The liver which is located in the upper right-hand side of the abdomen, performs many important functions that might affect the regular metabolism of human body – like:

• Breaking down carbohydrates, fats and proteins, storing glycogen, minerals and vitamins,
• Filtering toxins and
• Eliminating cholesterol, hormones and bilirubin.

But, sometimes, the liver might dysfunction or might suffer from an inflammation as a reaction that occurs when the liver cells are attacked by disease-causing microbes or substances.

What Is Hepatitis?

Hepatitis is also one such infection. It is caused by other viruses, bacteria, parasites, and toxin reactions to drugs, alcohol, and chemicals leading to liver inflammation, failure and cirrhosis.

What Are The symptoms Of Hepatitis?

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 4.4 million people across the world are affected by chronic hepatitis B and C, in which the symptoms start developing slowly. In some cases of hepatitis, symptoms may not occur at all, until there is a liver damage. In acute hepatitis however, flu-like symptoms, fatigue, dark urine, stomach ache, weight loss and skin and eyes turning yellow are some of the common symptoms.

So, the treatment also depends upon its types and severity.

How Is Hepatitis Treated?

While Hepatitis A is an acute and short-term disease, Hepatitis B and C are more likely to become chronic.

In case of hepatitis A, (which is caused by consuming contaminated food or water), the treatment is largely based on addressing the symptoms, monitoring the liver health and getting vaccinated to prevent the affected from falling sick. Medication, hospitalisation or transplantation is rare requirement in hepatitis.

Hepatitis B and C, which is transmitted through injection use, and sexual contact, is normally treated with antiviral medications. Although an expensive treatment procedure, but it requires regular medical evaluation, monitoring, and testing, to check whether the virus is responding to the treatment. However, as a result of chronic hepatitis C, if someone develops liver cirrhosis, the patient might have to get a liver transplantation done.  

Can New-born Stem Cells Be Used to Treat Hepatitis?

Haematopoietic Stem Cells was used to treat Hepatitis C

A study had shown that, in November 2000, a 45-year-old man was diagnosed with hepatitis C. Going deep, except getting a few tattoos done, no proper source of the viral infection was found.

To reduce the viral load, he may have been given a combination of antiviral therapy, but he developed a progressive pancytopenia, even after the discontinuation of the antiviral therapy. He also became transfusion dependent. With the outcome of the treatment, it was decided that the patient might eventually need umbilical cord blood (haematopoietic) stem cell transplantation. So, since he did not have any siblings, baby stem cells from unrelated umbilical cord blood were offered for transplantation. Due to Haematopoietic Stem cells’ ability to rebuild blood, except a small post transplantation complication, 9 months after, his liver function was tested normal and the chances of the returning of the viral load were below the levels of detection.

Peripheral infusion of UCMSCs showed good therapeutic effects for HBV-related liver failure

In a study, which had 64 patients affected with HBV-related liver failure and 59 patients with HBV-related liver cirrhosis, after prolonged umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) treatment, significant changes were observed. In fact, those who belonged to the age in-between 16 and 60 years, after the therapy, the patients were excluded from:

1. Severe complications including gastric vein rupture, haemorrhage and septicaemia
2. Other autoimmune treatable diseases
3. Liver transplantation
4. Alcoholic liver disease
5. Liver cancer  

To Conclude

Overall, the long-term effectiveness of umbilical cord (cord blood) stem cell therapy could further be judged in large-scale and well-controlled trial. 

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Popularly known for causing mental decline, dementia affects people over the age of 60, with the risk of incidence increasing as one grows older. Starting at 5% risk at the age of 65, the risk of dementia rises every 5 years, going up to 40-50% by the time one turns 85. It starts manifesting itself as the forgetfulness that’s the most common problem in old age. How else can it be identified? Let’s find out!

Symptoms of Dementia

Other than memory loss, other symptoms include:

• Inability to do routine tasks
• Difficulty finding the right words and names for everyday objects
• Abrupt mood swings
• Confusion and difficulty remembering people’s names and faces
• Inability to fully comprehend stories
• Loss of direction resulting in getting lost frequently
• Frequent repetition of stories or questions
• Regression of mental ability
• Difficulty with numbers and simple calculations

Since the first and foremost symptom of dementia involves forgetfulness, many dementia patients and their families attribute that to old age and neglect digging deeper. It needs to be said that some people may experience forgetfulness but not have dementia. Hence, it’s important to undergo neurological exams, lab tests and neuropsychological tests to check for dementia.

Treatment of Dementia

Any complaint of frequent forgetfulness needs to be immediately addressed. The treatment and the success of these depend on the source and severity of the disease. In some cases, the doctor may prescribe drugs that reduce the symptoms and slow down the progression of the condition. In vascular dementia, which causes blood clots in the brain, treatment will stop new blood clots from forming.

How Do Stem Cells Help Treat Dementia?

Stem cells are those from which all the cells in our body are generated. They can become new stem cells or even specialised cells with a specific function, like blood cells, bone cells, heart muscle cells, and in the case of dementia, brain cells.

Due to the small size of the cells, they can get into brain tissue, thereby increasing the recovery rate. The age and weight of the patient will determine how many cells are needed. The frequency of the treatment will be dependent on the extent of the condition. However, current stem cell treatments use baby stem cells or mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that are harvested from the umbilical cord or cord blood or Wharton’s jelly. These remain in the body and are found in adult stem cells niches including bone marrow or adipose tissue. Since many factors determine the treatment specifics, different patients will receive different treatment intensities. It has been reported that the most lasting promising effects are seen when the condition is in its infancy. However, patients with organic brain lesions also saw positive results. If you’re caring for a dementia patient, and if you’re a family member, you need to know that genetics does play a role in dementia. In fact, about 30% of patients have a family history of dementia. Can it be avoided? There are certain precautions you can take – 1) regular physical exercise can reduce the risk of dementia by 70%, 2) add vitamins B12 and D to your diet; 3) keep your brain active with brain exercises; 4) reduce your intake of alcohol, and 4) avoid nicotine at all costs.

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Muscular Dystrophy (MD) is a genetic condition that causes the muscles in your body to weaken and degenerate over time. There are several types of Muscular Dystrophies that can occur, like Becker’s Muscular Dystrophy, Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy, etc. Of these, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is known to be the most fatal one. However, researchers are exploring novel techniques like stem cell treatment to alter the genetic mutations causing the illness and improve the patient’s quality of life.

What Happens in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)?

This condition occurs when there are mutations in the dystrophin gene that code specific muscle proteins. Dystrophin is responsible for the proper functioning of the muscles, and the lack of it can cause the muscle fibres to be in disarray and degenerate. As a result of improper functioning of the muscles, there is progressive and rapid muscle weakness and loss.

The Dystrophin gene found in the X-chromosome affects men, while most women only remain dormant carriers of the gene. Hence, the condition is typically passed on from either parent to the child. However, in some cases, this is due to a new, spontaneous genetic mutation that occurs during pregnancy.

What Are The Signs of DMD?

The muscle weakness caused by this condition starts manifesting during early childhood days. Delay in achieving developmental milestones like sitting, walking, and even talking are signs that the child could be suffering from DMD. The condition usually starts with a loss of strength and function in the pelvis and thigh region, followed by the arms. The child has trouble standing up as a toddler and loses mobility by the time they are teenagers. Increased convex curvature of the spine and change in gait are also noticeable signs of DMD. Even the heart and lung functions are affected due to the weakening of the muscles in the region, causing breathing and other issues for the child as they grow older. This leads to a respiratory or cardiac failure by the time the patient reaches their twenties.

Future of DMD Treatment With Stem Cells

Although there is no cure for DMD at present, the advancement in medicines, gene therapy, stem cell treatments, etc., are providing greater hope for patients to live longer and feel better.

Ongoing research indicates that mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) can help relieve the DMD symptoms by aiding muscle cell regeneration and repairing damaged muscle cells. Since umbilical cord stem cells are at an early development stage, they can take the form of any cell. Therefore, using Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells (UCMSCs) increases the muscle cells’ functionality and replenishes the stem pool.

In a study conducted on mice by a team of Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers, the outcome looks promising. The researchers transplanted healthy stem cells into the muscles of mice with muscular dystrophy and observed that these new cells improved the damaged muscles’ functions and made them contract. They also noticed that the healthy stem cells replenished the diseased stem cell pool, which could repair any damage to the muscles during future injuries.

This study further demonstrates the potential of stem cell therapy in treating patients with muscular degeneration caused by DMD or other types of muscular dystrophy. The banking of stem cells can prove to be a blessing for your family as well as the field of medical science.

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This is the story about Kamsiyochukwu Bryan Peter Ezenwa  

Kamsiyochukwu was diagnosed with Sickle Cell Anaemia when he was two.

As a part of conventional treatment, the child went through blood transfusions and other kinds of medical treatment methods, leaving the child further deteriorated in health.

Unable to see Kamsiyochukwu in pain, the child’s parents met several doctors and looked for a permanent cure for the disease. Finally, they came across the concept of umbilical cord blood stem cell therapy for the child, as informed by the doctors.

Realising that the parents were new to the concept of stem cell therapy, the doctors advised them to plan for another baby and go for banking the baby’s cord blood.

The doctors also got the parents in touch with Cordlife group, where they could bank the cord blood of their second child and use the baby’s stem cells to treat Sickle Cell Anaemia in Kamsiyochukwu, their firstborn. 

***

So, when Kamsiyochukwu turned 8, he was treated for Sickle Cell Anaemia, through cord blood transplantation, using his sibling’s cord blood stem cells, on 21^st January, 2020.

Ever since the transplant, little Kamsiyochukwu has lived a painless and happy life.

So, what is Sickle Cell Anaemia?

Sickle cell anaemia, also known as sickle cell disease, is a group of red blood cell disorders, which is characterised by anaemia, jaundice, swelling and pain in the chest, back, arms or legs.

A baby born with sickle cell anaemia has abnormal haemoglobin molecules, which is also known as haemoglobin S. These molecules are responsible for distorting or destroying the round or disc-shaped haemoglobin molecules or red blood cells (RBCs) RBCs, making them look like a sickle (a C-shaped farm tool) or like a crescent moon.  Due to their shape and size, when they pass through the small blood vessels, they get trapped and tend to slow down or block the blood flow. Anaemia, being the hallmark symptom, is caused due to the premature destruction of red blood cells and is a direct result of defective genes from both parents.  

What are the Signs and Symptoms of Sickle Cell Disease?

Sickle cell disease symptoms usually start showing up as early as 4 months of age. The symptoms can also occur when the babies are about to cross their half-year (6-month) mark. And symptoms include:

• severe anaemia,
• Repeated episodes of infections, fever and pain or crises (in the back, joints, chest, and legs),
• painful enlargement of the spleen,
• skin ulcers
• heart and lung disease
•  delayed growth
• vision problems.

The severity of the symptoms, however, varies from one person to another.

So, Is There a Way to Treat Sickle Cell Anemia?

Someone suffering from this condition might need comprehensive care throughout their life. Medication might help; in fact, painkillers and antibiotics can manage the pain crises and acute chest syndrome. Blood transfusion at regular intervals can also help the patient survive by minimising the risk of stroke as a result of the clogging of the small blood vessels.

However, unfortunately, till now there has been no specific cure or treatment for sickle cell anaemia.

