and out of wheelchairs and airline seats during the 30-hour trip. Not a simple task considering Michael is basically as David says, a “152 pound infant”.

Michael’s spinal cord was injected with four doses of umbilical cord stem cells over the six-week course of treatment. A fifth cord blood stem cell infusion was administered intravenously.

The immature stem cells should stimulate a response within the next three months according to the Chinese doctors.

“What I’m personally hoping for is in the next couple of months (that he’ll be able) to give me a yes or no,” David said. “(The) long-term goal is that he’ll come back, ‘Where have I been for a year-and-a-half?’ ” his father added wistfully.

The things that Michael can do are still more difficult to list than that things he cannot. He can’t swallow anything, not even his own saliva, so he has a feeding tube to help him through the process. None of his extremities move voluntarily, but he still has sensation in all of them.

Michael has no response when his father plays music that Michael downloaded before the accident. His eyes cannot track colors or movement.

He laughs randomly, and occasionally – heartbreakingly – cries.

Michael was plagued by a skin condition since the brain injury, but that has at least disappeared.

But it is difficult to measure more signs of progress.

David has not slept through one single night since the accident because Michael hasn’t either.

A baby monitor in his room alerts his father when Michael wakes up. He may just be awake; or it’s possible that his position needs to be shifted or that his diaper needs to be changed. Michael can’t tell his father.

David wakes up every time Michael does. His father says that Michael’s body clock appears to have been permanently injured from the brain damage.

“It would be pretty bad if he died on my watch,” said David. “Right now, it’s just maintaining him physically until the cognitive part kicks in.”

For now, David just focuses on the moment that is right in front of him – on surviving that one, and the one immediately following.

Until Michael reaches the age of 22, he will attend Silver Sands School during the day.

David and his son had talked about Terri Schiavo and how her life ended. David thinks back to those past moments on occasion.

“If you’re asking me what he would have wanted, he would not have wanted this,” David said. “But he does not have that choice.”

For now, David is looking for proof that he has gotten even the smallest fraction of his son back, evidence that the adult stem cell therapy is working.

“All we gotta do is make it through another day, another day, another day. I can’t look way into the future,” he said.

“If I look too far, I might see the truth, you know, and I don’t know if I want to.”Stem Cell Therapy for Boy After Near Drowning Leaves Him in Vegetative State

Bone marrow cells appear to have the capacity to replace any cell in the body by being coaxed in a number of diverse ways.

In San Francisco, the American Chemical Society hosted three presentations at its annual symposium in early September that will hopefully confirm this hope. The papers that were presented all discussed similar findings.

1. All the researchers evaded the ethical questions raised by the use of embryonic stem cells by conducting their experiments using adult stem cells.

2. Typically the precursor to blood cells, the adult stem cells that were used can become solid organ cells or even nerve cells as all three of the papers concur.

3. The papers agreed that by altering the physical environment in which they grew, the adult cells were able to become pluripotent.

The bone marrow cells were encouraged by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. It was there that the cells were coaxed and given the direction needed to become blood vessel cells.

To get the cells to align properly, Kyle, a Berkeley scientist was able to compel the cells to attach to an elastic membrane which had grooves specific for the job.

For several days, the membrane was constantly relaxed and stretched. Smooth muscle cells were created by this exercise, the kind of cells that make up blood vessels.

The newly-formed smooth muscle cells, which can also expand and contract, may possibly be used as a component of a tissue-engineered graft that could provide superior performance over conventional grafts that are used for bypass surgery.

In the body, stem cells attach to the walls of blood vessels as Kyle points out. The cells naturally stretch and contract as blood is pumped through these arteries.

“If a cell cannot flex its muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger, it cannot build its muscles,” Kyle said in a news conference. “Gov. Schwarzenegger got big biceps by lifting dumbbells … It works the same way for stem cells to become smooth muscle cells. They have to sit in culture day in and day out lifting weights.”

