Top 10 Stem Cell Advances in 2013

RIDGEFIELD, Conn. - Dec. 29, 2013 - PRLog -- “It’s been an exciting year with many advances in adult stem cell treatment and research” reported Dr. Levy, President of MD Stem Cells.  “Physicians are making headway using adult stem cells - primarily Bone Marrow Stem Cells or BMSC -  and finding  life saving approaches and quality of life improvements for many diseases.  Stem cell treatments are showing increasing cost-effectiveness – critical for their integration into mainstream  medicine.”  MD Stem Cells reviewed the medical literature and identified their Top 10 major Stem Cell Advances from 2013.

1) Heart Disease -  As reported in the European Heart Journal, a major study combined 16 other stem cell studies involving 1641 patients in a meta-analysis.  Injection of Bone Marrow Stem Cells into the coronary arteries following a common type of heart attack called ST- Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction resulted in improvement of the heart to pump blood and recovery (Left Ventricular or LV function and remodeling).  Younger patients and those with worse cardiac output or LVEF at baseline improved the most. www.bit.ly/1iolVvm

2) Diabetes  - As reported in the journal Clinical and Experimental Medicine, a study under an Institutional Review Board / IRB treated patients having Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus or IDDM with a combination of Bone Marrow Stem Cells and Insulin Secreting Cells differentiated from Mesenchymal Stem Cells.  Over an average of 31 months the patients cut their mean insulin usage by about 25 units while improving their Hemoglobin A1C- a critical measure of sugar levels in the blood- by about 61%. www.bit.ly/18S5rst

3) Ophthalmology -  The Stem Cell Ophthalmology Treatment Study or SCOTS, the largest study of adult Stem Cells in ophthalmology, enrolled their first patients and continues to seek participants. http://www.bit.ly/15J86TK     Conducted under an Institutional Review Board and registered with the NIH, SCOTS is an open label, non-randomized, efficacy study using Bone Marrow Derived Stem Cells treating patients with retinal and optic nerve diseases including AMD / Macular Degeneration, Hereditary Retinal Dystrophies such as Retinitis Pigmentosa, Glaucoma, Lebers, Optic Atrophy and Ischemic Optic Neuropathy- among others.  http://www.mdstemcells.com/SCOTSQuestionsonstemcells.html

4) Huntington’s Disease   Researchers from the University of Rochester publishing in the journal Cell- Stem Cell reported success in this normally fatal neuro-degenerative disease.  They were able to mobilize the brain’s endogenous stem cells to replace a type of neuron lost in Huntington’s disease in a mouse model.  www.bit.ly/11kdXe3

5) NeuroProtection  The possibility of protecting nerves from damage is an increasingly important area for Stem Cell advancement.The journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine reports on research at the University of Texas showing that Multipotent Progenitor Stem Cells – a subpopulation of BMSC- reduced brain inflammation and helped improve spatial learning after Traumatic Brain Injury / TBI in a rodent model. www.bit.ly/19UECCp  A study in the journal Clinical Investigations of Aging reported that BMSC protected the ganglion cells of the optic nerve in aging rats from Glaucoma pressure damage.  www.bit.ly/18SaYiD

6) Spinal Cord Injury In the journal Brain Research it was reported that patients with complete and chronic cervical spinal cord injury or SCI- spinal cord damage in the neck area-  who received Bone Marrow Stem Cell treatment in the area of injury had either a significant clinical improvement in terms of motor, light touch, pin prick sensory and residual urine volume, or showed changes in AIS grade.
www.bit.ly/19yobet

7) Inflammatory Bowel Disease / Gastrointestinal     Inflammatory Bowel Disease or IBD is a debilitating and sometimes deadly inflammation caused by the patient’s own immune system attacking the intestines.  Researchers in Cambridge, England reported identifying a special subpopulation of stem cells in the gut that is capable of rapidly healing the damage from certain IBD diseases.  They anticipate patient-specific regenerative therapies for inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis.  www.bit.ly/1hOoJ29

8) Organ Regeneration  -One goal in Stem Cell research is to create new organs from stem cells. A group of researchers in Japan successfully created a new Lacrimal Gland – one part of the eye that makes tears – that was capable of making tears and protecting the ocular surface from Dry Eye disease.  www.bit.ly/1jXKpNK  Researchers in Sweden bio-engineered a new trachea from a cadaver donor using adult stem cells. www.bit.ly/1ioAzmk  Chinese physicians have repaired vocal cord injury with stem cells. www.bit.ly/1d1x6Tt

9) Limb Regeneration  -Exciting work regarding how humans can regenerate amputated fingertips was performed by researchers at New York University.  They discovered an important clue: a population of self-renewing stem cells in the nail matrix and how it turns on.  Understanding this regeneration signally pathway is critical for future work in full limb regeneration to help injured and seriously wounded people across the world. www.bit.ly/19vWNjP

10) Space Research  -NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) are enabling research aboard the International Space Station to study new stem cell-based therapies for medical conditions faced on Earth and in space.  They hope advances can combat the bone loss and muscle atrophy seen in astronauts in space.  www.1.usa.gov/1d1eL9e

Dr. Levy, President of MD Stem Cells, notes, “ Stem Cell treatments will continue to establish themselves as standards of care for many diseases.  It is reported that the overall growth of stem cell research is about 7% per year- over twice that of general medical research. www.prn.to/KeMKne This is very exciting and portends many new advances in the future”.

Patients or healthcare providers interested in stem cells may visit the website http://www.mdstemcells.com or reach Dr. Levy through Email: info@mdstemcells.com  Telephone: 203-423-9494 office hours Eastern Time, USA.