Adult Stem Cell Success – Children of God for Life

by: Mr. Bradley Richard Hughes Jr.

With increasing frequency, American citizens and others from around the globe are experiencing newfound freedom from disease, affliction, and infirmity. Individuals' lives are forever changed with the strengthened faith and renewed hope that arise from healed bodies and physical restoration. These seemingly miraculous cures are the result of adult stem cell treatments. Yet the debates in the popular media tend to ignore and obscure the medical breakthroughs made by adult stem cell research--success that has conspicuously eluded embryonic stem cell treatments.

Adult stem cells (or, more accurately, tissue stem cells) are regenerative cells of the human body that possess the characteristic of plasticity--the ability to specialize and develop into other tissues of the body. Beginning in an unspecialized and undeveloped state, they can be coaxed to become heart tissue, neural matter, skin cells, and a host of other tissues. They are found in our own organs and tissues such as fat, bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, placentas, neuronal sources, and olfactory tissue, which resides in the upper nasal cavity. This simple fact has remarkable implications for medicine--diseased or damaged tissue can become healthy and robust through the infusion of such cells. This has consequently commanded the attention of many researchers as well as those suffering from disease.

It is necessary to note that the power of adult stem cells is not nebulously potential, but tangible and real, as it has produced wonderful results in multiple cases. These have been documented in clinical trials, that is, treatments with human patients. With adult stem cells, physicians have successfully treated autoimmune diseases such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. Furthermore, adult stem cells have helped to avert corneal degeneration and to restore vision in cases of blindness. They have also restored proper cardiac function to heart attack sufferers and improved movement in spinal cord injury patients.

It is also important to note that all of these successes have come exclusively from adult stem cell research. Embryonic stem cell research, which requires the destruction of early human life to acquire the cells, has not produced any successes in human patients. The breakthroughs demonstrated by adult stem cells are detailed below.

Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injuries are one of the most severe forms of debilitation known to humanity. Many times they result in different forms of paralysis, including paraplegia and quadriplegia; other times they involve the immediate or imminent death of the patient. Laura Dominguez is an example of the former. Living in San Antonio, Texas, she was a sixteen-year-old girl attending summer school in 2001. On her way back from class, she and her brother encountered an oil spill on the highway that caused their car to careen out of control. The accident left her paralyzed from the neck down with a C6 vertebrae burst fracture. She subsequently entered various hospitals to be emphatically informed that she would never walk again.

After relocating to San Diego, California, Dominguez and her mother checked into a protracted physical therapy program. While there, they consulted with many spinal cord injury specialists and concluded that the most promising option existed in Portugal, where a cutting-edge procedure was being performed.

This procedure, known as olfactory mucosa transplantation, involves transplantation of stem cells found in the nasal region into the injured area (these cells include renewable neurons, remyelinating olfactory ensheathing cells, and progenitor stem cells). Dr. Carlos Lima, a neuropathologist of Egaz-Moniz Hospital in Lisbon, leads the procedure. Lima's procedure has proven successful in 26 patients, states Dr. Jean D. Peduzzi-Nelson, a co-researcher at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Dominguez was the tenth person in the world and the second American to undergo the surgery.

Completion of the surgery permitted a return to the United States, which ushered in the continuation of the therapeutic process and the resumption of home life in San Antonio. After an MRI was conducted, physicians informed her that her spinal cord had begun healing and that 70 percent of the lesion had recovered into normal spinal tissue. Within six months she had acquired sensation down to the abdominal region. By 2004, she had gained upper body agility and the ability to stand for extended periods of time with the aid of a walker. In addition, she reported improved motor skills, including the ability to stand on her toes and contract her quadriceps and hamstring muscles. She also announced that she had walked more than 1400 feet with the use of braces and outside help. Laura is inspired by the results and hopes to walk unassisted by the time she turns 21.

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Adult Stem Cell Success - Children of God for Life