But, haematopoietic stem cell transplantation is considered a new cure for sickle cell disease. The source of the stem cells can be from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord (along with the blood). Umbilical cord blood rich with haematopoietic stem cells has emerged as an able alternative to bone marrow stem cell transplant. A healthy sibling within the same family can serve as a stem cell donor for the first or second born affected with Sickle Cell Disease. As there is a high chance that the sibling will not carry the sickle cell trait or disease, and there are fewer chances of graft-versus-host diseases.

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Having a baby is exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. Before you can feel the excitement of holding your little one in your arms, there’s the hard work of labour that you need to go through. There’s one part of delivery that no woman looks forward to – and that’s labour pain. Expecting a baby is also about expecting the pain that comes with your body getting ready for delivery. While every woman goes through different pain levels, you need to discuss your pain management options with your doctor. That’s when an epidural and spinal block are bound to come up. This article compares the two to help make your decision easier.

Administering an Epidural or Spinal Block

Both are delivered to provide pain relief during childbirth, and the procedure is administered similarly. This is what you can expect regardless of which one you choose:

• You will be asked to lie down on your left side or sit down while arching your back to make it easier to insert the needle.
  
• An antiseptic solution will be applied to reduce the chances of infection.
  
• Using a fine needle, your anesthesiologist will give you a local anesthetic.
  
• Then a thicker needle will be used to deliver the epidural or spinal block
  
• Sedatives may also accompany this to help relax you

The difference in administering these pain relief medications is about where the injection is given. A spinal block is injected into the dural sac that contains cerebrospinal fluid, giving it direct access to the spinal cord and nerves. On the other hand, an epidural is injected into the epidural space that surrounds the spinal cord.

Epidural vs Spinal Block

Epidurals

A needle will be inserted into your lower back to get access to the epidural space. A catheter is then threaded through the needle, and once it’s in place, the needle is removed. This process will take about 10-15 minutes, and you can expect to feel the pain relief in another 10-15 minutes. With the catheter in place, you can receive additional doses of anesthesia.

Spinal Block

This is administered as a single shot into the dural sac. You will immediately feel the pain relief, which is expected to last for about an hour or two.

When Is An Epidural Better Than A Spinal Block?

When it comes to your first pregnancy, the doctor may suggest an epidural. This is because labour can last for longer, and hence the pain during the whole period can be relieved by additional shots of the anesthesia.

When Is A Spinal Block Better Than An Epidural?

If there are complications during birth, or if you need to have a C-section, your doctor may advise a spinal block to give you immediate relief.

The Risk Involved in Epidurals and Spinal Blocks

When choosing between the two, the risk factor won’t play a role as it involves the same amount of risk. The doctor will closely monitor you, as the anesthetics can affect your central nervous system, cardiovascular system or respiratory system.

It’s important to discuss these pain relief options with your doctor as you approach D-day. Once you’ve weighed the pros and cons with your doctor and discussed your history, you can make an informed decision. However, always remember that plans can change, so be prepared and keep yourself open to both options. Have a safe delivery!

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Autism is not a disease that can be cured with medication. Instead, it is a condition where the individual requires support, care, and understanding of others. So, in this month dedicated to Autism, let’s take some time to understand it and sensitize ourselves to the needs of autistic individuals.

What Is Autism?

Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD is a blanket term used to describe patients with various neurodevelopmental problems. The symptoms of this condition start appearing right from the early days of a baby’s life. Sometimes, as early as 12 months of age. These children have difficulty in interacting socially and communicating and may also display repetitive behaviour.

In some cases, the patients are entirely dependent on their caregivers to perform day-to-day functions, while others may function independently. Hence, parents need to identify the symptoms of Autism in their children and start early intervention to overcome some of its challenges.

What Causes Autism?

While the cause for Autism is still not fully known, many experts believe that the following reasons can be responsible for the condition:

• Genetics
• Viral infection during pregnancy
• It runs in the family
• Low birth weight of the baby
• Imbalance of metabolism
• Prolonged exposure to environmental toxins

Several other factors are being studied to understand the exact reason for Autism in children.

What Are The Symptoms Of ASD?

Most children with ASD start displaying the symptoms right from infancy. However, there are also cases where the symptoms show up later on in their childhood.

The symptoms of this disorder are divided into 2 broad categories, and they are as follows:

Communication and Social Interaction Problems

• The child may have difficulty maintaining a conversation, expressing their emotions or feelings, etc.
• The child will have trouble making eye contact or understanding non-verbal communication like hugging.
• The child may find it challenging to make friends or other relationships with peers or family members.
• The child will have delayed speech development.
• The child may prefer to play alone rather than with other children.

Restricted or Repetitive Pattern or Behaviour Problems

• The child may exhibit repetitive movements, actions, or speech patterns.
• The child may get agitated if his/her routine is changed or broken.
• The child may react negatively to loud noises or bright lights, or other specific sensory information.
• The child will exhibit unusual behaviour like lining up toys or keeping them in a particular way.

Some Other Characteristics That A Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder May Exhibit Are:

• Flapping hands, rocking the body back and forth, or spinning in circles.
• Aggression or tantrums when things don’t go their way.
• Limited attention span.
• Talking in limited words or not using gestures.
• Getting agitated easily.
• Not responding to their name or mommy’s voice.

How Can Autism Be Treated?

Although there is no cure for ASD, several therapies ease the symptoms and improve quality of life.

• Speech therapy to improve your child’s communication skills
• Behavioural therapy to improve their social skills and manage their aggression
• Physical therapy to improve their motor skills and co-ordination
• Meditation therapy to help them relax and stay calm
• Occupational therapy to improve their day-to-day living by teaching them basics like brushing their teeth, toilet training, dressing, etc.

While these therapies aim to make the Autistic child more independent, the treatment for the condition involves high vitamin supplements, chelation therapy to remove any metals in their body, melatonin medication to improve sleep quality, etc. The doctor administers these treatments after carefully studying the patient’s condition and history. As the field of medical science progresses, the treatment options for Autism will also hopefully increase. Presently, researchers are studying the Stem cell banking benefits to cure Autism. However, it is too early to see any concrete results.

Let’s stay positive and focus on giving the autistic child all the love, care and support needed to have a happy life.

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Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia that affects nerve cells in different parts of our brain. One of its first symptoms is memory lapses or even a struggle to find common words. As the disease progresses, it’s known to cause confusion, mood swings and severe lapses in memory. While the cause of the disease is still uncertain, it has been found that Alzheimer’s patients have an unusual build-up of specific proteins in the brain, which become toxic. As these multiply, they interfere with your brain’s normal function, making it impossible for them to communicate with each other. These cells die, and the brain slowly shrinks.

Researchers believe that the secret lies in preventing the growth of these toxic proteins when it comes to treatment. Currently, there is no cure for the disease. Drugs used in treating Alzheimer’s merely aim to counter some of the symptoms, albeit temporarily. This means that the drugs will help improve memory or the ability to complete regular tasks. However, no medication will completely stop or even delay the loss of cells.

So, Can Stem Cells Be Used To Combat Alzheimer’s Destructive Mechanisms?

Given that stem cells can generate any new kind of cell, neurologists expect that when implanted into the brain’s affected areas, it should be able to develop into normally-functioning brain cells. In 2014, the University of California conducted a study on mice with Alzheimer’s. The stem cells that were inserted into their brains reduced the build-up of the damaged cells, thereby reversing the disease’s underlying cause.

Conducting the same treatment on human brains can be difficult, yet not impossible. After safe implantation in the affected areas, they then need to regenerate into those specific brain cells that are damaged. Next, they must effectively produce the same substances and in normal quantities.

The true breakthrough came in 2018 from Trinity Clinic Fukuoka in Japan, which conducted the first-ever stem cell treatment in human patients who were mildly to moderately affected by Alzheimer’s. Three patients were each administered by 200 million stem cells over two hours. This was repeated every fortnight until 10 treatments were completed. In order to reduce the risk of graft-versus-host disease, the patient’s own stem cells were used. While the results of this will only be seen after several years, the team is still lauded for their achievement.

As more and more human stem cells trials are being conducted, researchers can ascertain different aspects of the treatment, including the source of the stem cells. While stem cells can be harvested from bone marrow, fat tissue, and placenta, it’s mesenchymal stem cells from umbilical cord blood that are proving to best fight the disease. This is because these cells have the ability to self-renew in a faster capacity than stem cells from other sources. Given these advancements and the rate of technological progress, it’s possible that by the time children of today grow up; an effective treatment will be available. Moreover, research also suggests a higher chance of improvement given an autologous treatment (their own stem cells). It’s with this hope that parents are turning to cord blood banking to store these precious stem cells.

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Over the years, stem cell transplantation has been considered a promising approach towards treating problems with regard to malignant and non-malignant disorders of the blood and bone marrow. These stem cells, which are used for transplant, mostly comes from the bone marrow, the peripheral blood (bloodstream), or a newborn baby’s umbilical cord blood.

Bone marrow transplant has been considered as a preferential treatment option for a long time. However, because of the primitiveness and relative agelessness of cord blood stem cells, such therapy has emerged as a strong contender of bone marrow in treating lethal diseases. Such unique properties of stem cell have poised them as potential therapeutic options for disorders like cerebral palsy, Alzheimer’s, Autism, Parkinson’s and others, through extensive research.

Why Are Researchers Thinking in This Line of Stem Cell Therapy?

In order to treat a condition, at the outset, mention must be made of both bone marrow and cord blood stem cell transplants. Essentially, both the transplantations are carried out to replace the unhealthy cells with the healthy ones. But, while making a decision to choose the better one, different criteria are made for evaluation:

Painless Collection

The bone marrow is the gelatinous tissue inside the bones. In preparation of a bone marrow transplant, the marrow (with stem cells) is extracted either from the donor or from the patient’s own bones (hips and leg bones), under general anaesthesia, through a series of needle insertions. This is an extremely painful invasive procedure. The extracted bone marrow is then filtered, processed and used.

On the other hand – After the baby’s delivery, a sterile needle is inserted into the cord vein and the blood left behind in the cord and placenta is collected in a bag. Without causing any pain or risk to the mother or the baby, (non-invasive procedure), the unit is collected and transported to the lab for processing, quality testing, cryogenic-preservation and dispensation when needed.

Going by the basics, earlier, when babies were delivered, it was prevalent to treat the umbilical cord (with the blood) as medical waste. However, with the advent of cord blood stem cell therapy, the scenario has changed.

Low Graft Versus Host Disease

Graft versus Host Disease is a serious complication during a transplant, where the donated stem cells view the recipient’s body as foreign body and hence attack the recipient.  It has been estimated to be fatal in up to 40% patients, especially in cases of bone marrow transplant, where an immune system response is triggered against the tissues and other organs resulting in complications, even death. However, since cord blood stem cells are more primitive than bone marrow, acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is not observed after an umbilical cord blood transplantation.

