ot: Israeli MS patients in adult stem cell first - some improvements

[Guest guest]

As often mentioned on the lists, perhaps stem cell therapy will be

helpful for autistic kids who aren't responsive to biomed therapeutics.

- - - -

Israeli MS patients in adult stem cell first

[video on url]

By ISRAEL21c staff December 25, 2007

*http://tinyurl.com/34yyaa*

http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El1889 & enPage=BlankPage & \

enDisplay=view & enDispWhat=object & enVersion=0 & enZone=Health &

Scientists based at Jerusalem's Hadassah University Hospital have broken

new ground in the field of stem cell research by injecting sufferers of

neurological diseases with therapeutic quantities of cultured adult stem

cells.

The Hadassah neurologists, working under the guidance of team leaders

Professor Dimitrious Karussis and Prof. Shimon Slavin, the recently

retired head of Hadassah's bone marrow unit, extracted stem cells from

the hip bone marrow of 26 multiple sclerosis (MS) and amytrophic lateral

sclerosis (ALS) patients. After a two-month long process of /in vitro/

cleansing, multiplication and chemical 'tagging', the cells were

re-injected into the patients via lumbar puncture.

According to Karussis, the trials were the first in the world to use

this type of stem cells. " The sole aim of this study was to explore the

feasibility and the safety of this treatment, since it is applied for

first time, " Karussis told ISRAEL21c.

No adverse effects were noted, and the experiment was deemed a success.

Even more encouragingly, patients also displayed anecdotal improvements

in clinical symptoms, leading the way for further developments in

forthcoming clinical trials.

" Most MS patients reported a stabilization of their condition and some

an improvement in function, especially in sphincter control, muscle

power in arms, tremor and stability in walking, " Karussis said. " ALS

patients continued to show signs of deterioration - though at a lesser

than previous degree. "

For both groups of patients, any such news is good news. MS, which

affects over 2.5 million people worldwide, causes damage to the body's

central nervous system - the brain and spinal cord - and results in

impaired sensory, motor, balance and vision function. The rarer, more

rapidly progressing ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, involves a

similar degeneration of neuronal cells, causing the gradual and fatal

loss of the patient's capacity for movement.

Because both diseases are caused by the deterioration of a specific type

of cell, they are prime targets for stem cell treatment.

In extensive experimentation on animal models of MS and ALS, the

Hadassah researchers found that transplanted adult stem cells began to

differentiate into the kinds of cells which the diseases had destroyed,

suggesting that it might be possible to regenerate damaged nervous

systems through cell re-growth.

After the equivalent of one or two years in the human progression of the

diseases, the treated lab mice retained 90 percent of their neurons,

despite suffering from a similar motor neuron disorder.

The most recent safety study, says Karussis, marks the first time that

such adult stem cells have been injected into human patients. Although

the small-scale study lacked a control group, and thus remains highly

experimental, it has paved the way for a larger efficacy trial to be

held over the course of the next few years.

" We are encouraged as these are patients with advanced cases, many of

them in wheelchairs, " Karussis told the/ Jerusalem Post/.

The research, the scientists say, is significant since most attention in

recent years has been paid to therapies using embryonic, rather than

mature, stem cells. But unlike embryonic stem cells, this kind of

therapy offers practical advantages because the patient can serve as his

or her own donor, significantly reducing the chances of immune system

rejection. Such an approach also avoids the complex ethical issues

invoked when stem cells are obtained from embryonic sources.

The researchers hope to enlarge the safety study to include more

patients, and then launch a controlled clinical trial of the therapies.

They are happy to receive applications from possible participants, they

say.

In the meantime, however, the group must first obtain funding to cover

the expense of clinical treatment - up to $20,000 per patient - and must

receive a license from the Ministry of Health, which may prove a lengthy

process. Such hurdles are significant - but the benefits, say the team,

will be worth it.

Stem cells, Karussis notes, " have already shown some promise in the

treatment of joint and bone diseases, immune conditions and ischemia of

the heart. " And he is optimistic, he says, that MS and ALS will join

that auspicious list one day " not far into the future. "

*

The material in this post is distributed without

profit to those who have expressed a prior interest

in receiving the included information for research

and educational purposes.For more information go to:

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html

http://oregon.uoregon.edu/~csundt/documents.htm

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this

email for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you

must obtain permission from the copyright owner*.*