I feel really honored that Dr. Payne has sent his press release/article to this forum first. Dr. Payne will be hosting this month's Ask the PhD forum. This article may give you ideas for questions to ask him. All questions need to be sent to my e-mail ASAP. Click on Members List, then B, then Barbara and then e-mail. Very simple, don't get left out if you have a question. I only take the first 10.
Breakthrough Science Makes ?Patient-Tailored? Stem Cells A Reality
Many, if not most of the organs and tissues in the human body contain stem cells (called adult or somatic stem cells) that replenish and regenerate damaged, diseased or worn-out cells in the tissues they reside or in some instances elsewhere in the body. They are also found in umbilical cord blood, the placenta and amniotic fluid. These stem cells generally produce cells identical to the tissue they are housed in, unless exposed to specific compounds that will cause them to differentiate or turn into some other cell type as is the case, for example, when scientists take specific bone marrow stem cells and transform them into neurons in the laboratory.
When injury or disease strike, affected tissues send out chemical signals that stimulate stem cells nestled in them to create new tissue. These signals also appear to attract stem cells from the bone marrow called multilineage adult progenitor cells. These multilineage adult progenitor cells migrate to the injured or diseased tissue, engraft and provide support or encourage healing or regeneration through production of specific growth factors.
Despite the great utility and flexibility of adult stem cells, most scientists appear convinced that they will not take up residence (for instance) in the brain and receive the precise transformational chemical cues in the proper sequence to turn them into neurons. This, again, requires manipulation of the stem cells in the lab.
In addition to the foregoing limitations on adult stem cells, it must also be pointed out that their capacity to repair and regenerate injured, diseased or worn-out tissues is far from inexhaustible and appears to decline with age, as well as to fall short of the mark when a disease or injury arises that overwhelms or otherwise compromises its capacity to respond.
In the face of age or profound injury or disease then, what is needed is to augment a person?s native stem cell and healing resources. This stem cell ?augmentation? is limited to leukemia and a limited number of (mostly blood-born) conditions in the US, but is being offered in the form of infused or implanted umbilical cord, fetal and bone marrow stem cells by a multitude of mostly private commercial stem cell treatment clinics and centers outside the USA. And though these treatments appear by-and-large safe and often seem to confer some clinical benefit, they seldom seem to rival the positive effects seen in animal studies or hoped for by patients. This isn?t surprising really, because these clinics are relying on stem cells that are not programmed to become the needed, disease-specific cells patients need, and which are in many instances infused by intravenous (IV) drip and left to find their way to the target tissue or organ drawn solely by weak biochemical signals. The combination of shooting cells into a patient and trusting nature to get them to target and transform them into the cell type needed is somewhat na?ve and presumptive.
What is needed to create a more effective stem cell treatment approach is a combination of technology and lab methodology that will prime adult stem cells to become a desired cell type and also home in on the target organ or tissue. Thankfully this very thing not only exists, but in a groundbreaking, sophisticated new incarnation created and perfected by a group of American stem cell scientists in southern California which has been licensed to Nepsis Institute headquartered in Mexico. Nepsis, in turn, has entered into a business relationship with the only physician in the state of Baja authorized by the Mexican government to offer private stem cell treatments, Fernando Ramirez Del Rio, MD. As part of this amicable relationship, Nepsis helped install and staff a laboratory in the building that houses Dr. Ramirez?s clinic that began processing programmed and targeted marrow derived multilineage progenitor or precursor cells this past February.
One early beneficiary of this marriage of technology and clinical expertise was Jerry Porter, a 44 year old chief engineer on a commercial fishing vessel is part of a fleet that belongs to a major seafood company. Porter was diagnosed with sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in 2005, but managed to work on for a time. Eventually his disease progressed sufficiently to make it impossible for him to carry out his shipboard responsibilities, and he left active duty though his firm kept him at half salary until relatively recently.
On February 26th Chief Porter was wheeled into Dr. Ramirez?s surgery where the doctors removed about a teaspoon of bone marrow from his hip. The marrow sample was promptly turned over to the Nepsis-Ramirez crew of scientists and techs who proceeded to extract precursor cells, expand their numbers and then prime and target them to ?pull duty? in the Chief?s CNS (Central Nervous System). These cells were then handed over to the Mexican surgical team who proceeded to infuse them into Chief Porter using an intrathecal procedure (AKA a lumbar puncture or spinal tap).
In the weeks that followed Chief Porter?s procedure he experienced a return of strength to many parts of his body and found he could do a number of things impossible prior to his being treated. Being an engineer, Porter actually carried out and videotaped his own battery of bodily function tests. These are available on his personal website: www.recovery4als.com
Since Porter?s treatment others have followed including patients with ALS, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer?s disease. Some demonstrated almost immediate and remarkable improvement, while others reported a more gradual unfolding of clinical benefits. For a program just a little over two months old, the victories to-date has been impressive. Both Nepsis Institute officials and Dr. Ramirez are pleased with the fruits of the innovative technology and lab methods at work in their laboratory; a body of science that is even now being tweaked and improved upon by the American R & D group that created it and licensed it to Nepsis and Dr. Ramirez.