Easier Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Matching

A marker, the immune system uses to recognise foreign cells. A close match between a donor’s and a patient’s own HLA markers is of utmost importance for a successful transplant. This match promotes the growth of healthy blood cells and reduces the chances of GVHD. In case of bone marrow transplant research has shown that, 7 out of 10 patients, may not have a fully matched donor in their family. Whereas, since the cord blood stem cells are considered to be purer, more adaptable and active expression of fewer HLA Loci, the possibility of finding a suitable match within the family and siblings is much higher. ^[3]

Availability

Since the umbilical cord blood is nascent, a question that often comes up about the storage of cord blood is – How long can the stem cells be maintained in frozen form and still be viable for transplant? In a corresponding response to this question, scientists say that, with proper freezing and storage methods (in liquid nitrogen), the cord blood stem cells can be preserved for decades or, maybe for an indefinite period of time. The current data shows that cord blood stem cells stored for 21-23.5 years have shown to retain biological properties similar to that when they were cryopreserved. This means that, if the need arises, the individual or his/her family can use these stem cells for treatment even after two decades of these cells being stored.

These and other advancements in research where there are so many diseases and disorders, whose treatment is in the advanced stages of clinical trials, makes stem cell therapy through cord blood banking, one of the most responsible decisions that you can take as would-be parents.  Read on to find out why Cordlife, a brand known for its premium-ness should be your 1st choice.

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Nearly half a million people, from across the world, seek medical help for accidental burns and are hospitalised in severe conditions. These are fatal burns, often causing death. However, there are many other kinds of burns, which may leave the patients physically disabled for their entire lifetime.

What Are Burns?

Burns are therefore, accidental skin cell damages brought on by fire, chemicals, electricity or radiation, leaving the skin:

• terribly pained,
• swelled and
• charred.

Treatments for burn wounds depends upon the type of the burn and how deep it is covering the body.

Conventional Burn Wound Care

A medical health practitioner always follows the thumb rule of cleaning the burnt area first with cool water and then applying gel upon it. *2. However, use of autologous skin grafting technique was the first known severe burn wound treatment, reported in 1881. Until now skin grafting technique happens to be a standard practice to treat severe burnt cases.

Earlier, in severely burnt cases (full-thickness burn or 3^rd degree burn, which damages the epidermis and the entire dermis), doctors discarded and considered the burnt skin to be a medical waste. However, since it contains viable MSCs (burnt-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells), that can be used for skin regeneration and wound-healing, in present times these cells are characterised and expanded in vitro, which is then incorporated into an established wound coverage material.

Introduction of Cell-based Burn Wound Therapy

In is interesting to know that the culture of cell-based therapy for burn wounds was first introduced after Rheinwald and Green, revolutionised the cell culture technique in 1975. So, for the very first time, clones of some of the major cell types was used during an autograft, where epithelial sheets of cells were produced to restore the functional capacity of the skin.

Research Activities on Burn Wounds Cell Therapy

Such an encouraging report gave rise to worldwide research activities on cell therapy for burn wounds healing process. *4 For example, a Singapore-based biotech company Cell Research Corporation, carried out a test which involved growing stem cells on synthetic scaffolds, preventing three burn victims from undergoing the painful process of skin grafting. Several tissue engineering approaches have been applied in skin-tissue fabrication and tissue substitute including autologous split-thickness skin graft. Autograft micro-skin transplantation has been widely used as skin-graft therapy in full-thickness skin defect.

Aim of Cell-based Therapy In Burn Wound Care

The effectiveness of stem cell therapy in burn wounds have already been tested earlier. With further examination, the stem cell therapists ultimately aimed to see:

• If these cells have the capacity to reduce the effect of the systemic inflammatory response and stop the infection from spreading
• An easy and early wound closure
• Speedy healing
• Regeneration of the skin and its peripheral tissues
• See if the potential usage of Epithelial stem cells (EpSCs) with an effective application of Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs), derived from the umbilical cord and cord blood, covers the wound and completes the healing and skin regeneration process.

Epithelial Stem Cell Therapy on Burn Wound Cover

To prove an early and efficient wound coverage along with the satisfactory epithelialization, cultured epithelial autografts, (EpSCs and keratinocytes combined) is used to facilitate cell delivery with the aim to regenerate the epidermal layer of the burned skin.

But there are several factors that limit the potentially of this technique:

• the time necessary to culture cells
• the reliability of graft ‘take’
• the vulnerability to infection,
• long-term durability, and
• the cost of the treatment.

Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy For Burn Wound Healing

Post-burn injury wound healing is of paramount importance and allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is one of the potential treatments for severe burn injuries:

• MSCs can grow easily
• They can maintain the tissue culture
• They can migrate to support the endogenous cells
• Additionally, its immunomodulation capacity allows it to withstand acute cellular rejection, especially in massive burnt wounds

However, researches state that when burn wounds are treated with allogenic MSCs, the recovery is speedy and there are no adverse treatment complications.

Future Directions

Clinical studies demonstrate that cell-based therapy can be considered as an important alternative for burn wound management. However, there are still certain scientific and technical factors that need to be resolved before full potential of the cellular devices are facilitated. In the meantime, more evidence is required for research at large to define the clinical efficacy and safety of cell therapy in burns.

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Stem cells are the young and undifferentiated cells which have the ability to develop into different types of cells in the human body. These stem cells can be extracted from various sources such as embryo (embryonic stem cells), bone marrow (adult stem cells) and umbilical cord blood (cord blood stem cells). These stem cells have been approved for treating over 80+ diseases that include blood disorders, immunological and metabolic disorders.

Multiple myeloma is one among the list of disorders which can be treated using stem cells. It is a type of cancer that attacks plasma cells (a type of white blood cells). These plasma cells make antibodies which help the body to fight against infections. However, in multiple myeloma cancer cells are accumulated in the bone marrow and crowd of the healthy cells that produce abnormal proteins which result in multiple complications.

Who is at risk?

Prevalence of multiple myeloma occurs in the people those who are at the age of 60, men are likely to be prone, black people are affected more than white people and having a family history of myeloma.

Symptoms and complications that are commonly seen at an early stage of this disease such as

• pain in the bone of the spine or chest
• constipation
• loss of appetite
• fatigue
• weight loss
• feeling excess thirsty

However, serious complications may arise at later stages due to an increase in the severity of the disease which may include

• Reduces body’s ability to fight with infections.
• Occurrence of pain in the bone, thinning of bones and breakage.
• Kidney dysfunction may lead to kidney failure
• Anaemia

How stem cells can help in multiple myeloma treatment?

For the treatment of multiple myeloma by stem cells, at first the infected cells are destroyed, then the stem cells are infused into the body which regenerates to replace the damaged cells. However, using adult stem cells can cause some serious complications such as Graft vs Host Disease which affect the chances of successful treatment and may result in rejection.

Recent studies show that Umbilical cord blood stem cells have the potential to be used as an alternative to adult stem cells due to several benefits. It is easy to collect which takes 5-10 minutes and does not affect the birthing process. The collection of cord blood is safe and risk-free for both the mother and baby. Also, cord blood stem cells do not possess any risk of graft vs host disease or any type of infection.

Despite these benefits, a limited quantity of stem cells obtained from Umbilical Cord Blood restricts the application in treatment, as multiple myeloma most commonly occurs in people over 60. To further extend the benefits of Umbilical Cord Blood for treating such adult patients, several experiments / clinical trials are progressing to considerably increase the quantity of Umbilical Cord Blood hematopoietic stem cells.

A group of scientists led by Dr. Jean Roy, a hematologist at the University of Montreal in Canada is performing research to expand the number of stem cells harvested from the cord blood of newborn babies by using UM171 molecule. UM171 is a molecule, discovered by Dr. Guy Sauvageau to enhance the expansion of hematopoietic stem cells by almost 30 times. The reason behind using the newborn cord blood stem cells is that the immune system of the babies is immature and has fewer chances of infections. Also, these stem cells are associated with a powerful anti-cancer effect.

During this study, the new molecule is used for expanding the cord blood stem cells in the lab which will then be introduced in the body of the patient and is expected to have fewer complications.

The positive results from this research will make the stem cell therapy from umbilical cord blood an effective treatment option to treat myeloma patients and overcome the quantity limitation of umbilical cord blood stem cells for adult treatment.

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Shingles a viral infection, also known as herpes zoster is a painful rash and found in the nerves as well as surface of the skin. Shingles is mainly caused by the virus which causes chickenpox.

Along with the pain it also causes peripheral neuropathy resulting in the damage of the body’s peripheral nerves. The damage of the nerves is the main reason for pain in the body and is life-threatening.

There are some vaccines that can prevent the occurrence of shingles but unable to cure completely. However, it can be treated with stem cell therapy. Although being costly, stem cell therapy can help in treating shingles and also provide a new way of hope for the patients.

Facts for using stem cells to treat shingles:

• If any person had ever suffered from chicken pox, the virus does not get eliminated and remains in the nerves. At a later age, this virus shows up its symptoms causing shingles. Rashes caused by this disease filled with fluid and are too much painful. It leads to the occurrence of fever as well as fatigue and the symptoms gets worse by the increase in the age especially after age of 50^[4].
• Scientists from American journal of preventive medicine stated that most of the patients cannot use the vaccines due to high cost and scarce in availability. Also, these vaccines are not so much cost effective.
• Although there is no cure for shingles, some antiviral drugs can be used to for reducing the pain. Sometimes Opioids can help in getting relief from the pain but it may cause addiction.
• As there are no such treatment to cure shingles, so Stem Cell Researchers Organization of California, found that stem cells are the only option to treat shingles. This treatment can be done without any side effects and addiction of Opioids.

Prof. Ron Goldstein of Bar-Ilan University explains that stem cells are the type of cells which can be regenerated into any type of cell of the human body. He also said that the stem cells are successfully infused into the human body to regenerate into peripheral neurons.

In addition, the researchers of Cleveland clinic had done some experiments with the animals and explained that the stem cells can regenerate the peripheral neurons. Thus they concluded that stem cells are proved to be viable for treating shingles.

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When parents are expecting to have a baby, they had to take many important decisions. Among all of the decisions stem cell banking is the most important. Stem cell banking is the process of harvesting stem cell from cord blood.

Stem cells

Stem cells are the undifferentiated cells having a unique capability to transform into any kind of specialized cells. It can differentiate into any type of cell and help to regenerate the tissues or organs of the body. Stem cells for treatment are extracted two main sources. First one is the blood and tissue taken from the umbilical cord. Second is the stem cells from bone marrow, skin or liver.

Benefits

There are various benefits for an expecting parent to save the cord blood of their baby. The stem cells have the potential to transform into any type of cells, so these can be used in treating different types of diseases. Stem cells can treat even the metabolic as well as hereditary diseases and even cancer. There are a lot of cases where cancer has been treated with stem cell therapy. The disorders that can be treated by stem cell therapy are leukemia, anemia, cerebral palsy, auto-immune disorders, multiple disorder and even metabolic diseases.

Process

The process of cord blood collection is painless. The collection is done immediately after birth. Just after the delivery of the baby, the umbilical cord is clamped and cut. Then it is wiped with iodine swabs to reduce contamination. A needle is then inserted into the cord to extract blood. The collected sample is transported to the lab by using special X-ray proof boxes which contains a cooling pad to maintain the temperature.

After reaching the lab, the blood is processed and stem cells are extracted. These stem cells are then preserved cryogenically in the storage tanks below -196°C. The stem cells are stored for long term until the need of the client. In the case of stem cell transplantation, the cells are taken out which is then thawed and used for necessary treatment.

Conclusion

On a concluding note, it can be said that cord blood banking will be beneficial for the expectant parents. The reason behind is saving the cord blood acts as future security for the baby as well as the rest of the family. If any of the people in the family gets any type of life-threatening diseases, then they can get a new life with the help of stem cell therapy.

