What are marrow stromal cells?

[Cynthia]

I just thought I'd ask if anyone can comment on marrow stromal cells? How do they differ from the other types of cells used for autologous SCT.
The U of Indiana say that marrow stromal cells mixed with chemicals can be induced to transform into neuronal cells & possibly treat hearing loss. They take on the characteristics of sensory nerve cells of the inner ear.

Any thoughts?

 

[barbara]

Dr. Young replies -

Thank you to Dr. Young for his reply:

Marrow stromal cells, based on Arnold Caplan's discovery (CWRU), is basically everything that is left over after the hematopoietic stem cells and hematopoietic cells have been removed from the bone marrow and that will grow on a plastic substratum. In other words a large number of uncharacterized cell types.

Since bone marrow is of mesodermal origin, embryolgoically, many have equated marrow stromal cells to mesodermal stem cells.

However, from our own characterization studies we know that other stem cell types, besides mesodermal stem cells, differentiated cell types and progenitor cell types, reside within the bone marrow.

Dr. Young

Know your model system and Tissue never lies - P.M. Johnston
Knowledge without an imagination is worthless - Albert Einstein
Adult stem cells do it better - H.E. Young

 

[Cynthia]

Thanks Dr. Young

Thanks for the explanation. Can you comment on the possibility of these cells working better than other cells in treating hearing loss?

 

[Henry Young]

Thanks for the explanation. Can you comment on the possibility of these cells working better than other cells in treating hearing loss?

Dear Cynthia,

You will need cells that will differentiate into neuronal type cells to correct a hearing loss. Not all bone marrow stromal cells will accomplish that feat. Only those cells of the neuronal lineage or more primitive types of stem cells that will form all cell lineages. Most bone marrow stromal experiments are "Hail Mary" type of experiments, unless the investigator has isolated a discreet population of cells. If that is the case and the factors work on the cells correctly, then the outcome should be positive.

Dr. Young

 

[Cynthia]

Ok, Thank you again Dr. Young. Would it be safe to say then when researching a clinic for SCT that I am looking for one that can give me neuronal cells for my hearing loss?

 

[barbara]

Dear Cynthia,

You will need a clinic that can give you gender-specific neuroectodermal stem cells, germ layer lineage ectodermal stem cells, and/or pluripotent stem cells. Any one of those stem cells have the potential to treat hearing loss.

Dr. Young

 

[Deaf123a]

From what I read, umbilical cord blood stem cells is being used to treat hearing loss and the average improvement is on the order of 20db. Do other types of stem cells offer more improvement and can a person have 2, 3, 4 or more different types of stem cells injected at the same time or within days/weeks of each other to increase the odds of improvement?

Also im wondering if the improved hearing is as good as someone with that amount of hearing naturally. If person A with 100db HL gets stem cells and improves to 80db HL, will it be as good as person B who always had 80db HL? I also wonder about the correlation between pre-treatment HL and the hearing youll end after treatment. I wonder how many times can stem cell treatment be repeated and wouldn't the improvement be smaller and smaller each additional treatment and where does it stop at? 50db? 40db? 30db? I know that even in birds that can regenerate their hearing, they still ended up with a 20-25db HL. Should this be interpreted to be the upper limit of what a (very lucky)person can ever hope to achieve? Id honestly be happy if I could get down to a 50, 60, even 70db HL.

 

[Cynthia]

Thanks for taking the time to explain!!

Dear Cynthia,

You will need a clinic that can give you gender-specific neuroectodermal stem cells, germ layer lineage ectodermal stem cells, and/or pluripotent stem cells. Any one of those stem cells have the potential to treat hearing loss.

Dr. Young

Thanks again Dr. Young!

 

[barbara]

Depending on how umbilical cord blood stem cells are processed, they are actually a mixture of stem cells rather than a single stem cell type. It is likely that there will be variation in the types of stem cells based on the amounts of cord blood stem cells that are mixed to make the preparation for implantation, unless the laboratory sorts the cells using cell surface markers.

As to your second question, I have no idea. Hearing loss is not my specialty, so I cannot comment on that area. If I were you, I would consult with a hearing specialist.

Dr. Young

 

[Cynthia]

Still thinking about this

So, in a previous post you mentioned i would need gender specific neuroectodermal stem cells, germ layer lineage ectodermal stem cells, and/or pluripotent stem cells. Any one of those stem cells have the potential to treat hearing loss.

I have a few more questions if you don't mind:
Where are these cells mentioned above found? In Umbilical blood, bone marrow, adipose tissue or regular blood? Is one source better than the other? I am trying to determine the source for these cells. When researching a clinic some only use bone marrow or Umb.

Do you think there is any advantage to having these cells injected into the cochlear vs an IV?