In a second presentation, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Dennis presented the notion of stem cells feeling their environment. What they feel determines what they become.

The team lead by Dr. Dennis was able to develop soft nerve cells, rigid bone cells, and soft muscle cells, by changing the environment of adult bone marrow cells. A rigid, stiff, or soft environment determined the outcome of the cells. Based on resulting cell shapes as well as messenger RNA and protein markers, stem cells grown in more rigid environments — like bone — produced bone-like cells; those grown in environments with medium elasticity — similar to muscle — produced muscle-like; and stem cells grown in softer environments — such as brain tissue — tended to produce nerve-like cells.

The cells required stimulation from the proper mix of chemical messengers to complete the process as Dr. Dennis and his team discovered.

The third report confirms that blood stem cells (hematopoietic stem cells) can indeed become many different kinds of cells. The report was presented by Dr. Terry, a professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University.

Dr. Terry and his colleagues were able to make the cells move in a formerly unexpected direction by simply manipulating the setting in which the blood stem cells were grown.

“We demonstrate these cells can do more than is currently accepted,” Dr. Terry said in the news conference. “There are several approaches to harness the potential of the billions of stem cells we make every day.”

The similar findings in these three presentations continue to prove that embryonic stem cells are not as necessary as once thought. As adult stem cells maintain their drive forward at full speed, the future continues to become brighter for this non-controversial source. The possible treatments for Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, spinal cord injury and other devastating conditions comes closer and closer as the science of adult stem cell therapy continues to advance.

The topic of stem cells is a hot issue due to all the vast potential they have, the ethical debates they entail, and the political party alignments that are associated with. Produced by either cloning via somatic cell nuclear transplant or by in vitro fertilization of human eggs, human stem cells can be acquired from human embryos. But they can also be obtain from adults.

Their value in drug testing and disease models, their lack of rejection, their rapid proliferation, their potential to form every cell type and finally, their great promise are the most often stated advantages of embryonic stem cells.

However, these “advantages” are less clear from a medical and scientific point of view. Scientists that either hold key patents or are strongly supported by biotech companies pursuing embryonic cells commercially are the ones that state that embryonic stem cells hold great promise.

The “potential of embryonic stem cells to possibly form every cell type” in the body is remarkable but is of minute clinical significance. The potential to form every cell type is a moot point, as long as a stem/progenitor cell is capable of forming the cell types required for particular injury of disease.

Furthermore, stem cells derived from adults have the same potential as numerous studies have supported. The umbilical cord, bone marrow stromal cells, fat, and the skin are among the many locations in the body that can supply a source of adult stem cells.

The serious problem with embryonic stem cells is actually due to the ability of the cells to quickly proliferate, a quality which is often touted as a quality that makes them so superior. But as obviously seen with weeds in a garden or cancer in the body, rapid growth is not always an enviable quality.

Rats injected with embryonic stem cells, in an animal model of Parkinson’s disease, showed a minor benefit of about 50%. However, the embryonic stem cells caused brain tumors in one-fifth of the rats which lead to their death.

It is true that embryonic stem cells are not rejected, but saying that there is a lack of rejection is shrewdly deceptive. The cells must mature into a particular type of cell to be functional in therapy. The immune system recognizes cells that have matured as foreign objects and they are then rejected. Thus, some scientists argue this dilemma as a reason for human cloning so the rejection of embryonic stem cells can be avoided, but cloning carries its own set of problems and moral dilemmas.

Only a few studies have been conducted in animal experiments to exhibit the viability of this and so the field is still in its infancy. Chasing this extreme measure when the human body is full of stem/progenitor cells that would not be rejected is one of the most absurd directions ever observed in the history of science that is purportedly being promoted to help people.

Tissue models and drugs need to be tested on mature tissue not embryonic cells, so the “usefulness in drug testing and disease models” is not a sensible claim. Tissue culture model systems of muscle, skin, etc are plentiful and regularly used in drug and disease models.