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Autism is a type of developmental disorder which includes disability in interaction and development of language. It is detected in the children at an early age and is persisted towards adulthood. However, it mainly affects the ability to communicate and to interact with others. Doctors mostly diagnose autism on the basis of social communication and repetitive behaviours of autism patients. In addition, they assess the severity of the symptoms. The level of severity of autism shows the extent of support the person with autism will need.

According to a report of the CDC, it has been determined that 1 in 59 children has been diagnosed with autism¹. Boys are 4 times more diagnosed with autism as compared to girls. The percentage is 1 in 37 boys and 1 in 151 of girls are diagnosed with autism

A person suffering from autism is different from other people of their age. They give more concentration upon certain things, did not make any eye contact and withdraw themselves from social activities. Their pattern of behaviour affects daily activities and they need a lot more support than normal people.

It had been seen in our previous blog of “Autologous Cord Blood Stem Cells – a Promise for Autism Spectrum Disorder” that there are no such medicines which can cure autism. However, stem cells that are stored at the time of birth can help in treating autism.

The Panama Stem Cell Institute is now providing stem cell therapies by the help of Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs)harvested from the Umbilical Cord (UC) tissue. The MSCs taken from the umbilical cord tissue can be safely transplanted into the patients without matching the HLA of the donor and recipient. The Panama Institute of stem cell therapy consisting of clinics and laboratory, each of them is licensed by Medical authorities of Panama and the regulations are maintained according to international standards.

Dr. Neil Riordan of the Panama Stem Cell Institute said that 47 patients with autism were selected for the clinical trials and most of them showed improvement in speech, behaviour, able to do their daily works and have improved awareness as well as social interaction. Researchers at the Panama Stem Cell Institute had successfully treated the patients suffering from autism.

If any child is suffering from autism then stem cells of their own or any siblings can treat the disease. Hence it is advisable for the parents that bank your baby’s stem cells today and it can help in curing diseases of your baby or any other family members including both the parents. For details information, you can check on our website or call at our toll-free number.

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The human body starts degenerating as the age increases. Degeneration of functions of cells, tissues and organs occurs as we age. There are several conditions in our body that are undergoing unnoticed changes even for years such as gradual loss of bone tissue and decreased resilience of blood vessels as well as more obvious physical changes including gray hair, wrinkles and other physiological changes such as social inactivity and decreased sexual functions just to name a few. These factors have the tendency to slow down your body functions.

Loss of hair is something that every day affects thousands of men and women. We often feel helpless because we feel that nothing can be done. However, understanding that this is simply not true is important. There are many things that can either be done to prevent or treat hair loss once it starts. Below are just a few things you can do to combat hair loss.

Diet is important at all times. A nutritional deficiency often causes hair loss. Therefore, eating a well-balanced diet full of fruits and vegetables is important. Vitamin supplements are another option for humans as well. But getting your vitamins from a food source is always better. You can also get shampoos or conditions that are supposed to prevent hair loss with special nutrients. They are designed to return the vitamins to the hair and scalp directly.

Stem cells have been used in many treatments since the 1990s. Hair loss stem cell therapy is now a good technique for hair regeneration. Stem cells are used as a substitute for damaged or dead cells in the body in stem cell therapy. Dead cells on the scalp do not grow hair and the area becomes bare. Now if by stem cell therapy we replace the dead cells on the scalp with new ones, then the bald spot can be transformed into a hair-filled area.

This is the basic premise for the treatment of baldness by stem cell therapy. Some have had good results and some have not had good results after using this therapy to treat baldness, especially male pattern baldness. The research is still on and hopefully in the coming years the success rate will improve.

Stem cells are produced in the scientific laboratory and then these cells are injected into the scalp’s bald areas. If the first attempt to generate hair does not work, the doctors will try again, to restore the hair that has reduced due to hair loss. For this purpose, you can contact a dermatologist if you want to try stem cell therapy for hair loss.

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Most of the cells present in the body have some specific purpose, but stem cells are the basic and undifferentiated cell that can be transformed into any type of specific cells which is required. Stem cells are found in the umbilical cord blood of a newborn baby during birth.

The umbilical cord blood mainly contains hematopoietic stem cells that can be used to generate red blood cells and immune system cells. Cord blood stem cells are now-a-days used to treat a variety of blood disorders and conditions of the immune system such as leukaemia, anaemia, and autoimmune diseases. These stem cells are largely used in children’s treatment but have also begun to be used in adults after doing the conditioning process of chemotherapy.

Some scientists of Tufts University School of Medicine had found a method of growing and maintaining the olfactory stem cells that can be used for the restoration of the tissues found in the nose. This latest discovery has raised a hope that it can restore the sense of smell those who have lost it due to any kind of injury or degeneration.

After the transplantation of horizontal basal stem cells in the injured tissue, it helps in the development of olfactory epithelium cells. This development will help in paving the pathway for doing researches in stem cell therapies in the future. Some corneal limbal cells are believed to have stem cell-like properties and are capable of corneal epithelium regeneration. By their ability to differentiate into multiple lineage cells, stem cells are currently found to potentiate regenerative medicine. Among these, embryonic, adult and induced stem cells are the most common cell sources for clinical use.

The corneal endothelial cells can enlarge and relocate to fulfill a decrease in cell density rather than regenerate when damage occurs. So, severe corneal endothelial diseases tend to cause corneal oedema, decompensation, and transparency loss. Corneal endothelial keratoplasty is a therapy used in the development of corneal endothelial diseases that do not respond to medical treatment. However, its availability is also limited by a lack of donor tissue and high-tech dependence.

Apart from surface diseases of the eye, corneal endothelial cell culture and transplantation is also a major problem for corneal decompensation and lies ahead of further research to find extensive methods to the non-regenerative corneal endothelium. Some of the clinical trials have been completed and the extraordinary recovery of vision has been achieved. Lastly, over the past two decades, nanotechnology has shown great improvement in eye drug delivery systems. Reconstruction strategies for the eye surface could be combined with nanoparticles to promote healing of the wound, drug delivery, and even inhibition of neovascularization.

Improving the expansion of in vitro cells with the help of biocompatible scaffolds/nanoparticles can effectively overcome the corneal donor shortage problem. In the near future, new ocular drug delivery systems will be able to improve the effects of stem cell therapy in corneal regenerative medicine by combining stem cell applications.

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Stem cells are present in nearly every body tissue. However, it is not possible to access cells from many tissues. Bone marrow, umbilical cord and umbilical cord blood are the main sources of easily accessible stem cells. Umbilical cord blood is the easiest source of these sources. It is only available at the time of birth, however. Cells must be saved using a special cryopreservation process. It’s just about saving in cold. Cells must be saved below-196 degrees at temperatures.

The Indian Medical Research Council recently updated its guidelines for regulating the Indian stem cell therapy industry. The council, which is under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is concerned that some clinics may offer stem therapy for medical conditions that cannot be treated in fact.

Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells on which all tissues and organs are founded. A stem cell has the ability to grow into a specialized cell, such as a neuron or blood cell type. For the treatment of serious medical conditions, stem cells extracted from human bone marrow, circulating blood or umbilical cord blood are used. For example, chemotherapy that targets cancer cells also destroys healthy blood cells in patients with cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma. Such patients may have bone marrow stem cell transplants from healthy donors, allowing their bodies to recreate healthy blood cells.

The umbilical cord is a biological marker of bond with the mother of a newborn. The umbilical cord inside the womb serves as a food passage for the foetus and is also an emotional connecting medium between the mother and the child. The usual practice after birth is to cut it off and dispose of it. But the importance of preserving the umbilical cord has been underlined by recent developments in science. Scientists have found that the cord blood is the source of highly efficient stem cells that can be used in the future to treat children with major ailments.

The ICMR was also concerned about banking and the use of umbilical cord blood. Many maternity hospitals are now promoting the saving of cord blood containing stem cells after birth, which could be used in case the child develops a serious medical condition requiring stem cell therapy. There are both public and private stem cells banking companies in India.

There are some publicly funded umbilical cord blood banks, but there is no guarantee that he will receive the stem cells harvested from the cord blood during his birth when the child is grown up. Because of this, several private banks have emerged, engaging in promotional advertising offering cord blood storage with the promise of future therapeutic use. However before saving your baby’s cord blood just verify all of the companies and choose the best company for you.

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In recent years, umbilical cord blood banking has become increasingly popular, with a number of companies offering the service, both public and private. It is a relatively new concept, and its overall value is uncertain and whether it is worth considering for a newborn child. We are discussing the technology, its implementation, and how and why people have opted for years— or decades — to store this blood.

The use of stem cells from placental and cord blood does not have the same controversy as the use of stem cells from embryos. The cord/placenta drains about 75-100 mL of blood right after a newborn baby takes his first breath and the umbilicus is cut. That’s where the blood comes from — they never need a needle to touch the baby. The task is to carefully cryopreserve the cord blood sample from there.

They are mixed with a cryoprotectant and stored in a cryo-bag once the stem and immune system cells are isolated and extracted from the plasma and red blood cell. To prepare the cells for long-term storage, we overwrap our bags for added protection and use a technique called “controlled-rate freezing.” The overwrapped cryo-bag is housed in a metal protective cassette and placed for long-term preservation in a vapor-phase liquid nitrogen freezer.

Here you will get to know how a girl whose brain is damaged gets cured. Samanta Szura, who is now of age 5, was drowned in a swimming pool when she was a toddler. She survived but her brain gets damaged after this accident. Fortunately, her parents have stored the umbilical cord blood of her elder sister which was being used for the stem cell treatment of Samanta.

After the accident, Samantha was in Michigan hospital in the state of coma. Then Szuras found that the cord blood can help to form new nerve cells of the brain and then they decided to use the cord blood of their elder child.

Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg of Duke University said that they started a study on cord blood where they are mainly focusing on the component of blood during the program of a bone marrow transplant. According to their research monocytes releases some chemicals found in the brain and helps in stimulating the brain for making new nerve cells.

Now Szuras have to wait for some time to know whether the stem cells of their elder child will work for the treatment of Samantha. They are providing the cord blood of Allison to Samantha and there are some positive results seen in her recovery. So, the researchers of Duke University are hopeful about seeing recovery in Samantha and after this treatment, they will get sure about the cord blood treatment to be used in the kids with brain damage.

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It interesting to know, human embryonic stem cells are able to differentiate into a very wide variety of other types of cells. This is a great source that will help in the future to overcome many different human diseases. To identify this and the possible use of it, a lot of studies have already been done.

Apparently, by adding different factors, this differentiating capacity of human embryonic stem cells can be reproduced in vitro. Good quality stem cells can be found at birth in the umbilical cord blood. Cord blood collection and storage can be done for future use on the newborn baby by a stem cell bank or an umbilical cord blood bank if it ever gets a disease such as leukaemia or anything else.

While collecting bone marrow is a long procedure requiring anesthesia, collecting cord blood is an easy process for the mother and the newly born baby to be pain-free. Human umbilical cord blood cells are very rich in stem cells and progenitor cells, making them the perfect place to remove cells and then store them in a bank of cord blood or stem cells.

Studies have shown that stem cells are capable of treating certain diseases that are not treated with medicine.

