TESTS ADVANCE FOR CARDIOCELL MEDICINE

CardioCell, a stem cell company in San Diego, has started a Phase 2a clinical trial of its treatment for chronic heart failure.

The companys special stem cells are injected into patients with heart failure not caused by a heart attack. Nearly 2 million Americans have that kind of heart failure.

Separately, CardioCell is testing these stem cells on heart attack patients.

The cells are licensed from Stemedica, the parent company of CardioCell.

Taken from bone marrow, the stem cells produce chemicals intended to heal malfunctioning heart cells. They are grown under low-oxygen conditions, or hypoxia. CardioCell said hypoxia reflects the conditions under which natural stem cells exist.

Also in San Diego, the company Histogen is developing its own type of low-oxygen stem cells.

Growing stem cells with abundant oxygen reduces their stemness, and they become prone to differentiation turning into other types of cells, said Sergey Sikora, CardioCells president and chief executive.

More than 20 patients are being sought for the Phase 2a trial, which is taking place at Emory University in Atlanta, Northwestern University near Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Patients receive injections of the stem cells, while a control group receives a saline injection. After 90 days, the groups treatment will be reversed.

The stem cells live for about a month, Sikora said.

Read more here:
TESTS ADVANCE FOR CARDIOCELL MEDICINE

NOSE grows on woman's BACK after failed stem cell treatment

A woman found a nose-like growth on her back eight years after stem cell treatment[GETTY]

The unnamed woman had tissue from her nose implanted in her spine to help cure her paralysis but the procedure failed.

Eight years later the woman complained of increasing pain in the area and doctors found a three-centimetre long growth made of nasal tissue.

It was discovered last year and was also made of bits of bone and nerve branches but it had not connected with her spinal nerves.

Surgeons at the University of Iowa Hospitals removed the growth from the US citizen, then aged 28, which they said was not cancerous.

The unnamed woman had tissue from her nose implanted in her spine [GETTY / PIC POSED BY MODEL]

Doctors discovered a nose-like growth on a woman's back eight years after stem cell treatment

However, it was secreting a "thick copious mucus-like material" which likely caused the pain on the woman's spine.

The results of the surgery were published in New Scientist today.

George Daley, a stem cell researcher at Harvard Medical School, said: "It is sobering.

Continued here:
NOSE grows on woman's BACK after failed stem cell treatment

Stem cell boss joins board he funded

Alan Trounson, then president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, poses for a portrait at his offices in San Francisco, Monday, March 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

The former head of California's stem cell agency, which is handing out $3 billion of voter-approved funds for research, has joined the board of a major grant recipient one week after leaving his post.

Alan Trounson, the former president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, has joined the board of StemCells Inc., the recipient of $19.4 million from the agency.

The agency has been grappling with potential conflicts of interest, some of which are built into its governance under Proposition 71, approved by voters in 2004. CIRM paid $700,000 for a report last year making recommendations on how to mitigate conflicts.

Trounson's move has reignited debate over the issue.

"The announcement raises serious and obvious concerns on a number of fronts," Chairman Jonathan Thomas wrote to his colleagues on the CIRM board. "Under state law, however, it is permissible for Dr. Trounson to accept employment with a CIRM-funded company. Nonetheless, state law does impose some restrictions on Dr. Trounsons post-CIRM employment activities.

Board members will be forbidden to discuss the company with Trounson for one year after his departure, Thomas wrote.

Randy Mills, Trounson's successor as agency president, said in a statement Wednesday that "in the interests of transparency and good governance we will be conducting a full review of all CIRM activities relating to StemCells Inc.

"We take even the appearance of conflicts of interest very seriously," Mills said in the statement.

Not only board members, but CIRM employees are being reminded of the conflict of interest rules.

View original post here:
Stem cell boss joins board he funded

Woman Reportedly Grows A 'Nose' On Her Back

Eight years after doctors implanted stem cell tissues from her nose into her spine, an American woman experienced a nose-like growth on her back.

The woman received the treatment for paralysis at Hospital de Egas Moniz in Portugal with the hope that stem cells would help cure the nerve damage she experienced in her spine. While she did not have the symptoms initially, she started feeling the growth in her back about a year ago, according to the Daily Mail.

