As the most basic building blocks of the human body, stem cells are characterized by their ability to differentiate and mature into other types of cells with specialized functions. They are also known for their ability to self-generate, a phenomenon where they divide and produce more stem cells. During early childhood, stem cells may develop into a variety of different cell types. They are also capable of replenishing other cells, acting as the body's own automatic repair system. This ability makes them an ideal treatment for many diseases; this treatment is called stem cell therapy.
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[News]
Neuralstem Awarded Adult Stem Cell Patent
The company Neuralstem has announced today that it has been awarded a patent for its latest proprietary technology for an adult stem cell therapy that can be used in the treatment of neurological diseases.
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[News]
Cord Blood America Highlights 2009 Stem Cell Progress
Cord Blood America Inc. (CBAI), one of the largest providers in the world of umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation, reviews its accomplishments thus far in 2009. Even though the year is only half over, CBAI considers its achievements thus far in 2009 to be among the most significant in the company's history. Some of its accomplishments in the first half of this year are described herein.
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[News]
Placental Stem Cells Treat Lung Disease
Scientists at the Fondazione Poliambulanza-Instituto Ospelaliero in Brescia, Italy have used placental adult stem cells in the treatment of fibrotic lung diseases in laboratory animals.
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[News]
DARA and America Stem Cell Announce Strategic Alliance
Today DARA BioSciences announced a strategic partnership with America Stem Cell Inc. (ASC) for the R&D of transplants in which the adult stem cells known as hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are used. The announcement represents a logical continuation of preclinical studies in which dipeptidylpeptidase (DPPIV) inhibitors were found to improve the efficacy of HSC transplantation, which is often employed in the treatment of many malignant as well as non-malignant hematological disorders.
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[News]
Genzyme Receives EU Approval for Adult Stem Cell Mobilization Product
The biotechnology giant Genzyme Corporation announced today that it has received regulatory approval from the European Commission for the commercial marketing of one of its products, Mozobil. A proprietary, injectable formulation of plerixa, Mozobil stimulates the mobilization and migration of the body's own adult, hematopoietic stem cells out of the bone marrow and into the peripheral blood where the cells can be easily collected. The
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[News]
Stem Cell Tourism on the Rise
In any commercial endeavor, caveat emptor must be the consumer's guiding principle, and the medical profession is no exception to this rule. Now, as patients in increasing numbers continue to travel outside of their own countries in search of stem cell therapies that are only available in foreign lands, increasing problems and dangers are being reported.
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[News]
More Veterinary Success Seen With Adult Stem Cells
Even at five years of age, Lucy the Labradoodle was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis in her hind legs. But now, after receiving autologous adult stem cell therapy, she is showing significant improvement. According to her owner, Carol Fischman of Vero Beach, Florida, "We didn't think she'd live anywhere near this long, and I know it's because of the stem cells."
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[News]
Adult Stem Cells Treat Heart Failure
In 2007, Thomas Clegg was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the left ventricle of the heart becomes abnormally enlarged. At that time, his ejection fraction - a measure of the heart's efficiency at pumping blood - was around 9 (nine) percent, whereas a normal ejection fraction is considered to be between 50 and 65%, or higher.
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[News]
BrainStorm Develops New ALS Therapy
The adult stem cell company BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Protein Production Services, a leading manufacturing contractor, in order to begin production of its therapeutic adult stem cell product for the treatment of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease). The
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[News]
The Media is Criticized for Embryonic Stem Cell Bias
Not surprisingly, an organization that is focused on culture and the media issues a statement in which members of the U.S. media are criticized for their irresponsible bias in favor of embryonic stem cell research, while deliberately and systematically ignoring adult stem cell accomplishments.
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[News]
University of Pittsburgh Receives Two NIH Grants for Novel Stem Cell Research
Scientists at the University of Piitsburgh have announced today the awarding by NIH (the National Institutes of Health) of two separate grants totalling more than $5 million. One of the grants is for the study of embryonic stem cell differentiation, while the other is for investigating a new method of growing adult stem cells on lymph nodes.