New research shows that stem cell therapy may be used in the future to alleviate Parkinson’s disease motor symptoms.

The most common treatment for Parkinson’s disease is based on enhancing dopamine – modulating therapies in the brain’s nigro – striatal pathway. The treatment, however, has considerable long – term limitations and side effects.

Some of the researchers said that a better way to help people with PD is desperately needed. It’s growing worldwide. There is still no cure, and in coordination and movement problems medicines are only part of the way to be fully treated. They also added that the use of stem cells as a source of transplantable dopamine-producing nerve cells could revolutionize the care of the PD patient in the future if stem cell therapy becomes successful. A single operation could potentially provide a transplant that would last throughout the lifespan of a patient, reducing or avoiding the need for dopamine-based medication altogether.

Researchers also said that by stem cell therapy, we are moving into a very exciting era. The cells of the first generation are now being tested and new developments in stem cell biology and genetic engineering promise even better cells and therapies in the future. There’s a long way to go in showing how well stem cell-based reparative therapies will work, and a lot to understand about what, where, and how to deliver the cells, and to whom. But the massive technological advances over the past few years make it tempting to speculate that cell replacement may play an increasing role in at least alleviating motor symptoms, if not others, over the coming decades.

Researchers have also identified that some of the substantial biological, practical, and commercial barriers still need to be addressed before routine therapy could be developed.

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Stem cells can help us in treating various types of diseases as well as various other kinds of health disorders. They are proved to be used as the blood stem cells for treating blood-related diseases such as leukaemia. Clinical trials are helping the researchers to find that the stem cells are under the process which will help to explore new treatments by using stem cells. There are a lot of things about the stem cells which are yet to be known. However, the current applications of stem cell therapy are overstated by the media those who do not have the proper knowledge about the stem cells and its limitations. So here are a few things which are to be known about the stem cells.

There are recently very few treatments done by the stem cells which are effective. The list of diseases that have been shown to be beneficial for stem cell treatments is still very short. Hematopoietic (or blood) stem cell transplantation, for example, bone marrow transplantation, treatment of certain blood and immune system disorders or reconstruction of the blood system after treatment for certain types of cancer, is the best-defined and most widely used stem cell treatment.

Different types of stem cells have different functions and come from different places in your body. Scientists are discovering the various roles that tissue-specific stem cells may play to heal or to understand that they have specific capabilities. As for example, tissue-specific stem cells can only generate the other types of cells found in the tissues where they live without manipulation in the laboratory. The blood-forming (hematopoietic) stem cells found in the bone marrow can regenerate the cells in the blood, while the neural stem cells in the brain can only form brain cells.

Through multi-step processes using pluripotent stem cells, which are embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells(iPS), scientists have learned to make certain specialized cell types. These cells have the potential to form all the different types of cells in the body and provide an exciting opportunity to develop new strategies for treatment.

In theory, during transplantation, your immune system would not attack your own cells. An autologous transplant is called the use of a patient’s own cells. However, the processes that acquired, grown, and then reintroduced the cells into the body would carry risks. The fact that an experimental procedure does not automatically mean it is part of a clinical trial or research study.

Scientists carefully review their work and replicate it, inviting their peers to do the same. This process by which science becomes medicine is often long but aimed at minimizing harm of patients and maximizing the likelihood of efficacy. These are some things that are to be known about stem cell therapy. The long and multi-step process involves translating science responsibly into safe and effective medical treatments. They may discover during this process that a treatment effectively addresses the symptoms of a human disease or injury, but it carries unacceptable risks.

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In the year of 1988, it has been proved that blood taken from the umbilical cord of a baby can be used successfully for processing into stem cells needed for transplantation. First transplantation was done to a boy of 5-year-old Patient suffering from Fanconi anemia, a bone marrow failure syndrome was cured by hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

Stem cells have their own unique qualities and storing of these stem cells will provide the best opportunity so that you can use those stem cells for the treatment of your family member. We don’t know the future and we can’t predict which diseases might affect our family. In the treatment of approximately 80 different medical conditions, stem cells are currently used as a routine clinical method of treatment. Additional indications for the application of stem cells will certainly be revealed in the future. Cord blood collected immediately after birth contains stem cells that can be used to treat the child and her siblings themselves. Once in a lifetime, the stem cells can be collected and used in the future.

In the bone marrow, stem cells are present and can be collected throughout life. But cord blood stem cells are biologically younger and more flexible than bone marrow cells, and they are more beneficial than stem cells in the bone marrow. To succeed in transplanting stem cells, they must be a match for the receiver. In some public databases, matched stem cells can be found, but the chance of finding a match is low and complications may arise with unrelated blood transfusions. Genetically-related stem cells more often result in a successful transplant from a blood-related family member.

Stem cell of the baby will always remain a perfect match for the baby itself but not for genetic conditions that have been inherited. Siblings get a 25% chance to be a perfect match and a 50% chance to be a partial match. Overall, this gives a 75% chance for siblings to be a possible match. Parents have a 100 percent chance of being a partial match since each parent provides markers used in matching.

If you store in a private bank, the stem cells of your child can be used by any member of your family. Siblings are often a perfect match, but it is also possible to treat other family members, such as cousins, aunts, and uncles. If your kids have siblings, they can use each other’s stem cells for treatment, and having access to more cells means that in the future you will have more treatment options. Finally, researchers believe that the stem cells can be stored for an indefinite time and remains perfect until the time of their use for transplantation.

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Are you worried about the future health of your family? Do not worry as by preserving the cord blood of your child will provide your family with a potential way of treatment to various life-threatening ailments.

Cord blood banking is the process of collection as well as storage of the stem cells from the umbilical cord. All of these stem cells are adaptable and can treat various diseases that can be regenerated into any type of cells.

Private cord blood banks mainly take a reasonable amount of fee for the collection, processing and storing the umbilical cord blood stem cells of your child. This method is performed so that the stored stem cells can be used for emerging treatments in the future for your family. There are some public banks where the cord blood is stored for free of cost but in this case, you cannot retrieve the stem cells of your own baby.

Two main storage of cord blood are:

• Donating the cord blood at a public bank can be used to match with the patients suffering from the severe medical condition.
• Storing of the cord blood in a private stem cell bank will help to retrieve your baby’s stem cells whenever you will need it.

Medical staff usually collects cord blood right after birth, but if parents want to participate in delayed cord clamping, they can also wait for several minutes. The clamping is done just like a normal procedure and for both the mother and her baby it is completely painless. First, as a normal umbilical cord removal, the cord is clamped and cut. The medical staff must be trained on proper collections of cord blood— if they wait too long, the blood clots will be unnecessary for storage. Then the blood is pulled out. A needle is placed in the cord and the rest of the blood is gently pulled out. This medical device is kept away from your baby, so it’s as safe as possible.

Then the blood is shipped to your chosen bank, where it is tested. The bank cryogenically freezes the cord blood if the stem cells are usable, so it remains useful for decades to come. Several banks offer cord tissue services that will increase your family’s amount of banked stem cells— at an additional cost. More than 80 diseases can currently be treated using cord blood stem cells, with more treatments emerging each year. The FDA has approved leukemia, aplastic anemia and other hazardous life-threatening diseases for cord blood therapies.

A clinical trial is looking at new therapies using cord blood in addition to current treatments. These include cerebral paralysis, autism, and diabetes of type 1. If current trials are successful, the treatment of cord blood may become a common practice in the next few years.

Many parents are concerned about the viability of cord blood— will the cells they are banking twenty years from now still be usable? Researchers state that there is no expiration date for frozen cord blood. This means that cryogenically preserved stem cells still have decades of proper functioning. One scientist tested the viability of cord blood from 23 years of age, and the sample remained in perfect condition. While cord blood as n innovative methods in the field of regenerative studies is still rising and striving to the future of stem cell therapy is hopeful for many researchers and medical professionals.

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Stem cells are a cell type that can develop into many other cell types. Even after they have been inactive for a long time, stem cells can also renew themselves through division. The human body requires many different cell types to function, but it does not fully form and ready to use each cell type. Rather, it produces stem cells with a wide range of potential functions. However, in order to be useful, stem cells must become a specific type of cell.

The new cells can either become another stem cell or a specific cell, such as a blood cell, a brain cell, or a muscle cell, when a stem cell divides. Scientists call an undifferentiated cell a stem cell because it can turn into any cell. On the other hand, for example, a blood cell is a’ differentiated’ cell, as it is already a specific type of cell.

Stem cells are precursors of different cells in the body that are non-specialized, undifferentiated cells that can multiply on their own. An immature stem cell can transform itself into any possible mature cell, which is also its simplest form. Stem cells can be categorized into three different categories, depending on their source embryonic stem cells, stem cells of the cord blood and stem cells of adults. Emerging science is the use of stem cells in animals and humans in clinical research. The use of ex-vivo expanded stem cells has been identified as the new drug use pursuant to the U.S. FDA, i.e. research into new drugs.

Through its various science agencies, the Government of India has begun to promote stem cell research in the country. Discussions on basic and applied research for various diseases have now identified the key areas for research. There have also been various programs to support embryonic and adult stem cells. Some of the major programs include establishing hESC lines, using limbal stem cells to repair corneal surface disorder caused by limbal stem cell deficiency; isolating, purifying and characterizing haematopoetic, hepatic, and mesenchymal stem cells; differentiating stem cells into neural, cardiac, and cell lines, etc. Some of the technologies in stem cell research are used such as culture of stem cells, separation as well as the techniques of identification.

Some researchers introduced the concept of molecular imaging at Harvard University in 1999 to further stem cell research. Since then, this technology has been widely applied through 10 years of development to various aspects of life sciences. The goal of molecular imaging is to research sensitively and specifically non-invasively, in vivo cellular and molecular processes. It would be non-invasive to monitor multiple events, cell trafficking, and targeting. It can, therefore, be concluded that in order to explore the possibilities of clinical applications using stem cells, a thorough basic research on all types of stem cells, i.e. embryonic, adult and tissue, is essential. This area is proactively supported and promoted by national and private agencies.

Reference: https://www.biospectrumindia.com/views/81/12378/latest-developments-in-stem-cell-technology.html

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The blood that remains in the umbilical cord after the delivery of baby is known as the cord blood. The cord blood is a rich source of stem cells that can be collected by a painless method.

Cord blood banking is the method by which the cord blood is collected and its stem cells and other cells of the immune system extracted and cryogenically frozen for medical use in future.

Cord blood is currently recommended for the treatment of nearly 80 blood and immune diseases.

Cord blood has an ample number of stem cells and cells of the immune system which are nowadays expanded rapidly for medical use. Cord blood is often known as a regenerative medicine because these cells help the body regenerate tissues and systems.

If somebody does not have stored the cord blood, they will have to depend from another source on stem cells. Bone marrow contains similar versions of the same stem cells that are abundant in cord blood, though less useful and probably contaminated.

As the process of obtaining stem cells from bone marrow is painful so the scientists started looking for another source of obtaining stem cells. This process eventually show the way towards the discovery of stem cells in cord blood in the year of 1978.

Cord blood is recently approved by the FDA to treat nearly 80 diseases, and cord blood therapies have now been conducted even more than 35,000 times across the world to treat cancers (including lymphoma and leukemia), anemia, metabolic disorders inherited, and some malignancies and orthopedic treatment.