She started experiencing pain in her back and told doctors, who found a nose-like growth that was three centimeters long.

Doctors said that the tissue growing from her back was mostly nasal tissue, but it included small bone particles and had nerves in it, which had latched to the spinal cord.

Mucus-like fluids were also coming out of the growth, said neurosurgeon Brian Dlouhy, who removed the growth surgically.

Though the womans case is unfortunate, some researchers say that it is rare.

Most people who receive the treatment and are rehabilitated correctly saw improvement in their conditions, said Jean Peduzzi-Nelson, a Wayne State University stem cell researcher.

I am saddened to learn of this adverse event, however, the incidence of this problem is less than 1 percent, she told the New Scientist. Many patients receiving this treatment have had remarkable recovery.

Source: Daily Mail

Read the rest here:
Woman Reportedly Grows A 'Nose' On Her Back

After Stem Cell Therapy – Patient Interview – Video

After Stem Cell Therapy - Patient Interview
Patient Interview with #39;Josh #39; after stem cell treatment with Dr Mike Belich of Integrative Medical Clinics. The benefits of stem cell therapy and Regenerative Medicine.

By: Integrative Medical Clinics

See the article here:
After Stem Cell Therapy - Patient Interview - Video

New York Stem Cell | Regenerative Disk Therapy for Spine NY

Dr. Spivak is a board-certified Neurosurgeon who specializes in minimally invasive spine surgery and stem cell therapies. He has dedicated himself to helping heal your back!

Back pain is a major source of pain and suffering throughout America. Almost everyone suffers from back pain at least at least once in his or her lifetime. Back pain can cause depression and cause problems with work and family. There is no reason to prolong your suffering, as many different treatments are available to provide you with back pain relief. The most common cause of back pain is caused by injury to the lower back. Damage to the disks is called Degenerative Disk Disease. Damaged disks can herniate and pinch spinal nerves. This can cause the searing pain in the legs known as sciatica. Sometimes chiropractic treatment or physical therapy will help relieve back pain, but sometimes interventional surgical procedures must be undertaken when a person does not recover after less intensive treatment. There are many types of invasive treatments, some of which can be quite effective but none of them actually repair the damaged disk. Much progress has been made in experimental stem cell treatments that can actually heal the damage that has been done to the disk, restoring it to like new condition. This procedure is called Disk Regeneration; it produces new disk cells inside the disk itself, so that it can rebuild itself. The Disk Regeneration procedure is short and minimally invasive. Bone marrow is extracted from the patients hip bone and stem cells are separated out using a centrifuge. The stem cells are then injected into the disk using the guidance of an x-ray. The patient is then free to go home and recover.

Dr. Spivak is known for his innovative minimally invasive approach to spine repair, as well as his focus on research and developing cutting edge endoscopic techniques.

Dr. Spivak began his study of medicine at theUniversity of Winnipeg and completed his residency in Neurological Surgery at theUniversity of Saskatchewan. He has also completed several fellowships at prestigious medical schools throughout the United States, where he further refined his surgical techniques.

He has also held several faculty positions at esteemed universities, including Stanford Medical School and Columbia Medical School, and has contributed to several clinical journals, such as the Journal of Neurosurgery.

See original here:
New York Stem Cell | Regenerative Disk Therapy for Spine NY

Woman grows a nose on her spine after experimental stem cell treatment goes awry

A female patient in the US has grown a nose on her back following a failed experimental stem cell treatment that was intended to cure her paralysis. The nose-like growth, which was producing a thick mucus-like material, has recently been removed as it was pressing painfully on herspine. If you ever needed an example of the potential perils of stem cell therapy, and just how little we actually know about the function of stem cells, this is it. Its also notable that this stem cell therapy was carried out in a developed country, as part of an approved trial (apparently unwanted growths are more common in developing nations with less stringent medical safeguards).

