by admin | Aug 16, 2018 | Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Bone Marrow, Stem Cell Research
Stem cells are generating so much excitement in research and clinical circles because they have the capacity to become many other types of cells. They also release a number of important molecules such as hormones, cytokines, and genetic material that can potentially be helpful for patients. Researchers have found that not only does hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) help in the circulation of stem cells but it also will help to mobilize stem cells from the bone marrow to the bloodstream further preparing the patient for stem cell therapy.
Bone marrow is a rich source of stem cells, but getting them usually requires an invasive procedure, i.e., placing a large bore needle into the middle of bone(s). Researchers have discovered, however, that hyperbaric oxygen treatment causes stem cells from the bone marrow to move into the bloodstream by specifically stimulating the body’s nitric oxide synthesis. Thus, instead of using a needle to extract stem cells from the bone marrow, patients can potentially increase their own bone marrow stem cells by undergoing hyperbaric oxygen treatment.
Stephen Thom, MD, Ph.D. and co-researchers at the University of Pennsylvania showed that a single hyperbaric oxygen treatment could double the number of bone marrow stem cells in the blood. This means that the hyperbaric oxygen was “mobilizing” the stem cells to move from the bone marrow into the bloodstream to allow them to move into areas of the body that benefit from them. Moreover, when study subjects underwent 20 treatments of hyperbaric oxygen therapy over a few weeks, the number of bone marrow stem cells in the blood increased significantly by eightfold. This astonishing finding has been confirmed in subsequent experiments.
The most important conclusion from this research is that hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatments can unlock the potential of a person’s own bone marrow stem cells without an invasive procedure. While many scientists assumed that the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy were due to the high concentrations of oxygen infusing the blood, tissues, and cells, they now have research to support that these benefits may also be due to stem cell mobilization.
by admin | Aug 14, 2018 | Bone Marrow, Stem Cell Research
Colitis is inflammation of the colon, also known as the large intestine. Several things can cause colitis such as infection, medication, ischemia, or chronic inflammatory bowel disease. Inflammatory bowel diseases that affect the colon, such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, are particularly challenging for patients. It is a chronic disease that causes cramping pain, bloody diarrhea, weight loss, fatigue, and many other chronic, challenging symptoms.
Since ulcerative colitis does not occur naturally in animals, researchers sometimes use an experimental form of colitis to mimic the disease seen in humans. This experimental colitis serves as a model to investigate treatments for inflammatory bowel disease. Essentially, researchers create a situation in which mice develop a condition that looks very much like ulcerative colitis. They develop inflammation in the large intestine, along with signs of oxidative stress and cell death. Conversely, treatments for ulcerative colitis reduce or prevent inflammation, oxidative stress, and cell death in the colon of these experimental mice.
Researchers used this model of experimental colitis to study the effect of bone marrow stem cells as a treatment for colitis. More specifically, they tested the effects of a certain part of bone marrow stem cells called extracellular vesicles. Extracellular vesicles are small spheres that containing various beneficial substances. Stem cells release these vesicles into the body. A single stem cell can release hundreds of extracellular vesicles. In fact, it is the extracellular vesicles that are believed to contain many of the useful substances that are released by bone marrow stem cells such as proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. These substances can precisely target sick and damaged cells in the body and repair them.
Impressively, when researchers used extracellular vesicles derived from bone marrow stem cells to treat animals with experimental colitis, they observed rather extraordinary results. These vesicles protected the intestines from colitis damage. Untreated animals had severely damaged intestines when viewed under a microscope, but animals treated with extracellular vesicles had nearly normal looking intestines. Treatment also substantially reduced levels of cytokines related to oxidative stress, such as IL-1β. Extracellular vesicles derived from bone marrow stem cells also apparently blocked the intestinal cells’ ability to undergo cell suicide (apoptosis).