Cord blood from the umbilical cord of a baby is always a perfect match of the baby. Moreover, immediate family members are might also get a match from the baby’s stem cells. Siblings have a 25% chance to be a perfect match and a 50% chance to be a partial match.

Each of the parents provides half the markers have a 100% chance to be a partial match. Even grandparents and other relatives might have a chance to get a match and can get benefit from the cord blood that is banked.

Whenever the treatment gets failed doctors often recommend the patient family to do stem cell transplant. The process of stem cell transfusion from the cord blood will help to regenerate new blood, organs and immune system. It then provides the patient a good chance of getting recovery from the untreatable disease.

In contrast to bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells, embryonic stem cells in cord blood are young and immature and still did not know the way to attack foreign bodies. As the cord blood stem cells are less likely to reject the transfusion, it is easier to match transplant patients with cord blood than with other stem cell sources.

This makes the umbilical cord blood a valuable resource for the ethnic minorities those who faces difficulty in finding matched stem cell in the registry of bone marrow donor. On a concluding note it can be said that the stem cell banking in India will be beneficial for patients those who are suffering from untreatable diseases.

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Detection of leukemia in a person makes that person and their family worried about the patient’s life; but most of the people are now-a-days treated and they are getting cured by different types of treatment. Blood cancer is one of the life-threatening diseases throughout the world. Although medical science had delivered us with different treatment so that we can fight with this disease. With the progressions in medical science, there is a persistent development which has provided a simple and successful treatment of malignant growth. Umbilical cord blood is used for stem cell therapy is the best treatment for blood cancer.

Leukaemia is caused by a series of rare mutations (changes) in certain genes. Whenever a mutated form of one of these genes may be inherited the individual is highly predisposed to develop leukaemia. Acute leukaemias are characterized by the production of abnormally elevated numbers of blood cells that do not function properly and often suppress the production of normal blood cells. Acute leukaemias usually require immediate and intensive treatment that is mainly dependent upon the type of leukaemia and various other things about a patient. The options of treatment mainly include steroids, chemotherapy or a rigorous process that includes high dose of chemotherapy that is followed by transplantation of healthy haematopoietic or blood stem cells.

High-dose of chemotherapy is used to kill the leukaemic cells and this process reduces the blood forming cells present in the bone marrow. These cells are then replaced by patients are transplanted with the haematopoietic stem cells. The cells which are being transplanted are taken from the umbilical cord blood. Scientists in Singapore found out a solution to this issue; they developed a chemical substance known as C7 in the laboratory which can help in the regeneration of stem cells in the cord blood. Some scientists did a research on this substance and found that this will act as a boon for cancer patients. They are also investigating various treatments that can reduce the time of recovery a patient is needed during transplantation.

In addition to this, another new technology is developing such as the production of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as well as producing HSCs by the direct conversion of different types of haematopoietic stem cells are being developed in laboratory. This is done to study the production and maintenance of the stem cells. These studies are done for gathering any kind of new information about the stem cells so that it can help in doing easy design, discover new tests and establishing therapies those are less toxic.

Hence from the above discussion it can be said that the researches those are currently going on might help in revolutionizing the shortcomings of the current treatment related to the stem cell transplantation and lack of proper or matched donors.

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A stem cell transplant is an infusion of healthy blood-forming cells or stem cells to replace the cells that are destroyed by various reasons. The reasons can involve stems destroyed by disease, by radiation or consuming high doses of anticancer drugs that are given to a patient as part of any procedure. These healthy stem cells may come be retrieved from the blood or bone marrow of the patient, from a donor, or from the umbilical cord blood of a new born baby.

There are three types of stem cell transplant:

1. Autologous – This is done by using a patient’s own stem cells that were collected and saved before the treatment.
2. Allogenic – This is done by the donated stem cells of someone who is not related or an identical twin.
3. Syngeneic – This type of transplant is done by using stem cells that are donated by an identical twin.

Stem cells are described as the foundation cells of a human body by the International Society for Stem Cell Research. Stem cells function towards helping you in every single day to repair the damaged tissues and cells. Cells are important as they rush to heal you when you meet with any kind of injury. Stem cells can be found in the body of every person and are in abundance at the time of birth. Stem cells can be assumed as neutral cells in the body, they can mould themselves into any other type of cell needed by the body. Until the body receive signals, stem cells lie latent and rush to the person’s injury to aid in repairing.

About Cord Blood Stem Cells

Cord blood is found in the umbilical cord and placenta of a new born child. Cord blood contains blood (haematopoietic) stem cells that help in producing all the other cells found in blood, including cells of the immune system. Umbilical cord was early considered as waste and discarded but can now be easily collected and frozen for later use.

There are several different blood diseases such as leukaemia, that can be treated with the help of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from cord blood.

According to Researchers

There have been studies that have found out the limitation of cord blood. Cord blood stem cells is said to contain a smaller number of HSCs than a bone marrow donation. In such case, adult patients may need double the volume of cord blood for their treatments.

Researchers are finding out ways to expand the number of HSCs from cord blood in labs. It would help in patients receiving enough cells for one or more HSC transplant through single cord blood donation. Some studies suggest that cord blood can also treat diseases other than blood diseases. However, the results cannot be reproduced. There has been active investigation to find out cord blood role in treating various other diseases.

Recent Breakthroughs with Stem Cell Treatment

There is continuous evolvement in stem cell treatments and research. There is a global, collaborative and scientific effort going on to bring advancements of disease treatment. There has been recent progress related to cord blood stem cell therapy. This is a win for the medical industry since it means there can be cure for many diseases and chronic illnesses through natural methods. Here is some recent news regarding the same:

1. There have been efforts by the British Heart Foundation to find out cure for heart failure by using stem cells.
2. Beta cells are being artificially produced by researchers to transplant them into a diabetic patient to regulate blood sugar. If it results in success, then we’re close to eliminating diabetes.
3. Stem Cell Reports, a scientific journal was published by The University of Copenhagen and Novo Nordisk. It states “detailed research into the better understanding of how to improve the production of beta cells from human embryonic stem cells”.
4. Researchers at Karolinska Institute are creating cells models of the human brain by reprogramming skin cells into nerve cells.
5. Researchers describe how cells from patients with the severe developmental disease lissencephaly differ from healthy cells. The study was published in Molecular Psychiatry and can be considered as a method that can provide enough knowledge on congenital diseases and their treatment.
6. The effects of adult stem cells have been studied by the Scientist at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). They found a new approach that can reprogram ordinary adult cells into stem cells. Their study was published in an Advance Online paper in Nature Biotechnology. The TSRI scientist conducted a test on 100 million antibodies. They found out that, several of them can help in reprogram mature skin-like cells into stem cells known as “induced pluripotent stem cells” (IPSCs).
7. There has been a long struggle to find out the cure for macular generation. It has been the main cause behind vision loss in older adults. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a study done by the researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center. It is a kind of study, that demonstrates hallmarks of macular degeneration in a new human stem cell model.

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Medical science in the recent past has made incredible progress with cutting edge technology, breath taking discoveries and innovations making patient treatment safe and increasing our longevity. One such explored research was and still is the therapeutic effects of stem cells in cancer. Can stem cells form new cells to replace the cancerous cells? Can stem cell therapy halt or at least delay the progress or spread of cancer? Is it really possible to cure cancer with stem cells? With the collaborative research and studies conducted by scientists and researchers from all around the world, treatment is being devised to eliminate this deadly disease. Doctors have now started to get a clear idea that regenerative medicine can be a possible cure to cancer and other deadly diseases. One of the rich sources of stem cells is cord blood.

Cancer Treatment Using the Stem Cell Transplant

Stem cell transplants are commonly used to treat around 80+ disorders which include blood disorders like leukemia, metabolic and immunological disorders. Stem cells can be isolated from various sources like the peripheral blood, bone marrow, cord blood and even the adipose tissue. In addition to cancers, cord blood stem cells have shown positive results in treating disorders like cerebral palsy and autism which affect the motor functions and brain development often seen in small children.

Stem cells found in the cord blood are young and naïve. They can differentiate into any type of blood cell to replace the diseased cells. The hematopoietic stem cells isolated from the cord blood mainly make three different types of blood cells these are: red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. All three types of blood cells are necessary for us to stay alive, to fight with diseases and to keep our immunity system intact and strong.

Red Blood Cells (RBCs)

The main feature of RBCs is to carry oxygen and distribute it among all cells in the body. This transportation of oxygen is carried out from lungs to cells. After this RBCs bring carbon dioxide from the cells back to the lungs to be exhaled out.

White Blood Cells (WBCs)

The main purpose of white blood cell is to help fight infections caused by bacteria, fungi and Viruses.

Platelets

Platelets are that help to seal damaged blood vessels and help to form blood to clot, which is of utmost importance in stopping bleeding. In healthy person normal platelet count is usually referred as in between 150,000/cubic mm and 450,000/cubic mm.

Understanding the latest breakthroughs in the world of medical science and stem cell is extremely important for us for saving our lives. Stem cell are very effective in treating cancer cells as we have already stated above. Keeping your own stem cell preserved is very important for fighting against deadly diseases.

Understand your test result and blood count, for more information on stem cells and treatment using stem cell do visit us at www.cordlifeindia.com.

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Aplastic anaemia is a rare form of anaemia in which the amount of red blood cells reduces in the bone marrow. It stops the blood cell production and initiates fatigue that can further lead to various kinds of infections and excess amount of bleeding. This can happen at any age and at any time. So, the cord blood preservation will help to initiate the therapy for the diseased people as soon as possible.

Nowadays the stem cells collected from the umbilical cord blood can be used for treating even a critical aplastic anaemia that is followed by acute failure of the liver and the transplantation of the liver.

Acute aplastic anaemia is a deadly disease which requires an immediate treatment prior to the admission of the patient. The reason behind is that this disease is not detected in the early stage and when detected it already becomes severe which needed an immediate treatment. It has been reported from various settings that there are up to 28% of the recipients those who had undergone through orthotopic liver transplants. The cord blood also provides the ability of doing liver transplantation of the children those are suffering from aplastic secondary anaemia.

As stated by Fruchtman et al. (2004), transplantation of cord blood was used in a vast manner for the genetic as well as the acquired disorders related to haematopoiesis. The transplantation of the umbilical cord blood is done very less and also there are few rumors about the collection as well as storage of the cord blood. Fruchtman said that the transplantation of the umbilical cord blood can be used for treating aplastic anemia. Bone marrow taken from a sibling donor whose HLA is matched, had a higher cure rate in the children having aplastic anaemia.

Umbilical cord tissue and blood is used as a main source of receiving different types of stem cells needed for allogeneic transplantation. However using of cord blood stem cells in children those who are suffering from aplastic anaemia is very rare. In a non- transplant setting only two cases has been reported in terms of hematopoietic transplantation. One is of a boy who is of 7 years and suffering from aplastic anaemia and a girl of 9 year suffering from hepatitis associated with aplastic anaemia. Another 3 cases of severe aplastic anaemia were reported from another clinical setting. All of these cases had successfully received a haematopoietic recovery by using bone marrow from siblings. This type of bone marrow engrafting can be achieved by using the stem cell transplantation that must be related to allogeneic cord blood as well as the bone marrow from the sibling whose HLA was matched.

