People have asked if a patient receiving umbilical cord stem cells needs to be matched with a donor. The answer is no because the stem cells are actually isolated from the umbilical cord blood. Since no blood cells are present at this point, there is no need for blood typing.
FAQ's about umbilical cord stem cells
- Thread starter barbara
- Start date
How long does it take for the treatment to work?
Bonnie asked me this question and it is a tough one. Every individual is different. I know that my lungs felt like they were taking in more air within an hour of treatment. Others, feel some immediate relief from their disease immediately also. After 15 weeks I can say the roller coaster ride I was on initially has smoothed out. I see small improvements daily. This is not an overnight cure by any means because the stem cells are actually regenerating the damage in your body. In my case, I have COPD, so it is the lungs that were targeted and are getting repaired. We asked the company where we got treatment if we could write a patient informational booklet that would help patients understand and not be confused or scared about what is happening, but alas it was not meant to be. They haven't gotten around to doing anything about it. That is one reason Jeannine and I have written a book. This is from our point of view and documents the treatment and the daily ups and downs you will have. No two people are alike, but there are many things that everyone will experience to some degree and it helps to know what is normal and what isn't. Also, Nassin who has COPD had adult stem cell treatment. He was able to get off of O2 in a little over three weeks. I am still on it but no longer 24/7 as I have time periods where I can be without. He has some SOB, I have none. There are differences, but according to my doctor, everyone will receive some benefit. It may also make a difference how sick you are, your age, physical condition, etc. In some cases, this may make no difference. That is why we are the Pioneers. There are not volumes of information and years worth of records to document our treatment. We stepped up to the plate as soon as we could and we hope our information will be of use to others. I made the right choice. Of that I am 100 percent sure. There are several other forum members that have had astonishing results in a short time. Some will require boosters (MS patients according to Ed will need one). I do not think I will need one, but I would not say 100 percent that I won't. The doctor told me that improvements can be seen up to 2 years after the initial treatment. I see something new everyday, so I believe this. It may only be that I can walk upstairs and not drop down to 89 on my sats, but 90 for that day. Just little things adding up for sure.
Bonnie asked me this question and it is a tough one. Every individual is different. I know that my lungs felt like they were taking in more air within an hour of treatment. Others, feel some immediate relief from their disease immediately also. After 15 weeks I can say the roller coaster ride I was on initially has smoothed out. I see small improvements daily. This is not an overnight cure by any means because the stem cells are actually regenerating the damage in your body. In my case, I have COPD, so it is the lungs that were targeted and are getting repaired. We asked the company where we got treatment if we could write a patient informational booklet that would help patients understand and not be confused or scared about what is happening, but alas it was not meant to be. They haven't gotten around to doing anything about it. That is one reason Jeannine and I have written a book. This is from our point of view and documents the treatment and the daily ups and downs you will have. No two people are alike, but there are many things that everyone will experience to some degree and it helps to know what is normal and what isn't. Also, Nassin who has COPD had adult stem cell treatment. He was able to get off of O2 in a little over three weeks. I am still on it but no longer 24/7 as I have time periods where I can be without. He has some SOB, I have none. There are differences, but according to my doctor, everyone will receive some benefit. It may also make a difference how sick you are, your age, physical condition, etc. In some cases, this may make no difference. That is why we are the Pioneers. There are not volumes of information and years worth of records to document our treatment. We stepped up to the plate as soon as we could and we hope our information will be of use to others. I made the right choice. Of that I am 100 percent sure. There are several other forum members that have had astonishing results in a short time. Some will require boosters (MS patients according to Ed will need one). I do not think I will need one, but I would not say 100 percent that I won't. The doctor told me that improvements can be seen up to 2 years after the initial treatment. I see something new everyday, so I believe this. It may only be that I can walk upstairs and not drop down to 89 on my sats, but 90 for that day. Just little things adding up for sure.
Pat Chronister
Pioneer Member
Where do I find the list of questions.
I will be speaking with Dr. F. this Saturday and am preparing list of questions. I ran across a long list of potential questions on our web site, but now can't relocate it. Help! Pat C.People have asked if a patient receiving umbilical cord stem cells needs to be matched with a donor. The answer is no because the stem cells are actually isolated from the umbilical cord blood. Since no blood cells are present at this point, there is no need for blood typing.
Questions, Questions, Questions
Both The Baron and John have posted a list of questions to ask. You can access their posts by clicking on Members List and then J, then John for instance and then click on their posts. It sounds like you are getting your homework done.