Virtually unknown to the American public are the advantages of adult stem cells. It is embryonic stem cell treatment that is most profitable, and not the best, that is getting all the exposure.

The safest cell option for people, one of the greatest advantages of adult stem cells is that it is usually possible for a person to use his or her own stem cells. Uncontrolled growth, chromosomal abnormalities, disease transmission and rejection problems are all eliminated with adult stem cells.

Rarely mentioned is that methods have yet to be developed to grow embryonic cells in a manner that does not induce significant chromosomal abnormalities.

The record for adult stem cells compared to embryonic stem cells is exceptionally impressive if one looks at human clinical trials or research using experimental animals.

In examining only the scientific evidence, one wonders why the controversy even exists.

Let’s first take a look at Parkinson’s disease. The stem/progenitor cells are the only cells that survive when a transplant consists of embryonic/fetal tissue. It is thought that as a consequence of cellular overgrowth or from rejection of the foreign cells/tissue derived from embryo or fetus, devastating deterioration at one year after treatment occurred in about 15% of patients in two clinical trials using embryonic/fetal tissue.

A patient who received his own adult stem cells got results that were in striking contrast, he had almost full recovery for several years after the transplant.

In an animal model for Parkinson’s, human embryonic stem cells did not cause any improvement and actually caused tumor formation. The use of growth factors in treating Parkinson’s is another position supporters of embryonic stem cells try to push.

Diabetes is like Parkinson’s in the regard that it is a disease, so a dissipation of symptoms for several years rather than a cure is the most likely scenario when treating with stem cells. Recently, after receiving stem cells from her mother, it was reported that a girl afflicted with diabetes gained insulin independence.

Blocking the autoimmune response can reverse diabetes in mice which is an encouraging result in animal studies. There are also several reports that adult stem cells can develop into insulin-secreting cells.

In regards to spinal cord injury, there is an even more dramatic comparison between adult and embryonic stem cells. Extensive web coverage and the front page of many newspapers were dedicated to mice receiving embryonic stem cells. However almost total recovery from complete paralysis was observed in rats using adult stem cells from bone marrow, these results were published in a paper by Zurita and Vaqueo. Resulting in improvement for people with severe and chronic spinal cord injury, transplants of tissue containing one’s own stem cells is safe.

Looking at heart disease, adult stem cells derived from bone marrow have provided reported benefits in several studies involving patients with heart attacks. After using one’s own adult stem cells in treatment, clinical trials have also shown improvements in some patients with heart failure.

Similar comparisons can be made for a variety of diseases and injuries. But headlines will never be written nor will the majority of the American public ever hear of these successes with adult stem cells.

The results with adult stem cells will eventually end the controversy that should never have existed in the first place, although it may take years for these adult stem cells treatments to become commonly available.

One of the first things Chang did when his twin baby girls arrived into the world was to instruct the doctor to preserve a sample of blood from their umbilical cords. Of course, the new father waited until after he was satisfied cuddling them and his wife for the first time.

Chang saw first hand what leukemia can do to its victims, his brother died from the disease. His brother was given two options, chemotherapy and radiation. His only hope, as his white blood cell count continued to drop sharply as treatment after treatment continued, was to receive a transplant of cells that would enable bone marrow to form new blood cells. There is only a very small chance of finding a fitting donor in such circumstances.

An ad for a cord blood bank caught Chang’s eye not long after his brother passed away. The best alternate for bone marrow in such cases, the undifferentiated and primitive cells found in the blood of a child’s umbilical cord would be ideal proclaimed the ad. Chang could not stand to see another family member suffer from the wasting disease, and knowing that hereditary can be a factor in diseases like leukemia, he decided to store the blood.

Change stated that, “If his brother had been able to save his cord blood, he might not have died.”