From the above discussion it can be said that by using the stem cells that were taken from the cord blood can be used for treating severe aplastic anaemia. It will help in reducing the acute failure of liver by doing the stem cell transplantation.

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Days of clinical research empower scientists to discover novel methods using stem cells to develop more humanlike tiny kidneys. This is something, which is not as new to us as we had enough of such research-based organ development for kidney impairments earlier as well.

More the number of new methods to investigate etiologies of kidney disorders are developed, more prospective and fruitful results we can expect.

Why Stem-Cell Based Research Is So Promising?

As far as tissue engineering is concerned, they turn out to be a promising therapeutic approach to facilitate kidney replacement and regeneration therapies. So, developing the method for any kidney tissues depends largely on comprehensive insights into kidney formations, which can contribute to mimic the process in cell culture in the lab.

With a better data through stem cell research, it is likely to receive more precise and accurate information about the kidneys, enabling researchers to develop a better functional kidney.

This is another feat of stem cells, which raises a prospective result for us to avoid renal failure and its debilitating consequences. Kidney disorder or failure is a growing concern for American adults as it affects about 30 million citizens among them or about 15% of the total population. The number of affected patients is higher than those patients suffering from breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.

Since, the mini kidney regeneration is a hope for us to replace damaged kidney, there is another study, proving to be a prospective method to repair damaged kidneys too.

Kidney Repair Requisite

Our kidneys are a pair of important organs that helps discharge waste products from the bodies, while filtering and cleaning our blood to detoxify it of all the waste products. Unlike skin, kidneys have very little capacity to heal by themselves to repair its scar or damage. On failure to exert this key function, the damaged kidneys in the patients worsen their conditions, pushing them to suffer from end stage kidney disease. The condition leaves the patients with no options, except dialysis and kidney transplant.

But, a novel therapy is a possibility that may help to repair damaged kidneys and help patients avoid these costly treatment options like dialysis and organ transplant.

Hope for the Kidney Patients

Kidneys have some cells with the characterization of a regenerative capacity. This fact has been brought to the light by scientists in Italy. These cells with transcription factors CD133 are a type of molecules, which have the capacity to sustain renal injuries and regenerate various kidney cells.

Scientists at the University of Torino wanted to work on these cells and wanted to gauge how these molecules worked to further the process of tissue repair in damaged kidneys.

The Process of the Research

The scientists used a chemotherapy drug cisplatin, used for the treatment of cancers. In addition, the drug is supposed to affect the functions of kidneys too in at least one third of the patients. It was found that CD133 played a key role in helping recover damaged kidneys in the patients, while preventing the progenitor cells of kidneys from aging. This is important to help repair damaged kidneys in the future.

This is helpful for the further research of kidney disease, so that with infusions of CD133 molecules, it will be possible to help patients with damaged kidney repair one day. Although the process is effective for the treatment of last stage of kidney ailments, it is hopeful that the process can help people with an early stage of disease also and remove the complications completely.

Sources:

• https://blog.cirm.ca.gov/2018/04/12/stem-cell-study-holds-out-promise-for-kidney-disease/
• https://news.usc.edu/136567/usc-research-helps-stem-cell-experts-develop-kidney-treatments-reduce-dialysis/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3980673/

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Obesity is a growing concern for the upcoming generation, and it has been a leading health problem for people across the world for many years now. Most surprisingly, we did not have any potential therapeutics to ward off its complications, adding to our woes and dilemma.

The reasons could be a lack of transparent methodical procedures to find its etiologies as well as pathophysiologies.

As per a new study, obesity is the result of neural functions, which monitors a signal between hunger and satiety. The first time ever revelation could lead to a better evaluation of experimental therapies for obese patients, and find them better results with just the right kind of treatment.

Scientists at Cedar Sinai have reprogrammed brain neurons of patients with obesity using iPSC hypothalamic Neurons. These lab grown new neurons are promising to aid in the development of specific treatment procedures for the patients with specific symptoms by gauging the functions of brain in obese individuals.

The inclemency of obesity does not need much description to explain its characteristics towards the sufferers. If statistics are to be believed, a huge U.S population is suffering from this debilitating disease. They are more prone to suffer a cardiac attack, glucose complications, strokes and different types of cancers. That apart, the young generation is at a higher risk, and there is a growing concern for childhood obesity too, hindering the next generation from leading a better life.

How The Study Proved An Influence Of The Brain On Obesity?

It is the hypothalamus region in the brain, which controls the feeling of hunger and fullness using neurons by integrating endocrine signals. This is what the new study has concentrated, and shed light on the causes of obesity. Apart from monitoring hunger and fullness of the brain, it is linked with the regulation of the body temperature and other physiological functions.

Partly, obesity occurs due to the genetic mutations in the specific hypothalamic neurons. The metabolic procedure is also regulated by these neurons. In addition, these neurons help ease the communication process between the brain and gastrointestinal tract. When there is a malfunctioning of these neurons, it triggers a problem, making it tough for us to differentiate between the feeling of hunger and satiety. So, with no proper sense of self food need, our brain is likely to chomp too much food without any signal, resulting in overweight.

Since, it is not possible to carry the study on living patients, scientists turned to iPSC technology to assess the efficacy of the study.

Process of The Study

Scientists collected blood and skin specimens from five super obese people with a BMI of 50 or more, while seven individuals of normal weight with a BMI of 25 provided their samples too. These cells were then coaxed to produce induced pluripotent stem cells as they have the potential to develop into any cell types in the body, and finally they were manipulated to transform into hypothalamus neurons. The produced stem cells had the same genetic expressions as the donor cells.

There was a huge difference between iPSCs derived cells from the obese and normal individuals. The obese cells were found to contain numerous genetic mutations, and they did not respond in compliance with the hormones responsible for monitoring a series of functions like hunger, satiety and metabolism.

The study proved how iPSCs could be the potential tool to examine the etiology of obesity. Therefore, it is possible to influence the chemical signal between the genes and environment to influence its occurrences.

However, as of now, there is only one hurdle to create a connection among gut, liver, pancreas and other organs like human hypothalamus neurons, which is largely missing with the lab grown iPSCs. We are hopeful that studies will be successful to remove that hurdle too, and create an advanced therapeutic for obesity in the future.

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As with many diseases, a neurological disorder like Parkinson’s, is hopeful to achieve a better and satisfactory outcome with a stem cell transplant. Ever since, the inception of human embryonic stem cells had been revolutionized in the lab in 1988, it was supposedly thought to eliminate the ill-effects of the disorder.

Despite having super potential in tissue repair, along with relieving the world from the clutches of a wide range of disabilities, enabling replacement of defective cells through transplantation and restoring normal functions of the cells, scientists had failed to find any such clinical improvements for disease treatments and also clinical research. The controversial derivation process from early embryos called blastulas had sparked a lot of ethical concerns in many countries, and put the entire process of clinical research and trial on hold.

In the recent times, there has been an application of human embryonic stem cells in animal models, but results were quite disappointing. However, that was not enough to restrict the way of scientists from developing a novel way to help patients with Parkinson’s disease, as the new study has been able to prove promising for the neurologically retarded patients, coming from the stem cell research. Do not assume it as an embryonic stem cell research though.

Novel Method to Treat Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease

Scientists at Kyoto University, Japan, have developed a novel technique using non-embryonic stem cells called as human induced pluripotent stem cells to treat the conditions of Parkinson’s disease in primates. The technique involved reengineering the stem cells into neurons and implanting them into the brains of monkeys. The monkeys in the trial were injected with the symptoms of the diseases to measure the efficacy of the newly tried methods on them. As per the reports published on August 30, 2017 in Nature, the monkeys showed a promising improvement with fewer symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, and the method did not cause them any harm at all.

Based on a satisfactory result from the study of animal models, it is now devised to use the same technique on humans to treat their symptoms of the disease. At the same time, the team of researchers at Kyoto University is planning to develop neurons using induced pluripotent stem cells to be used for human in the clinical trials in the future.

Why Are Stem Cells Yielding Possibilities for Parkinson ’s Disease?

Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease, causing deaths to a neurotransmitter called dopamine in some areas in the brain, and transforming them into dopaminergic neurons. While these neurotransmitters regulate the movements in humans, Parkinson’s disease patients with not enough dopamine lose their flexibility and elasticity of movements; eventually develop stiffness in their muscles. No current treatment is effective enough to address the underlying issues of the disease, except the symptoms.

Since, pluripotent stem cells can differentiate into any cell types in the body; they have the potential for tissue reengineering. Hence, scientists used them to replace the dopaminergic neurotransmitters in patients with the disease. In addition to this, they were manipulated to reverse the action of dopaminergic and prevent their progress.

Result of the Latest Study

The team led by Takahashi manipulated iPS cells extracted from the healthy one and also Parkinson’s disease infected people to turn into dopaminergic neurons. The monkeys with implanted symptoms of the disease received the transplants.

The brain cells did not face any rejection and survived for two years, and also established a connection with the monkey’s brain. After a connection was established, the monkeys had an improvement in their movements. Generally, iPSC is known to evoke some side-effects in the form of tumors, but this study did not show anything like that.

At the same time, it is envisioned to tailor made iPSC to be used in the patients so that no more drugs are required to control the immune response.

Since, this result is promising, we can easily hope to avoid the ill-effects of Parkinson’s disease and receive a better cell based therapeutic so that we can eliminate the disease from the roots.

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A remarkable achievement in the world of regenerative medicine, especially for victims of severe burns and suffering from skin conditions, came forward when scientists reported that they were able to successfully engraft modified stem cells in order to grow skin over a 7 year old boy. Suffering from genetic disease known as Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa (JEB), the 7 year old boy became gravely ill and was taken to Children’s Hospital of Ruhr-University in Germany in 2015. The condition was such that made his skin extremely delicate wherein a slight abrasion such a stroking or rubbing that made the skin to erupt.

When the boy was brought to the hospital, the team of doctors noticed that he was suffering from “complete epidural loss” over 60% of the body surface. In order to manage the pain, the boy was put on morphine and was fighting off a systemic staph infection alongside. Having tried their very best, be it antibiotics, multiple dressings changes as well as grafted skin donated by the boy’s father, his parents were told to be prepared for the worst.

We had a lot of problems in the first days keeping this kid alive,

Tobias Hirsch, one of the treating physicians, recalled in a conference call with reporters this week.

Having no other ways to turn to Hirsch and his colleague Tobias Rothoeft started looking to medical literature in order to find a way out. They came across an article by Michele De Luca, of the Center for Regenerative Medicine University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy, that described a procedure still in its experimental stages that would theoretically be able to produce skin cells.

Post contacting the author, De Luca flew to Germany and using the methodology detailed in her research article, harvested cells from a four-square-centimeter patch of skin on an unaffected part of the boy’s body. Having brought the harvested cells back to his lab, he then went on to genetically modify them in such a manner that it would no longer possess the gene that was mutated and caused the condition that grew the cells into patches of genetically modified epidermis. The research reported that, “the human epidermis is sustained by a limited number of long-lived stem cells which are able to extensively self-renew.

Undergoing three surgeries over eight months, the skin that was genetically modified under laboratory conditions was then grafted over 80% of the boy’s body. Whilst the procedure was not approved, it was permitted under “compassionate use”, which gives exemption under conditions where there are no further treatments or therapy available.

During the waiting period, the 7 year old boy’s recuperation was spectacular.

