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Gordie Howe's stem cell therapy raises concerns among experts

Posted: January 29, 2015 at 11:45 am

TORONTO - Gordie Howe's son says the hockey legend's stroke symptoms have improved since his treatment with stem cells at a Mexican clinic in early December and he wants him to repeat the procedure.

But regenerative medicine experts say there's no scientific evidence such therapies work, and in some cases they can be seriously harmful or even deadly.

The 86-year-old Howe suffered two disabling strokes late last year. In December, the family took him to a Tijuana clinic where he received stem cell injections as part of a clinical trial being run under a licensing agreement with Stemedica Cell Technologies of San Diego, Calif.

The experimental treatment involved injecting neural stem cells into Howe's spinal canal, along with intravenous infusions of mesenchymal stem cells, which are found in bone marrow, fat and umbilical cord blood.

Marty Howe said his father can walk again, his speech is improving and he is regaining some of the weight he lost following the strokes.

"After his stem cell treatment, the doctor told us it was kind of an awakening of the body, and it was all that," he told The Canadian Press while in Calgary for a hockey promotion event Tuesday. "They call it the miracle of stem cells and it was nothing less than a miracle."

However, experts in the field question whether stem cells are responsible for Howe's improvement and caution that most so-called stem cell therapies have not gone through rigorous scientific trials, nor have they been approved as treatments by Health Canada or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Mick Bhatia, director of McMaster University's Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute, said there are many unknowns in Howe's case, such as how many stem cells were administered, were tests done to see whether they migrated to the targeted area of the body, and did they take up residence where they might have some effect or simply disappear?

"Is this a transient effect, or is it really a perceived or somewhat of a placebo effect and is there something really happening? Scientifically and biologically that is important," Bhatia said Wednesday from Hamilton.

And because Howe received adult stem cells produced from donor cells, he may have needed to take drugs to prevent an immune reaction as well as anti-inflammatory medications, he said.

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Pros And Cons Of Stem Cell Research – Popular Issues …

Posted: January 29, 2015 at 8:07 am

Pros and Cons of Stem Cell Research - What are Stem Cells? There has been much controversy in the press recently about the pros and cons of stem cell research. What is the controversy all about? "Stem" cells can be contrasted with "differentiated" cells. They offer much hope for medical advancement because of their ability to grow into almost any kind of cell. For instance, neural cells in the brain and spinal cord that have been damaged can be replaced by stem cells. In the treatment of cancer, cells destroyed by radiation or chemotherapy can be replaced with new healthy stem cells that adapt to the affected area, whether it be part of the brain, heart, liver, lungs, or wherever. Dead cells of almost any kind, no matter the type of injury or disease, can be replaced with new healthy cells thanks to the amazing flexibility of stem cells. As a result, billions of dollars are being poured into this new field.

Pros and Cons of Stem Cell Research - Where Do They Come From? To understand the pros and cons of stem cell research, one must first understand where stem cells come from. There are three main sources for obtaining stem cells - adult cells, cord cells, and embryonic cells. Adult stem cells can be extracted either from bone marrow or from the peripheral system. Bone marrow is a rich source of stem cells. However, some painful destruction of the bone marrow results from this procedure. Peripheral stem cells can be extracted without damage to bones, but the process takes more time. And with health issues, time is often of the essence. Although difficult to extract, since they are taken from the patient's own body, adult stem cells are superior to both umbilical cord and embryonic stem cells. They are plentiful. There is always an exact DNA match so the body's immune system never rejects them. And as we might expect, results have been both profound and promising.

Stem cells taken from the umbilical cord are a second very rich source of stem cells. Umbilical cells can also offer a perfect match where a family has planned ahead. Cord cells are extracted during pregnancy and stored in cryogenic cell banks as a type of insurance policy for future use on behalf of the newborn. Cord cells can also be used by the mother, the father or others. The more distant the relationship, the more likely it is that the cells will be rejected by the immune system's antibodies. However, there are a number of common cell types just as there are common blood types so matching is always possible especially where there are numerous donors. The donation and storage process is similar to blood banking. Donation of umbilical cells is highly encouraged. Compared to adult cells and embryonic cells, the umbilical cord is by far the richest source of stem cells, and cells can be stored up in advance so they are available when needed. Further, even where there is not an exact DNA match between donor and recipient, scientists have developed methods to increase transferability and reduce risk.