 

[barbara]

Posted for Dr. Young

Dear Cynthia,

To answer your questions:

1) Neuroectodermal stem cells, germ layer lineage ectodermal stem cells, and/or pluripotent stem cells are found throughout your body, i.e., connective tissue matrices (such as in your fat, skeletal muscle or dermis), in your bone marrow, in your blood, and also in the umbilical cord (depending on the method in which the umbilical cords are processed).

2. In my mind, and I am quite biased on the subject, your own blood is probably the best source for these cells. They are relatively easy to harvest in fairly pure forms, they are autologous (your own cells - so gender specificity is not an issue or a problem), and they can be fairly well manipulated.

3. The first idea would be to have the pluripotent stem cells injected into the endolymphatic sac that is connected to the semicircular canals and the cochlear duct; next have them injected into the perilymph surrounding the semicircular canals and cochelar duct. They are small enough to cross the barriers separating the two fluid filled chambers.

4. For more differentiated cells, i.e., neuroectodermal stem cells or germ layer lineage ectdoermal stem cells, my advice would be to have them placed into the arteries of the pharyngotympanic tube, which are derivatives of the ascending pharyngeal artery, a branch of the external carotid artery and the middle meningeal artery.

In any case, it will be a "tricky" operation to be performed unless you go to an ENT (Ear, Nose , and Throat) board certified specialist.

Best of luck and please keep me informed as to your progress,
Dr. Young



Know your model system and Tissue never lies - P.M. Johnston
Knowledge without an imagination is worthless - Albert Einstein
Adult stem cells do it better - H.E. Young

 

[Cynthia]

Thank you again Dr. Young! If you have time for another question.....

What exactly do you mean when you say "and they can be fairly well manipulated" in your answer for #2.
By this do you mean that the lab adds chemicals to alter the cells to make them into another type of cell?

How safe are these chemicals?

What happens if they don't alter or manipulate the cells?

 

[barbara]

Posted for Dr. Young

What exactly do you mean when you say "and they can be fairly well manipulated" in your answer for #2.
By this do you mean that the lab adds chemicals to alter the cells to make them into another type of cell?

A pluripotent stem cell has the ability to form any cell type in your body. To do this the stem cells need chemical signals (cytokines, growth factors, induction agents, etc.) to tell the stem cells what to do. Your body makes the appropriate signals depending on which organ or tissue is nearby and is of need of repair. Scientists have discovered the composition of some of those signals. In culture with the stem cells, the scientists have used different "cocktails" of these chemical signals to form different cell types from the stem cells. My own lab has been able to create 65 separate cell types from cultures of pluripotent stem cells using different "cocktails" of various agents.

How safe are these chemicals?

The chemicals are safe when used appropriately. Usually for human use, only purified chemicals or human-derived signals are used. This makes sure that the procedure is safe for human use.

What happens if they don't alter or manipulate the cells?

The scientists usually know the correct "cocktails" of chemicals to use to get the desired effect from the cells, when the cells are grown outside the body "in culture" first. However, in my laboratory, we have discovered that the body knows a lot more than we do with respect to using the appropriate signals at the proper time to make the appropriate cell types to heal damaged tissue. Therefore, we put in naive pluripotent stem cells, that have never seen any exogenous agents, and the body uses those cells that way it wants to to get very good healing responses.

Dr. Young

 

[Deaf123a]

Hello, I got an email from a stem cell lab. They recommend cord blood stem cells and to insert by IV 20 million of them(single dose) into your arm. I learned the following facts in my email:

"If the IV route is chosen, 20 million CD34+ human umbilical cord and placental stem cells are employed." My question: I was wondering if 20 million SC is a typical dosage for someone with hearing loss and no other disorders/conditions. How many db improvement in hearing could be expected based on that dosage and is improvement linear in respect to dose? Chloe got 600 million fat-derived autologous SC to treat her hearing loss and autoimmune disease(s).

"Fat tissue derived stem cells would likely be of little utility in regenerating cochlear tissue." My question: How did it help Chloe's hearing loss? Would cord blood stem cells be better?

"But again, priming any stem cell to become hair cells and then implanting it into the middle ear is potentially dangerous. A safer route if to implant or IV in pure cord blood stem cells plus placental stem cells." My question: So cord blood SC is the best and safest way to go? Is it as safe as autologous SC?

"There are two options: Direct implantation in the cochlear area via the tympanic membrane by a highly experienced ENT surgeon. This is highly experimental and the outcome is unknown. The other option is IV infusion." My question: Would the improvement be the same? Would there be a risk of losing hearing by direct implantation?

Thanks for reading, im also learning about stem cells, id like to be treated for hearing loss soon.