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[News]
Stem cell therapy maker Aldagen files for IPO
The adult stem cell company Aldagen Inc, from Durham North Carolina announced today that it has filed a registration with the Securities Exchange Commission for an initial public offering with a potential value of $80.5 million. Details regarding price range or shares to be issues were not disclosed.
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[News]
Stem Cell Therapy May Offer Hope For Acute Lung Injury
Acute lung injury is a major cause of death that can be caused by several conditions. Viral infections such as SARS, blunt for tissue trauma, and bacteria sepsis have all been associated with lung injury. It is believed that approximately 75,000 deaths per year in the United States alone occur because of this. Deaths are occur primarily in the intensive care units, and to date, there has been no treatment developed that works.
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[News]
Stem Cell Therapy Aids the Return of Lava Man
Lava Man is a race horse that has had quite a career: he has earned more than $5.2 million and was considered one of the top racehorses in North America. Unfortunately, the recent past has not been to kind to him.
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[News]
Adult Stem Cell Clinical Findings Presented at European Conference
This week in Barcelona, at the 10th annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology, the U.S. company TCA Celluar Therapy is presenting its latest clinical findings on its own proprietary adult stem cell therapies in the treatment of two particular diseases, namely, critical limb ischemia (CLI) and refractory coronary ischemia (CI). TCA has already evaluated its therapies for both conditions in U.S. FDA-approved clinical trials.
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[News]
Adult Stem Cell Companies Seen as Profitable Investment
While religious groups debate the various ethical issues of embryonic versus adult stem cells, and researchers debate the various scientific issues, financial analysts are not debating at all. From a purely monetary perspective, it is adult stem cells, not embryonic stem cells, which constitute a sound investment.
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[News]
Lasers Stimulate Stem Cells and Reduce Heart Scarring After Heart Attack
After a heart attack or stroke, heart scarring can lead to dangerously paper-thin heart walls and a decreased ability to pump blood through the body. Although the heart is unable to completely heal itself, a new treatment developed at Tel Aviv University uses laser-treated bone marrow stem cells to help restore heart function and health.
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[News]
Stem cell therapy benefits patients with chronic heart failure
After a heart attack the myocardium (heart muscle) undergoes a period of damage during which cells of the body attempt to heal the injured tissue. This occurs through stem cells found in the heart itself, called cardiac specific stem cells (CSC) as well as bone marrow stem cells which seem to exit the bone marrow, enter circulation, and migrate towards the area of cardiac damage.
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[News]
Adult Stem Cells Applied to Cancer Therapy
The adult stem cell company Vitro Biopharma has announced pending patent applications on proprietary cell-based cancer therapies that are developed from human adult stem cells. Specifically, the therapies incorporate the natural properties of a specific type of adult stem cell known as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), a highly potent stem cell that is commonly found in bone marrow, adipose (fat) tissue and umbilical cord blood.
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[News]
Stem cell therapy gives dogs new pep in their step
Cookie is a thirteen year-old Australian shepherd mix that has been having increasing trouble lying down and getting up. She could not walk down stairs and even during normal walks around the park her legs would give out. Cookie¡¯s master, Ed Tani of Hayward was terrified that Cookie¡¯s days were numbered. Ed then came across a revolutionary procedure for treating arthritic dogs called stem cell therapy. The treatment had been used with great success in horses for years, but more and more veterinarians are implementing the patented Vet-Stem Regenerative Cell therapy to their medical bag of tricks.
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[News]
First patient to get stem cell therapy identified
Embryonic stem cells have numerous pitfalls in addition to the ethical dilemmas. While the concept of a ¡°blank slate¡± cell is extremely attractive in terms of generating new tissues for transplantation and organ replacement, the problem is that these cells are so young that they do not properly ¡°know¡± how to integrate with existing tissues. This causes the problem of possible dysfunction of the cellular products made from the cells, but also causes the issue of cancer formation. Many studies have demonstrated that administration of embryonic stem cells, or products made from them form cancers when injected into mice that lack an immune system.