Eight years ago, olfactory stem cells were taken from the patients nose and implanted in her spine. The stem cells were meant to turn into nerve cells that would help repair the womans spine, curing her of paralysis. Instead, it seems they decided to do what they were originally meant to do and attempt to build a nose. Over a number of years, the nose-like growth eventually became big enough and nosy enough to cause pain and discomfort to the patient. As reported by New Scientist, surgeons removed a 3-centimetre-long growth, which was found to be mainly nasal tissue, as well as bits of bone and tiny nerve branches that had not connected with the spinal nerves. [DOI: 10.3171/2014.5.SPINE13992 - "Autograft-derived spinal cord mass following olfactory mucosal cell transplantation in a spinal cord injury patient"]

Your olfactory system. 1 is the olfactory bulb (the bit of your brain that processes smells); 6 is the olfactory receptors that bind to specific chemicals (odors). [Image credit: Wikipedia]

What went wrong, then? Basically, at the top of your nasal passages there is the olfactory mucosa. This region contains all of the machinery for picking up odors, and the neurons for sending all of that data off to your brains olfactory bulb for processing. Cells from this region can be easily and safely harvested, and with the correct processing they behave just like pluripotent embryonic stem cells that can develop into many other cell types. These olfactory stem cells could develop into cartilage, or mucus glands, or neurons. The researchers obviously wanted the latter, to cure the patients spinal nerve damage but seemingly they got it wrong, and thus she sprouted a second nose. Moving forward, newer olfactory stem cell treatments have an isolation stage to prevent this kind of thing from happening. [Read:The first 3D-printed human stem cells.]

Its important to note that medicine, despite being carried out primarily on humans, is still ultimately a scientific endeavor that requires a large amount of trial and error. In the western world, its very, very hard to get a stem cell therapy approved for human trials without lots of animal testing. Even then, the therapies are often only used on people who have nothing to lose. Obviously its hard to stomach news like this, and Im sure that stem cell critics will be quick to decry the Frankensteinian abomination created by these scientists. But when you think about the alternative no advanced medicine and significantly reduced lifespans for billions of people then really, such experimental treatments are nothing to sneeze at.

Read the original:
Woman grows a nose on her spine after experimental stem cell treatment goes awry

Stem Cell Injection Therapy in New York City

In many cases of spinal or joint tissue damage, even drastic surgical procedures are not enough to repair the injury and return the body to its previous state. Stem cell injection therapy is a revolutionary technique using non-controversial Adult (non-embryonic) stem cells to regenerate damaged tissue and help the body recover naturally within weeks. Dr. Damon Noto is one of the few doctors in the New York City area performing this revolutionary procedure.

Stem cells are the cells in the body from which all specialized kinds of cells such as cartilage cells, skin cells, or bone cells are derived from. Under the right conditions, the right stem cells can develop into any kind of cell that the body needs. When a person has a significant joint or spinal injury, introducing stem cells to the injured area allows the cells to form into the exact type of cells that the body needs to regenerate damaged tissue and restore function.

Stem cell injection into the knee (New York City) is a therapy that utilizes adult stem cells, which are harvested from the patient's own body in one easy procedure. Our stem cell treatments do not use controversial embryonic stem cells derived from human fetal embryonic tissue.

Your first appointment is for an evaluation where we will determine the best way to obtain the stem cells from your body. The second office visit is for extracting the stem cells, and then doing the actual injection. Dr. Noto will inject concentrated stem cells into the joint or spinal injury either using mild sedation or local anesthesia. The total procedure time usually is under 2 hours, and you will be fully awake and able to walk out of the office when finished. You will not need to stay overnight or even visit a hospital, as the treatment is performed conveniently in our office or near by surgical center. We serve New Jersey, New York City, Long Island and the surrounding areas.

The procedure involves minimal discomfort, and recovery time is minimal. Many patients begin to notice results within six to eight weeks after only one treatment. Some patients will require two to three treatments to see full results, but New York stem cell therapy can help both athletes and non-athletes return to their pre-injury condition with a minimally invasive procedure.

Back to Treatments and Services

Minimally Invasive Disc Surgery

Regenerative Medicine

Dr. Noto interviewed on Channel 12.