Newspapers, magazines and even clinics all over Taipei are packed with advertisements for private cord blood banks just like the one Chang saw. Some companies are making extraordinary claims as the competition becomes intense due to the booming cord-blood stem-cell industry that is rising on the island. Some say they have the highest-quality service, others the best technology or they boast being the leading player in the business. With all this, fewer expectant parents are willing to risk the chance of not saving their babies’ cord blood, an insurance against possible illness that may befall their children down the road. This very environment had caused demand to grow by leaps and bounds.

A viable substitute for more conventional stem-cell transplants from bone marrow, the cells derived from cord blood have demonstrated that they are an effective alternative in treating conditions such as leukemia. Individuals with spinal injury and other blood disorders such as sickle cell disease, and metabolic disorders are possible candidates for treatment. Incurable diseases like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s can be treated with cord blood stem cells as well. Members of the donor’s family can also use the cord blood stem cells for treatment in addition to the donor himself. The use of cord blood stem cells for disease treatment holds exciting promise.

“Cord blood transplants have been widely used to treat children with blood-borne cancers, and we have witnessed successful cases,” said Chiu who is the director of the National Health Research Institutes’ Stem Cell Research Center. “Cord blood is even a better alternative than bone marrow, as it is less difficult to find a matching donor, less painful to extract the stem cells, and less likely the cells will be rejected,” he added. “This is what I refer to as hope.”

Due to the successful use of umbilical cord blood transplants in treating blood and immune-system diseases, private and public cord blood banks have sprung up since the mid to late 1990’s. Using a syringe, three to four ounces of placental blood is drawn from the umbilical cord. In preparation for freezing and preserving the blood, the content of the syringe is deposited in a bag or vial. The family can then use this blood at a later date based on a written contract (binding for a 10 or 20 year period) that the parents sign.

The government medical policy is not the only reason for the thriving private cord blood storage market in Taiwan. Originating from the traditional Han Chinese societal customs, the strong sense of family values in the country has much do with it, said Chris who works for one of the original cord blood banks in the country.

“Children are considered very precious and many parents are willing to sacrifice for their children,” said Chris. “If there’s a chance to save their children someday, then parents can’t afford not to.”

“Moreover, unlike most of the countries in Europe, whose governments are responsible for overall medical services and cord blood cell storage is a public service included in the governmental infrastructure, in Taiwan, cord blood storage is not included in public health services. People have to turn to private cord blood banks instead,” he explained.

In terms of the medical uses for cord blood stem cells, Chris added that there remains an ample prospect for development. The field could have an enormous impact, not only in treating disease, but also in pharmaceutical development and new innovations, such as regenerative cosmetology.

In Taiwan, no more than 5 percent of new parents take advantage of banking, and cord blood storage remains an option only available to those who can afford it. This is despite public donation option plans.

“It may probably cause pressure to those parents who are less well-off because they feel guilty for not offering the best to their children,” said Chou, an associate professor at National Taiwan University’s department of national development.

Successful cases using cord blood to save lives may make physicians and families happy, but it is also used as good PR by private cord blood banks. The idea is uncomplicated: parents pay for peace of mind. Those families who can afford it pay for a sense of security.

As for Chang’s twins, they are now healthy, happy two-month-olds, and blood from their umbilical cords is securely stored in a blood bank.

“We are just trying to prepare for the worst, especially since our family has a history of leukemia,” Chang said. “The best thing that could happen is we never need it.”

A neurobiologist who has spent the last 20 years of his life working in the area of neural regeneration believes that adult stem cells are the future of medicine.

During his time conducting research, Alan investigated adult stem cells for the last five years. He discovered surprising information in regard to the technological advances in the field of adult stem cell biology.

What he found shows that the potential of adult stem cells alters the political debate. For the exploration of disease and drug discovery, adult stem cells present a serious alternative to embryonic stem cells for cell transplantation.

Numerous clinical trials are being conducted throughout the world using adult stem cell therapies and substantial advances have been made. Most trials are still experimental but it has been show that the lack of embryonic stem cell use results in a decline in problems. Those include immune rejection and uncontrolled growth.