The epidermis looks basically normal. There is no big difference

De Luca said. He said he expects the skin to last “basically the life of the patient.

Whilst there are many challenges that De Luca will face to be able to bring this procedure up for medical approval, he says,

No matter how you prepare, it’s a bad situation. I will continue to study the procedure in two clinical trials that involve genetic diseases.”

On the other hand Rothoeft said:

The kid is now back to school and plays soccer and spends other days with the children.”

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Life is truly uncertain with its bout of ailments and untreatable diseases. This is why scientists and doctors are always in an attempt to come up with revolutionary cures and regenerative cures. And all across the globe there are miracle stories being circulated about the advanced stem cell and gene therapy and others that have cured chronic ailments. One such story is about a South African boy and his ailment. It’s Gene Therapy that has brought him back to life and made him turn a new leaf.

Born in South Africa, Ayaan Isaacs has always come across as a healthy boy. However, soon after he was born, the boy had been diagnosed with a chronic liver infection. Though he had survived the ailment, weeks later the doctors discovered that Ayaan also has an ailment that was far more dangerous than just a bad liver. It’s a rather rare ailment that left his immune system from functioning badly, to not functioning at all.

This boy got diagnosed with SCID that stands for X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency. This ailment is commonly referred as a “bubble baby” ailment. Patients suffering from this ailment are prone to infection and are required to live in an absolute germ-free environment. It has been estimated that the SCID patients can walk back to complete cure when subjected to a complete blood stem cell transplant. But for this having a genetically matched donor is essential. However, Ayaan didn’t receive any matched donor. Hence, the outcome wasn’t a positive one.

The little boy’s parents in a desperate attempt to cure Ayaan had said yes to an alternative treatment. This was a clinical trial that was taking place in the St. Jude’s Children’s Research hospital located in Memphis, Tennessee. This trial was aimed to head SCID patients with a stem cell gene therapy that attributes the patients with a completely new immune system. This therapy is all about taking the blood-forming stem cells of the patient and then treating the mutation which leads to SCID. The cured blood stem cells are usually transplanted back to the patient. It is here that a new and healthy immune system gets build.

Thankfully, Ayaan was successful in enrolling on this mentioned clinical trial. Apparently, he happened to be the very first child in the entire African continent to have access to an advanced gene therapy. His journey towards fighting with the bubble boy ailment was talked about all across South Africa. The gene therapy that Ayaan was treated to helped him revive back to life. It is essential to understand that the therapy is an experimental one. Hence, at times complications might come up. However, one must always walk ahead with courage and make the most of the treatment.

Ayaan was also featured in many videos narrating his story. It gave hope and courage to millions, who are fighting similar debilitating life threatening ailments. And considering the fact that one boy went ahead with a regenerative treatment is ample courage to many who are ailing from SCID.

Today, akin to SKID there are several diseases that are not heard of. Often doctors remain unsure as to how to go about treating the ailment as there’s always a first time to a chronic ailment. However, today stem cell gene therapy and cord blood stem cell treatment has been helping patients to combat serious ailments.

Furthermore, what gains importance through such stories is that, parents and families should count in for cord blood stem cell banking without a doubt. Whether you’re a donor or a receiver, the fact that your cord blood can cure you and others, ensures the miracle that life is.

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Human ailments are always on the rise. And so are its treatments! Doctors and medical experts are constantly experimenting with new treatment modalities to be able to cure chronic ailments. One such medium is cord blood stem cell transplant. This has gained prominence in the recent times, owing to the success stories about patients who had strongly combat ailments through courage and advanced cord blood stem cell therapy. This is the reason why parents-to-be and families are opting in to save cord blood of their children. As even the sibling’s cord blood can be used to treat another child.

About Cord Blood Stem Cell Properties

Simply put, cord blood is one important element that is sourced from the blood which gets gathered from the placenta and the umbilical cord, at the time of the child’s birth. Things were not so advanced in the yester years, Today families and parents have the scope of cord blood banking, freezing as well as preserving their children’s cord blood stem cell tissues. This is done so that they can save their children from any chronic ailments in the days to come.

Umbilical cord blood comprises of beneficial stem cells. It is essential to know that such cells are not the same as the embryonic cells that few people consider objectionable. However, the stem cells that are sourced from cord blood are called adult stem cells, which can be sourced from the body post development. These cells are known to rejuvenate the dying cells and also replenish the damaged tissues as well.

Cord blood stem cells sourced from a child’s cord blood can simply replace or repair a damaged tissue that took place at the time of injury. This can take place at the time of malignant disorders in terms of dangerous cancers and also hematologic disorders, for instance the bone marrow transplants. Cord blood stem cells can also regenerate the immune system and also the blood flow.

The Aspect of Allogenic and Autologous Matches

Selecting a private cord blood bank to store the cord blood stem cells of a child, means that the concerned family doesn’t need to look out for any external donor in times of need! Whether it’s a family member or a sibling, the cord blood stem cell of one child that has been saved will work. However, here there are two principal matches that need to be considered i.e. the allogenic and the autologous matches.

Simply put, an autologous match takes place when one child resorts to make use of cord blood that has been saved at the time of their own birth back in time. This surely is going to be a 100% match. There are also situations when this same blood can be utilized for a sibling. In that case, it’s known as allogenic match.

Storing an Infant’s Cord Blood Stem Cells Leads to a Medical Security  Measure

We are genetically associated with our own brothers and sisters. Simply because we inherit one half of our DNA from our mother and the other half from our parents! And by going in for this logic it’s our siblings that have the same DNA as our parents. Hence, in times of need we will have the advantage of using our sibling’s cord blood stem cell tissue that has been saved or banked at a private bank. This match makes the cord blood stem cell transplant simple and easy.

Till date cord blood stem cell transplant have been known to cure as much as 80 ailments. Owing to its unique capacity the cord blood stem cell usages are many. Today, doctors and other medical experts are constantly researching on this subject so as to come up with cures for medical conditions that still are said to possess no treatments.

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Based on the research and clinical applications on the embryonic cells, it is measured that the adult stem cells are advancing in various ways. Though adult stem cells are considered as the red headed stepchild and embryonic stem cells are the media darling for ages, the press coverage has focused in various stages to showcase the advances in both the cases of this discrepancy.

Believe it or not, the bottom line of both adult stem cells and embryonic stem were being used in the early clinical and research-based works to simply heal the diseases based out of the cartilage, multiple sclerosis, bones, heart issues/attacks and even diabetes.

There has always been an emotional and notable debate based out of the topic embryonic stem cell and adult stem cells which continues with the testing today. An extensive and elaborative review on this project has made dozens of experts to offer their potential reviews based on it.  Apart from these regular efforts on transplants, adult stem cells have simply become standard lifesaving therapies for thousands of individuals who are suffering from Leukaemia, lymphoma and other various heart affected diseases. An embryonic stem may someday be used for massive diseases like Parkinson’s or diabetics, but these days adult stem cell has taken over the market on an initial and advanced level.

This may arise one question that how does embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells differ?

The answer is although very much contradictory but it still persists a strong ground to prove the worthiness of both the cases in much detail. We do have heard about the embryonic stem cells popularly known as ESCs. It was in the news for a decade while the concept of adult stem cells came into focus.

The adult stem cells are something that is found in everybody’s body as they are very much capable of repairing a host of tissues. In the latest research, it is quite popular that adult stem cell lines have surpassed the embryonic on various grounds.

In addition, the research also emphasizes on the fact that ASC is matured, focused, medicated, healed and dosed irrespective of the possible complications and medication out there. The ESC research is much more test tube in this response.

Few interceptions are as follows;

• Cartilage Repair: 1113 for one Adult stem cell line and 230 articles on embryonic stem cells
• Myocardial Infarction: 3451 for adult mesenchymal stem cell, and 186 for the embryonic stem cells.
• Wound healing: 330 for adult mesenchymal stem cell, 565 for adult epithelial stem cell and 114 for the embryonic stem cells.

Various details are focused by the notable American Stem Cell Therapy Association (ASCTA) white paper encircling adult stem cells vs. embryonic stem cell research.

Adult stem cells have been transplanted these days on a routine basis for decades. It started with bone marrow transplant, then transferring of stem cells. Expert doctors have recovered the fact that the bone marrow stream of a patient donor infuses to opt for treatments like leukaemia and other blood diseases. This way thousands of lives are being saved each day.

Scientists are embarrassed by the fact to discover lately but there is nothing late than never, thus, new hopes and treatments out of adult stem cells will take the medical science in a much better position in upcoming years.

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Spina bifida is a debilitating condition that affects around 1,500 to 2,000 babies in the U.S. annually. There are about 90% of children who lose their life due to Spina bifida. It leads to lower-limb paralysis in the baby born and is considered a congenital birth defect. However, an experimental stem cell therapy with surgery carried out by a research team from UC Davis Health System has given hope to patients around the world.

What is Spina Bifida?

Spina bifida is a condition wherein the spinal cord of the fetus does not close properly. It occurs even before the mother is aware is she is pregnant. Normally, the neural tube in an embryo unfurls and closes by the 28^th day of gestation. This leads to the formation of a complete brain and spinal column. However, in some the neural tube fails to close and causes a small hole in the spinal column of the fetus, that is, back. Spina bifida means cleft spine. As the fetus continues to grow, the spinal cord and nerves grow out of the baby’s back. As it is exposed to the amniotic fluid, it can lead to nerve damage and some levels of paralysis from the area downward. It can also lead to many other associated conditions such as kidney dysfunction, bladder dysfunction, brain stem malformation, and even hydrocephalus.

Most children with spina bifida die after birth due to an infection to the open spinal cord, renal failure or hydrocephalus-related seizures.

Combining Fetal Surgery with Stem Cell Treatment

The fetal surgery for spina bifida helps in improving brain development. However, it did not do much for motor function. The Management of Myelomeningocele Study has shown the effectiveness of a fetal surgery for brain development, but many children could not walk independently even after 30 months of age.

A study was conducted in an animal model by fetal surgeon Diana Farmer who was the senior author of the above landmark study. She is considered to be a pioneer in utero treatment for spina bifida. Her chief collaborator in this study was Aijun Wang, the co-director of the UC Davis Surgical Bioengineering Laboratory.

They are the first to combine fetal surgery with a placental stem cell treatment. This combination can help in reducing the effects of spina bifida. One of the most common and disabling forms of spina bifida is myelomeningocele. It leads to the emergence of the spinal cord through the back and often pulls the brain tissue into the spinal column leading to draining of the cerebrospinal fluid into the interior of the brain. The condition requires permanent shunts to drain the extra fluid.

How Does This Unique Surgery Help?

For this study, lambs with myelomeningocele were given fetal surgery to help return the exposed spinal tissue into the spinal canal. They applied the human placenta-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (PMSCs) on the site of the lesion. The PMSCs are well-known for their neuroprotective qualities. The scaffold was placed on the top to keep the hydrogel in position and the repair was surgically was closed.

There 6 lambs were given the stem cell treatment. They were able to walk with a noticeable disability within a few hours after birth. The other 6 control animals given only the hydrogel and scaffold could not even stand.

This study has given big hope in expanding the treatment in children with spinal bifida. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine continues to fund Farmer and Wang for their study. They hope to receive further evaluation and FDA approval to begin trials in human to see if this process can help children with spina bifida live out of their wheelchairs.

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