Both The Baron and John have posted a list of questions to ask. You can access their posts by clicking on Members List and then J, then John for instance and then click on their posts. It sounds like you are getting your homework done.
Umbilical Cord stem cells seem to be very popular for cell therapy in foreign countries.
The reason for this seems to be that because these stem cells can be easily obtained and do not appear to have the rejection problems since the tissue is not mature yet.
Also these stem cells appear to have good plasticity (turns into the needed cell types) as opposed to some other types of adult stem cells.
While I am certain that a person's own adult stem cells from the appropriate tissue would be the best way to get treatment, it is very expensive and would not be feasible for most people.
The reason for this seems to be that because these stem cells can be easily obtained and do not appear to have the rejection problems since the tissue is not mature yet.
Also these stem cells appear to have good plasticity (turns into the needed cell types) as opposed to some other types of adult stem cells.
While I am certain that a person's own adult stem cells from the appropriate tissue would be the best way to get treatment, it is very expensive and would not be feasible for most people.
It all depends.
We are generally in a "buyer beware" type of market, and some clinics are much more competitively priced compared to others. Some clinics using adult stem cell treatment are far less money that others using cord blood-based treatments.
You have to get pricing from all clinics you are considering to make the best decision.
Harv
We are generally in a "buyer beware" type of market, and some clinics are much more competitively priced compared to others. Some clinics using adult stem cell treatment are far less money that others using cord blood-based treatments.
You have to get pricing from all clinics you are considering to make the best decision.
Harv
...While I am certain that a person's own adult stem cells from the appropriate tissue would be the best way to get treatment, it is very expensive and would not be feasible for most people.
In the US - Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg at the Duke Medical Centre - has been using cord blood stem cell treatment for children with serious disease. Clinical trials are also being carried out there.
However - contrary to what most commercial clincs tell you that there are no risks and side effects, in this hospital they actually suppress the immune system when using donor cord blood!
So I thought of making available here info for people to think about:
Dr Wise Young of Rutgers writes at http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/showthread.php?t=79399 ...
"There is controversy concerning the use and efficacy of umbilical cord blood cells for treatment of spinal cord injury. Several groups have reported some beneficial effects of applying CD34+ cells isolated from human umbilical cord blood cells to animals with spinal cord injury. The mechanism of these effects are not clear. The treatments were almost always given early to the rats after injury. In some cases, the cells were administered intravenously. In none of these were immune-compatible cells used.
Several clinical groups have been applying umbilical cord blood to people. This is particularly true in China. A group calling themselves Beike in Shenzhen (a city just outside of Hong Kong) has been offering umbilical cord blood therapies to people from the United States. They have been using unmatched cord blood which they expand in culture and then sort to obtain CD34+ cells. They apparently then offer this treatment to patients either by infusing them intravenously or intrathecally.
I am very skeptical of this approach for several reasons.
First, in several animal studies, I have not be able to show that any of the cells injected intravenously or intrathecally actually survived and entered the spinal cord at the lesion site in animals. This was clearly so without immunosuppression and mostly so even with immunosuppression. While immune response of humans many be different from animals, there has been much experience with cord blood transfusions in people to treat hematological diseases and it is clear that one needs at least matching of 4 of 6 HLA antigens to have a reasonable chance of engraftment. Such matches occurring at random are very unlikely and thus I believe that most or perhaps all the cells being given by the Beike group in Shenzhen are likely to be rejected.
Second, transplanted cord blood cells do not penetrate readily across the blood brain barrier (from blood to brain) or even from cerebrospinal fluid to brain. I am unsure that the cells will get into the spinal cord in sufficient numbers to do anything.
Third, cord blood cells may engraft in many places in the body. Of course, they are used to treat bone marrow disorders. In the latter case, if the cells engraft, they may produce white blood cells that attack the body, called graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), a form of autoimmune disease. While GVHD from cord blood is much less common and less severe than GVHD after bone marrow transplants, it nevertheless occurs and poses a considerable risk to the 20% of people that it occurs in.
For these reasons, in our upcoming planned clinical trial in ChinaSCINet, we decided to use HLA-matched cells and to transplant the cells directly into the spinal cord. Also, because we do not know which cells in the umbilical cord blood are best, we are transplanting mononuclear cells which would include the stem cells as well as other cells. Because the spinal cord is bereft of most tissue factors, we anticipate that most of the hematopoetic cells will die off.
