" They are not allowed to "expand" the small amount of stem cells into millions and they can't use other sources of stem cells."
"Stem cells can treat many conditions and if you have more than one condition, stem cells treats however many different conditions you have."
" Stupid anti-stem cell regulations in the Bush era caused America to be 10 years behind! I will wait 2010 out and see what 2011 brings. I plan to get stem cells soon and most likley not in America!"
I have a few comments on what you wrote. Why is an offshore clinic not allowed to expand the stem cells or are you talking about the clinic that will be doing the procedure in Florida?
I think the second comment needs clarifying as well. Stem cells will go to the most recent area of injury. There are some reports of people regaining hearing for example or getting rid of arthritic pain when they went for stem cell therapy for a completely different condition, but for the most part, cells are being targeted for specific areas. I have lung disease, so I would not be getting stem cell therapy that might help with the after effects of stroke for instance. I would invite any of our professionals that help with this forum to comment on this as their explanation is going to cover more ground than I can, but it is not as simple as getting an infusion of stem cells and getting a remake of all that ails a person. I will also submit this as a question for the next Ask the Doctor forum with Dr. Grossman.
Last, but not least, the Bush attack. Here is some history.
In 1973 a moratorium was placed on government funding for human embryo research. In 1988 a NIH panel voted 19 to 2 in favor of government funding. In 1990, Congress voted to override the moratorium on government funding of embryonic stem cell research, which was vetoed by President George Bush. President Clinton lifted the ban, but changed his mind the following year after public outcry. Congress banned federal funding in 1995. In 1998 DHHS Secretary Sullivan extended the moratorium. In 2000, President Bill Clinton allowed funding of research on cells derived from aborted human fetuses, but not from embryonic cells. On August 9, 2001, President George W. Bush announced his decision to allow Federal funding of research only on existing human embryonic stem cell lines created prior to his announcement. His concern was to not foster the continued destruction of living human embryos. In 2004, both houses of Congress have asked President George W. Bush to review his policy on embryonic stem cell research. President George W. Bush released a statement reiterating his moral qualms about creating human embryos to destroy them, and refused to reverse the federal policy banning government funding of ESC research (other than for ESC lines established before the funding ban).
Then President Obama delayed once again until we now finally have a policy that allows federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. It is imperative that the public understands this because the reason we are so far behind, in my opinion, has little to do with embryonic stem cell research policies.
Here is an article by Irv Weissman, considered by many to be one of the leading experts on stem cell therapy that may clear a few things up for readers.
BY ERIN MADISON ? TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER ? MAY 25, 2010
Stem cell research has advanced to the point where it will be used more and more widely to treat a variety of diseases from autoimmune diseases to cancer.
"We're at the stage where we're ready to take advantage of stem cell biology and move into therapies," said Irv Weissman during a lecture Monday night at the Cameron Auditorium at Benefis Health System.
Weissman grew up in Great Falls and got his first taste of research working as a high school student at the predecessor to McLaughlin Research Institute. Weissman is now director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. He also chairs McLaughlin's scientific advisory committee.
Cells are the organizing units of the body, Weissman explained. Stem cells are rare, but stand out from other cells because when they divide in two, one of the remaining cells is still a stem cell.
Stem cells are entirely responsible for the original generation of all body tissues and their maintenance throughout life. Stem cells are originally formed during fetal development but continue to regenerate tissue throughout a person's life.
"There are no new stem cells coming in," Weissman said. "You're living on the stem cells you have."
However stem cell transplants are revolutionizing medicine.
For example, blood-forming stem cells from a diabetes-resistant donor could be transplanted into someone with early juvenile diabetes. Because juvenile diabetes is a blood disease, rather than an insulin disease, new stem cells could cure it. And it would require only one transplant.
"If the transplant takes, it's one time for life," Weissman said.
Blood-forming stem cells also could be used to treat other autoimmune diseases, including lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis.
It was long thought that any stem cell could form any type of tissue. For example, a blood-forming stem cell could be moved to the heart and it would become a heart tissue-forming stem cell. However, that's not the case.
"Once a stem cell is specified for a tissue, it can make that tissue and nothing else," Weissman said.
Muscle-forming stem cells could be used to regenerate muscle in someone with muscular dystrophy.
Brain-forming stem cells already have been used to treat six children in the United States who have Batten disease, which leads to blindness, balance issues, short-term memory loss and eventually death. They also can be used to treat people with spinal cord injuries.
Weissman plans to begin clinical trials for stem cell treatment for spinal cord injuries soon. The trials most likely will be done in a European country that has a national health service, he said. Negotiating with each patient's insurance company in the United States makes clinical trials very difficult.
Weissman also soon will be starting clinical trials using stem cell therapy to treat several cancers.
Another challenge to stem cell therapy is that pharmacy companies aren't interested in funding it. Drug companies prefer therapies in which people take a pill every day, he said.
"In America and everywhere else, drugs and therapies are commercialized," Weissman said.
Weissman warned the audience to be leery of companies, often in foreign countries, that will treat medical problems with stem cell therapy.
A sure sign of a fraudulent company is one that claims to have stem cells that will regenerate any type of tissue.
"That doesn't exist," he said.
Weissman heard of one young woman who traveled to the Dominican Republic to have a hole in her heart treated using stem cells from her bone marrow, which is impossible.
McLaughlin Research Institute, in conjunction with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which aims to enhance K-12 science education, hosts these types of lectures to foster critical thinking and increase support for science in public schools, said George Carlson, McLaughlin's director.
"We're trying to increase scientific literacy," he said.