Taken together, these results strongly suggest that mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow, specifically the extracellular vesicles contained within them, can dramatically improve experimental colitis. While more research is needed, this study suggests that these stem cell products could one day be a useful treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases, such as ulcerative colitis and inflammatory bowel disease.
by admin | Aug 8, 2018 | Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Therapy, Studies
Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, together known as inflammatory bowel disease, are chronic disorders of the lower digestive tract that cause patients considerable difficulty and discomfort. Patients generally go through periods of normalcy punctuated by relapses. In cases of inflammatory bowel disease, patients may experience severe, and sometimes bloody diarrhea. Patients also experience crampy abdominal pain, the urgent need to defecate, pain with defecation and even fecal incontinence. Consequently, people with inflammatory disease often endure substantial amounts of suffering.
Inflammatory bowel disease is usually treated with 5-aminosalicylate or sulfasalazine. These drugs are intended to reduce inflammation in the bowels. Relapses do still occur for those patients taking these medicines. During these relapses, patients often need to take steroids for short or intermediate periods of time but over time, side effects can occur. Immunomodulators such as azathioprine, 6-mercaptopurine, and methotrexate can be used to reduce inflammation, however, these drugs can also cause side effects. Newer biologic response modifiers have helped people with severe inflammatory bowel disease but they may weaken the body’s immune system, making it more difficult to fight off infection. For these reasons, safer and more effective treatments for inflammatory bowel disease are needed.
Fortunately, researchers have conducted a number of clinical studies examining the role of stem cells in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. The most promising results have come from allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell therapy using stem cells derived from the umbilical cord. Research has found that allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells injected into a vein were able to induce a clinical response 3 out of 9 patients tested. One patient had complete clinical remission. In all cases, the stem cells increased the quality of life for patients. Five out of seven patients with inflammatory bowel disease had clinical remission after stem cell treatment. Likewise, further research showed that the stem cells could induce a clinical response and 12 of 15 patients and full clinical remission in eight of them. Here too, patients reported improved quality of life with stem cell treatment.
These results are incredibly promising and offer hope to patients struggling with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. While more research is needed, patients with inflammatory bowel disease should follow this field closely for new developments.
by admin | Aug 6, 2018 | Studies, Stem Cell Research
Silicosis, which is also known as miner’s phthisis, potter’s rot grinder’s asthma, potter’s rot, is an occupational disease of the lungs that is caused by the inhalation of a specific type of dust called crystalline silica dust. The disease causes inflammation and scarring in the lungs that leads to the formation of lesions. The disease has been increasing in incidence in developing countries in recent years and unfortunately cannot be fully cured.
A recent study, published in Stem Cell Research & Therapy, explored, for the first time, the potential to intervene in processes associated with silicosis. Stem cell therapy has been used to address inflammation and the resulting tissue damage. Mesenchymal stem cells have been applied to other occupational conditions as well. The researchers hypothesized that adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells would improve pulmonary fibrosis by reducing inflammation.
Through their study, they found that using these adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells in silicosis did indeed lead to a remissive effect with regard to pulmonary fibrosis. Further, they found that this occurred by reducing inflammation by modifying protein certain cellular pathways that decreased the expression of problematic proteins.
While this data is preliminary, they show the potential promise of stem cells in the therapeutic intervention of silicosis. Future studies will help researchers and clinicians better understand how stem cells can be used to combat the pulmonary fibrosis associated with silicosis, as well as how they can be used to combat other occupational diseases.
by admin | Aug 2, 2018 | Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Therapy, Studies
While most approaches to stem therapy involve infusing purified stem cells into the body, Thom and fellow researchers have shown that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is capable of stimulating the body to produce its own stem cells. Thom, Heyboer, and co-authors have extended this work by showing that by slightly increasing the pressures used during hyperbaric oxygen therapy, one can significantly increase the number of stem cells produced.
In his original work, Thom and colleagues showed that a single, two-hour session of 2.0 atmospheres (atm) pressure (twice the air pressure we normally feel at sea level) was capable of doubling the number of stem cells in the bloodstream. Twenty treatments increased stem cell levels by 800%. To study this phenomenon more closely, Thom’s research group recruited 20 patients to undergo hyperbaric oxygen treatment, some at the original 2.0 atm pressure, and some at 2.5 atm. The primary goal of this research was to find out whether a higher pressure was capable of eliciting a greater number of cells.