Breakthrough Science Makes ?Patient-Tailored? Stem Cells A Reality
Many, if not most of the organs and tissues in the human body contain stem cells (called adult or somatic stem cells) that replenish and regenerate damaged, diseased or worn-out cells in the tissues they reside or in some instances elsewhere in the body. They are also found in umbilical cord blood, the placenta and amniotic fluid. These stem cells generally produce cells identical to the tissue they are housed in, unless exposed to specific compounds that will cause them to differentiate or turn into some other cell type as is the case, for example, when scientists take specific bone marrow stem cells and transform them into neurons in the laboratory.
When injury or disease strike, affected tissues send out chemical signals that stimulate stem cells nestled in them to create new tissue. These signals also appear to attract stem cells from the bone marrow called multilineage adult progenitor cells. These multilineage adult progenitor cells migrate to the injured or diseased tissue, engraft and provide support or encourage healing or regeneration through production of specific growth factors.
Despite the great utility and flexibility of adult stem cells, most scientists appear convinced that they will not take up residence (for instance) in the brain and receive the precise transformational chemical cues in the proper sequence to turn them into neurons. This, again, requires manipulation of the stem cells in the lab.
In addition to the foregoing limitations on adult stem cells, it must also be pointed out that their capacity to repair and regenerate injured, diseased or worn-out tissues is far from inexhaustible and appears to decline with age, as well as to fall short of the mark when a disease or injury arises that overwhelms or otherwise compromises its capacity to respond.
In the face of age or profound injury or disease then, what is needed is to augment a person?s native stem cell and healing resources. This stem cell ?augmentation? is limited to leukemia and a limited number of (mostly blood-born) conditions in the US, but is being offered in the form of infused or implanted umbilical cord, fetal and bone marrow stem cells by a multitude of mostly private commercial stem cell treatment clinics and centers outside the USA. And though these treatments appear by-and-large safe and often seem to confer some clinical benefit, they seldom seem to rival the positive effects seen in animal studies or hoped for by patients. This isn?t surprising really, because these clinics are relying on stem cells that are not programmed to become the needed, disease-specific cells patients need, and which are in many instances infused by intravenous (IV) drip and left to find their way to the target tissue or organ drawn solely by weak biochemical signals. The combination of shooting cells into a patient and trusting nature to get them to target and transform them into the cell type needed is somewhat na?ve and presumptive.
What is needed to create a more effective stem cell treatment approach is a combination of technology and lab methodology that will prime adult stem cells to become a desired cell type and also home in on the target organ or tissue. Thankfully this very thing not only exists, but in a groundbreaking, sophisticated new incarnation created and perfected by a group of American stem cell scientists in southern California which has been licensed to Nepsis Institute headquartered in Mexico. Nepsis, in turn, has entered into a business relationship with the only physician in the state of Baja authorized by the Mexican government to offer private stem cell treatments, Fernando Ramirez Del Rio, MD. As part of this amicable relationship, Nepsis helped install and staff a laboratory in the building that houses Dr. Ramirez?s clinic that began processing programmed and targeted marrow derived multilineage progenitor or precursor cells this past February.
One early beneficiary of this marriage of technology and clinical expertise was Jerry Porter, a 44 year old chief engineer on a commercial fishing vessel is part of a fleet that belongs to a major seafood company. Porter was diagnosed with sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in 2005, but managed to work on for a time. Eventually his disease progressed sufficiently to make it impossible for him to carry out his shipboard responsibilities, and he left active duty though his firm kept him at half salary until relatively recently.
On February 26th Chief Porter was wheeled into Dr. Ramirez?s surgery where the doctors removed about a teaspoon of bone marrow from his hip. The marrow sample was promptly turned over to the Nepsis-Ramirez crew of scientists and techs who proceeded to extract precursor cells, expand their numbers and then prime and target them to ?pull duty? in the Chief?s CNS (Central Nervous System). These cells were then handed over to the Mexican surgical team who proceeded to infuse them into Chief Porter using an intrathecal procedure (AKA a lumbar puncture or spinal tap).
In the weeks that followed Chief Porter?s procedure he experienced a return of strength to many parts of his body and found he could do a number of things impossible prior to his being treated. Being an engineer, Porter actually carried out and videotaped his own battery of bodily function tests. These are available on his personal website: www.recovery4als.com
Since Porter?s treatment others have followed including patients with ALS, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer?s disease. Some demonstrated almost immediate and remarkable improvement, while others reported a more gradual unfolding of clinical benefits. For a program just a little over two months old, the victories to-date has been impressive. Both Nepsis Institute officials and Dr. Ramirez are pleased with the fruits of the innovative technology and lab methods at work in their laboratory; a body of science that is even now being tweaked and improved upon by the American R & D group that created it and licensed it to Nepsis and Dr. Ramirez.
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