Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells Treat Spinal Cord Injury!
I have known about this for some time, but because I didn't want to be guilty of the same hyping that is so often engaged in by some therapeutic cloning proponents, I waited until it was published in a peer reviewed journal. Now it has been and the news is HUGE: Korean scientists have used umbilical cord blood stem cells to restore feeling and mobility to a spinal cord injury patient. I have no link, but I do have the report published in Cytotherapy, (2005) Vol 7. No. 4, 368-373.
The patient is a woman who has been paraplegic from an accident for more than 19 years. (Complete paraplegia of the 10th thoracic vertebra.) She had surgery and also an infusion of umbilical cord blood stem cells. Note the stunning benefits: "The patient could move her hips and feel her hip skin on day 15 after transplantation. On day 25 after transplantation her feet responded to stimulation. On post operative day (POD) 7, motor activity was noticed and improved gradually in her lumbar paravertebral and hip muscles. She could maintain an upright position by herself on POD 13. From POD 15 she began to elevate both lower legs about 1 cm, and hip flexor muscle activity gradually improved until POD 41." It goes on from there in very technical language.
The bottom line is this, from the Abtract: Not only did the patient regain feeling, but "41 days after [stem cell] transplantation" testing "also showed regeneration of the spinal cord at the injured cite" and below it. "Therefore, it is suggested that UCB multipotent stem cell transplantation could be a good treatment method for SPI patients." (My emphasis.)
We have to be cautious. One patient does not a treatment make. Also, the authors note that the lamenectomy the patient received might have offered some benefit. But still, this is a wonderful story that offers tremendous hope for paralyzed patients. Typically, it has been extensively ignored in the American media (although it has gotten some foreign press attention). (Can you imagine the headlines if the cells used had been embryonic?)
One last point. This is a patient with a very old injury--making the results even more dramatic.
Onward!
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 11:08 AM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
This is yet another story about the benefits of umbilical cord stem cells.
I agree that we need to be cautious since the woman had another procedure at the same time. I agree that there is a need for more data before conclusions can be reached on the benefits of the umbilical cord stem cells.
However, this is good news because once again we see that the stem cells from umbilical cords, a product that is discarded after the birthing process, is far more useful than the embryonic stem cells that we hear about through media hype.
The media has been guilty of only reporting one side of this debate. They have printed the thoughts of actors and actresses who have been affected with Parkinson's disease, or other diseases that are alleged to benefit from stem cell research but they fail to mention the fact that there is a huge risk of cancer tumours from embryonic stem cells.
My mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease last year. You would think that I would be in favour of the embryonic stem cell research because of the nature of her disease. However, this is not the case at all. I am not convinced that there are any benefits for those who suffer with Parkinson's Disease through embryonic stem cell research. On the other hand there have been some reports of progress from umbilical cord stem cells.
At this point in time I am waiting to have my own prognosis verified by a second blood test. It is probable that I have rheumatoid arthritis. I must wait to repeat the test. Am I wanting to see money going into any research related to embryonic stem cells and arthritis? No. This might be an auto-immune disorder, but I do not believe that embryonic stem cell research will in the long term provide any assistance in combatting the disease. On the other hand I believe that there might be some value in any research that is based upon umbilical cord stem cells.
The use of embryonic stem cells for research into the most common diseases such as arthritis, diabetes, and Parkinson's Disease is not justified when one takes into account the lack of progress of this form of research. The money that is being thrown at this form of research has been wasted.
Anyway, I hope that this one case will be a turning point and that embryonic stem cell research will be abandoned.
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