As before, treatment with 2.0 atm of hyperbaric oxygen substantially increased the number of stem cells found in the blood. However, treatment with 2.5 atm doubled or even tripled the number of stem cells produced compared to the 2.0 atm treatment session. In other words, a slightly higher pressure causes the body to produce substantially more of its own stem cells.
Researchers focused on two types of stem cells, in particular, CD34+ and CD45-dim—markers that appear on stem cells and/or progenitor cells. They are primarily found on cells in the bone marrow. Stem cells with CD45-dim generally go on to become bone, blood, or blood vessel cells, while CD34+ cells can differentiate into almost any cell. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is thought to stimulate the bone marrow to produce and release these stem cells into the bloodstream, which is the reason these treatments raise stem cell levels in the blood.
The results published by Thom and coworkers suggest that patients who wish to enhance the number of stem cells should consider undergoing hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Furthermore, the greatest number of stem cells was observed after 20 treatment sessions, suggesting that a greater effect occurs with more treatments.
by admin | Jul 26, 2018 | Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Therapy
As patients start to investigate the many different types of stem cells, it can become overwhelming. Often stem cells are organized into groups by tissue source, i.e., by the type of tissue stem were derived. While it can be important to know whether stem cells come from adipose tissue (fat cells) or the umbilical cord, for example, it is equally important to understand the types of stem cells by their capacity to differentiate. In other words, what are the types of stem cells organized by their ability to become different or more mature cells?
One of the most intriguing features of stem cells is their ability to become virtually any other type of cell. We all start out as a sperm and an egg but end up as an exquisitely organized collection of heart cells and brain cells and kidney cells, etc. At each step of the way—from early cells to the adult human body—stem cells become more differentiated and less capable of becoming any other cell. Thinking about them this way, stem cells are grouped into four categories:
- Omnipotent stem cells
- Pluripotent stem cells
- Multipotent stem cells
- Unipotent stem cells
Omnipotent stem cells
Omnipotent stem cells, also called totipotent stem cells, truly have the capacity to become any other cell. Omnipotent stem cells can become embryonic cells or even the cells that support the embryo, like the placenta. A fertilized egg is an example of an omnipotent cell. While omnipotent/totipotent stem cells are potentially incredibly useful, their use is highly restricted and controversial. As such, they are not usually used for therapeutic purposes, or even for research.
Pluripotent stem cells
Pluripotent stem cells are the next best thing to omnipotent stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells can become nearly any tissue in the body. Like omnipotent stem cells, the use of naturally occurring pluripotent stem cells is also controversial because they require the use of embryos. However, researchers have devised a rather ingenious way to take regular cells and turn them into pluripotent stem cells. These stem cells are referred to as induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs. Induced pluripotent stem cells are particularly exciting because of their potential as research tools and clinical therapeutics. Most importantly, iPSCs sidestep controversy because they are made from mature cells.
Multipotent stem cells
Multipotent stem cells can become any number of mature cells. For example, a mesenchymal stem cell can become a muscle cell or fat cell, a bone cell or cartilage cell. Another powerful feature of multipotent stem cells is that they can divide and form other multipotent stem cells. Thus, their ability to differentiate and self-renew makes them incredibly versatile for research and clinical purposes.
Another example of multipotent stem cells is the type of cells that give rise to blood cells, namely hematopoietic stem cells. Hematopoietic stem cells can differentiate into myeloid type or lymphoid type, but once they do, they are restricted to become their corresponding type of blood cell. For example, myeloid cells can become red blood cells or certain white blood cells, while lymphoid cells are more or less destined to become lymphocytes.
Unipotent stem cells
Unipotent stem cells are technically stem cells but have very little potential become anything other than the one cell they were destined to become. For example, a cartilage stem cell is destined to become a cartilage cell, while a bone stem cell is destined to become a bone cell. A mesenchymal stem cell could become either one, but by the time it has differentiated into a cartilage or bone stem cell, its fate is essentially predetermined. As you may expect, unipotent stem cells have limited clinical usefulness.
In summary, as you think about different types of stem cells, it can be important to think about where the stem cell came from (e.g. fat tissue), but also consider its potential for self-renewal and differentiation.
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