SPINE & JOINT CENTER - New Jersey

Read more:
Stem Cell Injection Therapy in New York City

Stem cell treatment causes nasal growth in woman's back

A woman in the US has developed a tumour-like growth eight years after a stem cell treatment to cure her paralysis failed. There have been a handful of cases of stem cell treatments causing growths but this appears to be the first in which the treatment was given at a Western hospital as part of an approved clinical trial.

At a hospital in Portugal, the unnamed woman, a US citizen, had tissue containing stem-cell-like cells taken from her nose and implanted in her spine. The hope was that these cells would develop into neural cells and help repair the nerve damage to the woman's spine. The treatment did not work far from it. Last year the woman, then 28, underwent surgery because of worsening pain at the implant site.

The surgeons removed a 3-centimetre-long growth, which was found to be mainly nasal tissue, as well as bits of bone and tiny nerve branches that had not connected with the spinal nerves.

The growth wasn't cancerous, but it was secreting a "thick copious mucus-like material", which is probably why it was pressing painfully on her spine, says Brian Dlouhy at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, Michigan, the neurosurgeon who removed the growth. The results of the surgery have now been published.

"It is sobering," says George Daley, a stem cell researcher at Harvard Medical School who has helped write guidelines for people considering stem cell treatments. "It speaks directly to how primitive our state of knowledge is about how cells integrate and divide and expand. "

The case shows that even when carried out at mainstream hospitals, experimental stem cell therapies can have unpredictable consequences, says Alexey Bersenev, a stem cell research analyst who blogs at Cell Trials. "We have to realise complications can also happen in a clinical trial," he says.

Stem cells have the prized ability to divide and replenish themselves, as well as turn into different types of tissues. There are several different stem cells, including ones obtained from an early embryo, aborted fetuses, and umbilical cord blood. There are many sources within adult tissues, too, including bone marrow.

While often hailed as the future of medicine, stem cells' ability to proliferate carries an inherent danger and the fear has always been that when implanted into a person they could turn cancerous.

Still, a few stem cell therapies have now been approved, such as a treatment available in India that takes stem cells from the patient's eye in order to regrow the surface of their cornea, and a US product based on other people's bone stem cells.

Many groups around the world are investigating a wide range of other applications, including treating heart attacks, blindness, Parkinson's disease and cancer. Research groups at universities and hospitals need to meet strict safety guidelines for clinical trials but some small private clinics are offering therapies to people without research or marketing approval. There is a growing number of lawsuits against such clinics and a few cases have been reported of tumours or excessive tissue growth (see "Ongoing stem cell trials" below).

Read the rest here:
Stem cell treatment causes nasal growth in woman's back

Enrile fit, vigorous enough for jailprosecutor

Senator Juan Ponce Enrile at Camp Crame on the way to the PNP Hospital. The Sandiganbayan has ordered Enriles arrest in connection with the plunder and graft cases filed by the Ombudsman. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ LEO SABANGAN

MANILA, PhilippinesFor the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile need not be under hospital arrest for his plunder case because the 90-year-old lawmaker seemed healthier after his stem cell treatment.

During a hearing at the Sandiganbayan on Tuesday, prosecutor Annielyn Cabelis said Enriles motion for him to be detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) General Hospital is unfounded and self-serving.

Cabelis told the court that even with his age and various illnesses, Enrile is still performing quite well as senator.

The prosecutor cited Enriles stem cell treatment as adding strength to the veteran lawmaker.

Hes undergone stem cell surgery, adding vigor to the accused. Its not really precarious as what they told the court, Cabelis said.

Associate Justice Samuel Martires noted the prosecutors claim that Enrile seemed stronger after the stem cell treatment.

The justice then went on to ask the prosecutor if she feels her blood pressure going up when she is arguing with her husband.

When the prosecutor said I dont fight with my husband, Martires pointed out that anxiety for persons facing a crime also affects their blood pressure.

Do you know an anxiety of a person who has a case, especially a criminal case? Do you know that the period of anxiety also affect blood pressure? Martires told the prosecutor.

Link:
Enrile fit, vigorous enough for jailprosecutor