In fact, in the trial, we will be assessing whether HLA-matching of the cells makes a difference in the treatment effect. For example, we anticipate being able to match 6/6 HLA antigens (so called perfect match) only 20% of the time. In the remainder, we may get 30% 5/6 and 50% 4/6 match. This should help us answer the question whether matching is necessary."
Now it does not mean this is gospel but Dr Young is no mug! Dr. Wise Young is world reknown and together with the Richard H. Shindell Professor of Neuroscience at Rutgers University and founding director of Rutgers? W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, is receiving the Melvyn H. Motolinsky Research Foundation?s 2007 Distinguished Service Award.
Back to Duke Medical Center here are some links to give you all more information of cord blood stem cells and the pros and cons according to Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg. In a nutshell this Dr sees a big risk using donor cord blood!
http://www.cnsfoundation.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7331
http://www.dukehealth.org/physicians...256DFD006A9443
http://www.dukemednews.duke.edu/news...le.php?id=7404
http://www.wpxi.com/print/3020074/detail.html
However - contrary to what most commercial clincs tell you that there are no risks and side effects, in this hospital they actually suppress the immune system when using donor cord blood!
So I thought of making available here info for people to think about:
Dr Wise Young of Rutgers writes at http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/showthread.php?t=79399 ...
"There is controversy concerning the use and efficacy of umbilical cord blood cells for treatment of spinal cord injury. Several groups have reported some beneficial effects of applying CD34+ cells isolated from human umbilical cord blood cells to animals with spinal cord injury. The mechanism of these effects are not clear. The treatments were almost always given early to the rats after injury. In some cases, the cells were administered intravenously. In none of these were immune-compatible cells used.
Several clinical groups have been applying umbilical cord blood to people. This is particularly true in China. A group calling themselves Beike in Shenzhen (a city just outside of Hong Kong) has been offering umbilical cord blood therapies to people from the United States. They have been using unmatched cord blood which they expand in culture and then sort to obtain CD34+ cells. They apparently then offer this treatment to patients either by infusing them intravenously or intrathecally.
I am very skeptical of this approach for several reasons.
First, in several animal studies, I have not be able to show that any of the cells injected intravenously or intrathecally actually survived and entered the spinal cord at the lesion site in animals. This was clearly so without immunosuppression and mostly so even with immunosuppression. While immune response of humans many be different from animals, there has been much experience with cord blood transfusions in people to treat hematological diseases and it is clear that one needs at least matching of 4 of 6 HLA antigens to have a reasonable chance of engraftment. Such matches occurring at random are very unlikely and thus I believe that most or perhaps all the cells being given by the Beike group in Shenzhen are likely to be rejected.
Second, transplanted cord blood cells do not penetrate readily across the blood brain barrier (from blood to brain) or even from cerebrospinal fluid to brain. I am unsure that the cells will get into the spinal cord in sufficient numbers to do anything.
Third, cord blood cells may engraft in many places in the body. Of course, they are used to treat bone marrow disorders. In the latter case, if the cells engraft, they may produce white blood cells that attack the body, called graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), a form of autoimmune disease. While GVHD from cord blood is much less common and less severe than GVHD after bone marrow transplants, it nevertheless occurs and poses a considerable risk to the 20% of people that it occurs in.
For these reasons, in our upcoming planned clinical trial in ChinaSCINet, we decided to use HLA-matched cells and to transplant the cells directly into the spinal cord. Also, because we do not know which cells in the umbilical cord blood are best, we are transplanting mononuclear cells which would include the stem cells as well as other cells. Because the spinal cord is bereft of most tissue factors, we anticipate that most of the hematopoetic cells will die off.
In fact, in the trial, we will be assessing whether HLA-matching of the cells makes a difference in the treatment effect. For example, we anticipate being able to match 6/6 HLA antigens (so called perfect match) only 20% of the time. In the remainder, we may get 30% 5/6 and 50% 4/6 match. This should help us answer the question whether matching is necessary."
Now it does not mean this is gospel but Dr Young is no mug! Dr. Wise Young is world reknown and together with the Richard H. Shindell Professor of Neuroscience at Rutgers University and founding director of Rutgers? W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, is receiving the Melvyn H. Motolinsky Research Foundation?s 2007 Distinguished Service Award.
Back to Duke Medical Center here are some links to give you all more information of cord blood stem cells and the pros and cons according to Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg. In a nutshell this Dr sees a big risk using donor cord blood!
http://www.cnsfoundation.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7331
http://www.dukehealth.org/physicians...256DFD006A9443
http://www.dukemednews.duke.edu/news...le.php?id=7404
http://www.wpxi.com/print/3020074/detail.html