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[News]
Pluristem to develop stem cell therapy on its own CEO
Pluristem is an Israeli company that is publicly traded on NASDAQ and has been working on a ¡°universal donor¡± stem cell therapy that originates from cord blood mesenchymal stem cells. Key to Pluristem¡¯s intellectual property are a series of patents on three dimensional bioreactors that allow for mass production of these cells.
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[News]
Adipose ¨Cderived stem cells show utility as thrapy
PRECISE is The Randomized Clinical Trial of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells in Treatment of Non Revascularizable Ischemic Myocardium, a double blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 27 patients with chronic ischemic heart disease with HF, angina or both, who were not eligible for percutaneous or surgical revascularization. The patients in the study underwent a liposuction to remove adipose tissue from their abdomen, the stem cells were separated and then reinjected directly into the heart. Placebo patients received the same treatment however were injected with placebo in place of stem cells. ¡°These patients were not even able to be transplanted. So these were very high-risk, no-option patients,¡± said Francisco Fern¨¢ndez-Avil¨¦s, MD, with the department of cardiology, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañ¨®n, Madrid, and PRECISE investigator.
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[News]
Fetal Stem Cell Therapy Could Prove Fatal
An Israeli boy who suffers from a rare, often fatal genetic disease known as ataxia telangiectasia (A-T) has developed a tumor that was directly traced to the fetal stem cell therapy that he received.
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[News]
Adult Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes Shows Progress
Once again, the biotech company Opexa Therapeutics announces strong preclinical data for its proprietary diabetes therapy, developed from autologous adult stem cells. The new study demonstrates that adult stem cells harvested from the mononuclear cells of peripheral blood are differentiable into pancreatic-like cells, which mimic the morphology and function of the beta islet cell clusters of the pancreas in their ability to secrete insulin, glucagon and somatostatin, as well as in the expression of pancreatic and endocrine-specific biomarkers and in the high levels of C-peptide, a byproduct of insulin synthesis.
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[News]
Man's Best Friend Improves With Adult Stem Cell Therapy
At his home on the New Jersey shore, Higgins was suffering from age-related arthritis. A 9-year-old Golden Retriever, he then underwent a veterinary procedure at the Toms River Animal Hospital in which his own adult canine stem cells were used as his therapy. Now, Higgins is once again pain-free and back to his regular self.
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[News]
Equine Stem Cell Technique to be Tested in People
Achilles tendinopathies can cause severe distress in humans, but in horses such conditions can be fatal. Now, after having treated over 1,500 race horses with an autologous adult stem cell therapy that has demonstrated both safety and efficacy in the horses, researchers will begin testing the procedure on humans.
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[News]
New stem cell study promises to heal the heart
University of Miami cardiologist led by Dr. Joshua Hare reported success in a small, preliminary human clinical trial of a new stem cell therapy they hope some day will routinely mend human hearts and reduce the need for lifelong medication, possibly even for transplants.
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[Q&A]
How do I know if I am a good candidate for stem cell therapy?
The first step is to send us your medical records and diagnostic test results. We will then analyze your case. If your disease or disorder does not have a specific treatment program, and the symptoms become increasingly serious, with severe neurological functioning damage, and biotherapy could help with nerve remodeling, improve functioning, change the quality of your life and prolong it, then we will suggest you have stem cell treatment if you don't have any contraindications.
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[Q&A]
What other drugs does the doctor combine with the stem cells for therapy?
The stem cell therapy is part of the whole treatment. During pre-operation we will use medication to improve the brain's microenvironment in order to make sure the injected stem cells can survive inside the body; During post-operation some medication will be used to protect the stem cells from being self-eliminated, and to help the stem cells locate, proliferate and differentiate in the damaged area. At the same time we combine rehabilitation training to help the stem cells develop the desired functions.
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[Doctor Blogs]
Hailey tried to speak! - 03/20/2009
Hailey's mouth opened a little more and her tongue moved after Miranda, her mother, told her to say hi to me. It was obvious that Hailey was saying hi to me even though her voice was not loud enough to be heard. "She tried to speak! I can see that," I said.
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