Re: stem cells from umbilicals cord
From: Meenan, Anna (annam@uic.edu)
Wed Sep 13 16:33:47 2006
Gee, I don't think the docs get paid to collect
the stem cells in the US. (Note Europeans use
commas instead of periods in dollar amounts. 1
euro=1.277 USD, not 1,277, for anyone who thought
that was an outrageous fee for collecting stem
cells, though $127.70 is not a bad chunk of
change either for that.) I have collected them
off and on for a nonprofit stem cell bank
(parents bank stem cells for future use of anyone
who needs them).
Anna Meenan, MD
>I have received a letter from a private
>organization in Italy if interested in
>collecting umbilical cord at birth.I will
>receive 100 euro from this organization (1 euro
>=1,277 USD) while the patient interested has to
>pay 2000 euro to organizationn for twenty years
>conservation of umbilical cord for the potential
>use of stem cells (the umbilical cord will be
>stored in Belgium by a International
>Organization Authorized for stem cells
>cryoconservation)
>About stem cells use see below
>What is Your opinion and experience about it?
>Thank You in advance
>Emilio Porro M.D.
>Como Italy
>
>Beginning of the End for Embryonic Stem Cell Research?
>By Michael Fumento
>
>Tech Central Station, February 11, 2005
>Copyright 2005 Tech Central Station
>
>Supporters of expanded federal funding for
>embryonic stem cell research were disappointed
>by President Bush's State of the Union Address,
>which indicated no softening of restrictions.
>Instead, he said he’d work to “ensure that human
>embryos are not created for experimentation.”
>But those who truly believe ESC research will
>bring medical breakthroughs have naught to fear.
>For there’s a far more promising approach,
>likelier to produce more benefits and much
>sooner.
>
>We're being flooded with exciting new
>developments from the alternatives to ESCs,
>called adult stem cells. Taken from a person's
>own body or from umbilical cords or placenta,
>these cells are treating ever more diseases.
>Further, ASC research in humans and animals
>keeps biting away at the alleged trump card of
>ESCs – that only they can be transformed into
>every type of cell in the body. Cardiologist
>Douglas Losordo's research lab at Caritas St.
>Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston has now
>become the latest indicate ASCs can do just that.
>
>Reporting their results in the February Journal
>of Clinical Investigation, they extracted stem
>cells from the blood stream of three humans that
>originated in the bone marrow, thereby saving
>patients the trouble and pain of direct marrow
>extraction. They found what they believe to be a
>heretofore undiscovered type of cell, then
>injected these into the hearts of rats that had
>suffered heart attacks and subsequent – formerly
>permanent – damage.
>
>stem-cells-research.html
>
>It's not only hearts. Many parts of the human
>body are already being repaired with adult stem
>cells.
>
>Some of the cells became new heart muscle while
>others became new blood vessels. Indeed, they
>grew twice as many new vessels as other rats
>given a fake treatment. They also grew far less
>scar tissue, which impedes heart function.
>
>As I have written on this website, marrow stem
>cells have been used to induce either muscle
>growth or vessel growth in human hearts in
>hundreds of patients in labs throughout the
>world. But this appears to be the first time
>both were grown at the same time by a single
>type of cell. Losordo’s team is now overseeing a
>trial using these cells on patients with
>untreatable severe angina. “The safety looks
>good and majority of patients are doing much
>better,” he told me.
>
>More exciting yet, Losordo also conducted
>experiments showing their cells can also become
>nerve tissue. That means they could be
>transformed into all three major categories of
>cells, making them just as pliable as ESCs
>theoretically are.
>
>Yet several other labs have also found different
>ASCs (all from marrow) that seem to have this
>same property. One of them was that of Ira
>Black, a neurologist at the Robert Wood Johnson
>Medical School. "I can't say I'm surprised" at
>Losordo's findings Black told me. "It's
>consistent with studies going on across the
>world. And one of the most exciting areas now is
>the use of ASCs in heart failure."
>
>stem-cells-research.html
>
>ESC scientist/activist Irving Weissman is among
>those who doggedly insist there's no good
>evidence that any type of adult stem cell can be
>converted into any other type.
>
>In fact, Brazil has just announced an ambitious
>heart-stem cell experiment involving 1,200
>patients and 40 institutions across the country.
>The aim is to eventually replace traditional
>heart treatments with stem cell therapy, such
>that 200,000 lives could be saved within three
>years if the therapy proves effective. It could
>also reduce the government's costs for heart
>treatment by $14.2 million a month, the health
>ministry said.
>
>Brazil will also be financing this year studies
>with stem cells for treating spinal cord
>diseases, diabetes and degenerative nerve
>disorders like Parkinson's. The U.S. already is.
>While no ESC has even made it into animal
>testing, ASCs are now being used in about 300
>human clinical trials and are treating over 80
>different diseases.
>
>As to the plasticity of Losordo's stem cells,
>Black says converting an ASC into a completely
>different kind of mature cell "was once thought
>impossible." Indeed some ESC researchers
>desperate for federal handouts still doggedly
>insist it is – on par with saying lab rats can't
>squeak. The media rarely hesitate to repeat
>their claims. But "now 10 to 20 different labs
>have shown" such transformation is possible,
>says Black.
>
>Losordo, however, says a major advantage of his
>adult stem cells is that they're much easier to
>grow than previously-discovered types. His team
>multiplied them 140 times with no change in
>their structure or effectiveness. Now, "We've
>got freezers full of them" he says. He told me
>he thinks his work combined with that of others
>could "render moot the debate between ESCs and
>ASCs." Says Losordo, "We're entering the second
>phase of development of adult stem cells. We'll
>soon be working on methods to enhance the
>efficiency of adult stem cells . . . while ESCs
>aren't even in the starting gate yet."
>
>He notes ESC researchers continue to be
>flummoxed in trying to get ESC cells to become
>specific types of mature cells without inducing
>runaway cell growth – malignancies called
>“teratomas” or “monster cancer.”
>
>Losordo bemoans the broad-based assault by ESC
>researchers and the media to exaggerate the
>potential of ESC research while downplaying or
>even ignoring tremendous breakthroughs in ASC
>work. "I don't have any personal religious or
>other objections to ESC research despite the
>vowels in my name," he says, referring to his
>Italian Catholic heritage. "But as a clinical
>investigator I have an obligation to develop
>therapies that appear to be of most use to my
>patients."
>
>Would that ESC boosters felt the same.
>
>Read Michael Fumento's additional work on stem cells.
>
>Michael Fumento is the author of numerous books.
>His book, BioEvolution: How Biotechnology Is
>Changing Our World, was published in 2003 by
>Encounter Books.
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