Pros and Cons of Stem Cell Research - Embryonic Cells The pros and cons of stem cell research come to the surface when we examine the third source of stem cells - embryonic cells. Embryonic stem cells are extracted directly from an embryo before the embryo's cells begin to differentiate. At this stage the embryo is referred to as a "blastocyst." There are about 100 cells in a blastocyst, a very large percentage of which are stem cells, which can be kept alive indefinitely, grown in cultures, where the stem cells continue to double in number every 2-3 days. A replicating set of stem cells from a single blastocyst is called a "stem cell line" because the genetic material all comes from the same fertilized human egg that started it. President Bush authorized federal funding for research on the 15 stem cell lines available in August 2001. Other stem cell lines are also available for research but without the coveted assistance of federal funding.

So what is the controversy all about? Those who value human life from the point of conception, oppose embryonic stem cell research because the extraction of stem cells from this type of an embryo requires its destruction. In other words, it requires that a human life be killed. Some believe this to be the same as murder. Against this, embryonic research advocates argue that the tiny blastocyst has no human features. Further, new stem cell lines already exist due to the common practice of in vitro fertilization. Research advocates conclude that many fertilized human cells have already been banked, but are not being made available for research. Advocates of embryonic stem cell research claim new human lives will not be created for the sole purpose of experimentation.

Others argue against such research on medical grounds. Mice treated for Parkinson's with embryonic stem cells have died from brain tumors in as much as 20% of cases.1 Embryonic stem cells stored over time have been shown to create the type of chromosomal anomalies that create cancer cells.2 Looking at it from a more pragmatic standpoint, funds devoted to embryonic stem cell research are funds being taken away from the other two more promising and less controversial types of stem cell research mentioned above.

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Footnotes 1 The Real Promise of Stem Cell Research Dr. David Prentice, HealthNewsDigest.com 2 Derivation of Human Stem-Cell Lines from Human Blastocysts, C. A. Cowan and others. March 25, 2004, New England Journal of Medicine, p.1355 with secondary reference to footnotes 13-17 p.1356.

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Girl aged just EIGHT helps scientist dad make cancer breakthrough after chat round dinner table

Posted: January 29, 2015 at 8:06 am

When Professor Michael Lisanti chatted to his eight-year-old about his job finding a cure for cancer - he had no idea she would provide just the inspiration he was looking for.

The family were having dinner when Michael asked schoolgirl Camilla how she would go about treating cancer.

Her answer was simple - but proved to be a brainwave.

Camilla said people who are ill should take antibiotics.

And after dad Prof Lisanti - and mum Dr Federica Sotgia - dug a little deeper, it turned out she could be spot on.

Prof Lisanti, director of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Unit at the university, led the research after being inspired by his daughter to look at the effects of the drugs on the mitochondria of cancer stem cells.

He found that drugs used to treat other illnesses could be re-purposed to treat certain types of cancer.

Professor Lisanti said: "I was having a conversation with Camilla about how to cure cancer and she asked why don't we just use antibiotics like we do for other illnesses.

"I knew that antibiotics can affect mitochondria, but that conversation helped me to make a direct link.

"Camilla made a very broad generalisation, that adults wouldn't make, because they know too much.

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UI researchers tout diabetes development

Posted: January 29, 2015 at 8:03 am

Insulin-producing cells, derived from human skin cells in a University of Iowa experiment.(Photo: Public Library of Science/PLOS ONE)

University of Iowa researchers say they've retrained human skin cells to produce insulin in mice, a discovery that they hope could someday help reverse the effects of diabetes in people.

The researchers are working toward a day when people with diabetes could avoid the need for insulin shots or pancreas transplants.

In a paper published online Wednesday by the Public Library of Science, the researchers explained that they took skin cells from adult humans and retrained them to act as if they were pancreas cells. The pancreas is the organ whose failure causes diabetes, a dangerous condition that leaves the body unable to process sugar.

The American Diabetes Association's top national expert called the Iowa research "a cutting-edge approach."

Dr. Nicholas Zavazava(Photo: Special to the Register)

In the experiment, the transplanted cells essentially grew into a new pancreas near each mouse's kidney, said Dr. Nicholas Zavazava, a UI internal medicine professor who helped lead the study.

Zavazava said it would be at least several years before the approach could be tried in humans. But he expressed optimism about the project, which began in 2005. "We are no longer in the wilderness, like we were 10 years ago," he said.

Zavazava said stem cells from human embryos can be used to do the same thing. That method is controversial, however, because it involves the question of whether it's ethical to use embryonic tissue to treat diseases.

The new UI approach took skin cells from adult humans and transformed them into a version of stem cells. The cells then were treated with special proteins that encouraged them to act like pancreas cells. Then they were transplanted near the kidneys of the mice, which had been previously treated to have diabetes, the paper said. The cells grew into what amounted to new pancreases. Over time, most of the mice with the transplanted cells processed sugar better than similar mice that didn't get the transplants.

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UI researchers tout diabetes development

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