Stem cells that are multipotent have been isolated from the skin, tooth pulp, brain, fat tissue, and bone marrow. Adult stem cells have been isolated from the organ of the sense of smell in the human nose in Alan’s lab. They are related to those cells found in the brain and are referred as neural stem cells.

Alan and his colleagues have demonstrated the very broad developmental potential of adult stem cells. Far exceeding the expectations of adult stem cells with the ability only to repair the tissue origin, they have been able to induce these adult stem cells to become kidney cells, blood cells, liver cells, muscle cells, heart cells, fat cells, and numerous others.

The utility of the cells is being explored regarding motor neuron disease, spinal cord injury, and Parkinson’s disease; animal models of disease and injury are included as well.

Bone marrow stem cells are being used in cell transplantation therapies around the world by various other groups, thus, Alan and his team are not alone in using adult stem cells for the aforementioned purposes. Cardiac repair after heart attack is just one of the numerous clinical trials where bone marrow stem cells are being utilized.

After stem cell transplantation, most report an improvement in function. Obviating immune rejection issues, in many cases adult stem cells have the advantage that they can be taken from the same patient who needs repair.

Spinal cord injury treatment is another example of the developing therapies that use olfactory unsheathing cells. These specialized cells show promise fro treating spinal cord injury in animal studies. By transplanting them into the injured spinal cods of human paraplegics, Alan hope to get results while undertaking this Phase I clinical trial.

By studying embryonic stem cells and their progeny from the patients, it is often stated that therapeutic cloning will be required to investigate the biology of certain diseases and to find cures.

However, a long and laborious procedure, therapeutic cloning will produce an inexact “copy” of the donor. This is because of the handful of genes that are passed on through the donor egg. Adult stem cells provide an alternative source and answer for these dilemmas.

Relatively, easily obtained and easily grown in a lab in large numbers, Alan already has over 40 adult cell lines derived from persons with mitochondrial disease, Parkinson’s disease, motor neuron diseases, and schizophrenia.

Studying adult stem cells will illuminate knowledge of embryonic as well, but ethical issues stand in the way of embryonic cells. Taking this into regard, the knowledge of alternative technologies should not be disregarded. Adult stem cell therapy is the alternative and in many cases, superior to embryonic stem cell technology.

Offering many advantages over embryonic stem cells, it is important to keep the public and politicians informed of the developments in all the area of adult stem cells.

Seven months of stem cell therapy has brought sensation back to a man who was left a paraplegic on December 26th, 2004, after his spinal cord was damaged during a road accident.

“Before operation, there was no sensation. Now I am feeling the sensation and am able to get up a bit on my own,” says 28-year-old man.

He is one of a dozen other people at the Global Hospitals in Hyderabad, India, who are undertaking stem cell therapy for spinal cord injury. The program is run under ICMR-approved protocol.

G.P.V. Subbaiah, who is an orthopedic and spinal surgeon, said that the result so far has been beyond his expectations. He was astonished by the display of such “encouraging results” in the 28-year-old patient. In January, the man was the first patient to be injected with adult-stem cells at the site of injury in the spinal cord.

Subbaiah said the patient had absolute loss of feeling from the chest downwards.

“Now he has regained all sensations, including light touch up to the groin. He also has increased sweating which is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. This shows that the system is also responding.”

Another accident victim from Saudi Arabia who flew to the hospital for stem cell treatment had regained some movement in his legs.

“Before the advent of the stem cell therapy, there was only supportive treatment to prevent bed sores and other problems like urinary infection,” said Dr. Subbaiah, “but now there is hope that some of the lost functions can be restored.”

Data from animal studies provide enough evidence that the therapy does work said the doctor.

Indian Spinal Injuries Center approximates that at least one lakh, or one-hundred thousand, spinal cord injuries happen each year. Due to the lack of proper data, this number may be grossly underestimated. Individuals from the age of 25 to 40 make up 85 to 90 percent of the spinal cord victims.

In their most productive years these injuries crippled them.

“It has a lot of impact on society,” he stated.