Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a serious health condition characterized by progressive deterioration in glycemic control resulting from decreased insulin sensitivity and diminished insulin secretion. Currently, it is estimated that over 462 million people worldwide are affected by T2DM.
While diet, physical exercise, and glucose-lowering medications have been shown to improve hyperglycemia, the results have been temporary and have not been able to inhibit the pathogenesis or reduce the morbidity associated with this condition.
With the need for more effective approaches for the treatment of T2DM to be developed, Zang et al. conducted this single-center, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled phase II trial study to explore the efficacy and safety of intravenous infusion of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) in Chinese patients with T2DM.
MSCs are a type of adult stem cell that exhibits profound anti-inflammatory and immunomodulator capacities. Considering the successful application of MSCs in a number of autoimmune diseases, including stroke, myocardial infarction, rheumatoid arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosus, the authors hypothesized that MSC transplantation might also be a therapeutic option for the treatment of T2DM.
Specifically for this study, the authors randomly assigned 91 patients to receive intravenous infusion of UC-MSCs or placebo three times at 4-week intervals and followed up for 48 weeks over a period of three years.
The primary endpoint established for this study was the percentage of patients with glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels of < 7.0% and daily insulin reduction of > 50% at 48 weeks; additional established endpoints included changes of metabolic control, insulin resistance, and safety.
At the end of the 48-week follow-up period, Zang et al. report that 20% of patients in the US-MSCs group and 4.55% reached the primary endpoint with the percentage of insulin reduction of the UC-MSCs group being significantly higher than that of the placebo group. The authors also reported that the glucose infusion rate (GIR) increased significantly in the UC-MSCs group while there was no significant observed change in the placebo group. There were also no major UC-MSC transplantation-related adverse events reported during this study.
While these results are promising, the authors point out that since the age, course of T2DM, condition of the islet β-cell function, and insulin resistance of the enrolled subjects were highly heterogeneous, the results of this study could not be extended to all patients with T2DM. The authors also call for additional long-term follow-up to validate their initial, short-term findings as well as for future well-controlled studies with an increased number of cases to better clarify the efficacy and safety of intravenous infusion of UC-MSCs for the treatment of T2DM.
The authors conclude this study by suggesting intravenous infusion of UC-MSCs administration is a safe and effective approach that could reduce exogenous insulin requirements alleviate insulin resistance and be a potential therapeutic option for patients with T2DM.
Source: Zang, L., Li, Y., Hao, H. et al. Efficacy and safety of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells in Chinese adults with type 2 diabetes: a single-center, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled phase II trial. Stem Cell Res Ther 13, 180 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-022-02848-6
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 795,000 people have strokes every year in the United States, and about 610,000 of these are first or new strokes. Recovering from a stroke can be a complex process that involves many types of therapies, and one option that shows promise is stem cell therapy.
Stem cell therapy promotes growth factors and offers relief from inflammation, providing the possibility of healing the damage the stroke caused. Learn more about stem cell therapy when used for the recovery period after a stroke.
How Strokes Affect the Brain
A stroke is like a heart attack, except it takes place in your brain. It occurs when something blocks the blood supply to the brain, not allowing the organ to get the oxygen and nutrients it needs. If your brain doesn’t receive blood, its cells begin to die off or suffer damage, making it impossible for the organ to do its job.
Your brain controls everything your body does, including how you move and how you think, feel, and communicate. The results of a stroke are immediate.
The two main types of strokes are ischemic strokes and hemorrhagic strokes. Ischemic strokes are the most common type and are caused by blockages. They can occur when:
A blood clot forms in the main brain artery.
A blockage forms in the small blood vessels deep within the brain.
A blood clot from the heart or another type of blockage travels via the bloodstream to an artery supplying the brain.
Hemorrhagic strokes occur when there’s bleeding in or around the brain. They can be the result of a blood vessel bursting in the brain, or a blood vessel on the surface of the brain may burst and leak blood in the area between the skull and the brain.
When you have a stroke, the areas of the brain it affects determine the kind of issues you can struggle with.
Some people experience weakness and paralysis in certain parts of their body, while others struggle with language and the processes of speaking or understanding what other people say. A stroke can even affect what your voice sounds like.
Other issues you may experience include:
Balance problems
Incontinence
Trouble swallowing
Visual problems
Extreme fatigue
Feeling pain
You may also struggle with mental processes like memory, concentration, understanding, and perception. Strokes can even affect your emotions.
Understanding Stem Cell Therapy: What Are Stem Cells?
Stem cells are the body’s building blocks. They are responsible for creating organs, tissues, and even your immune system. They are undifferentiated cells that can become and create specialized cell types. In other words, they can become any cell within the body, depending on where they’re placed.
Stem cells can also divide indefinitely, either creating other stem cells or specialized cells. When used to help the recovery period after a stroke, stem cells can differentiate into brain cells.
When they’re used in the brain, they don’t integrate and become neurons that reconstruct circuits. They instead start pumping out growth factors that enhance the recovery process, allowing new blood vessels and neurons to form. All of this helps make the brain more flexible, giving it a chance to recover after a stroke.
Neuroplasticity is what’s necessary for people who’ve suffered a stroke. It is the ability of the brain to rearrange its circuits, basing the organization on your behaviors.
Benefits of Stem Cell Therapy After a Stroke
Stem cell therapy is minimally invasive. You don’t have to worry about procedures that require long recovery processes or force you to spend time in the hospital. When you get stem cell therapy, the process is fast and can be done as an outpatient treatment.
Stem cells don’t just mask the symptoms of the damage the stroke caused. Experiencing pain after a stroke many times means turning to pain medications, which temporarily give you relief but also have unpleasant side effects. When you turn to stem cell therapy, your brain gets what it needs to start healing.
One of the most important things that stem cell therapy offers is the chance to relieve inflammation. When you suffer an injury of any kind, including a stroke, your body’s natural healing process causes inflammation.
This type of swelling, however, doesn’t allow a regular flow of blood to the injured area. Without the right degree of circulation, the damaged area doesn’t receive nutrients or oxygen, which makes healing more difficult. Stem cells help reduce inflammation, making the process of healing easier.
How the Stem Cell Therapy Process Works
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been studied for their potential therapeutic applications in various medical conditions, including stroke. MSCs have several properties that make them attractive candidates for stroke therapy:
MSCs possess anti-inflammatory properties that can help modulate the immune response and reduce inflammation in the brain following a stroke. Excessive inflammation is a key contributor to secondary damage after a stroke.
MSCs can modulate the immune system, potentially suppressing harmful immune responses while promoting tissue repair and regeneration.
MSCs secrete various growth factors and neurotrophic factors that support neuronal survival, growth, and differentiation. These factors can contribute to the repair and regeneration of damaged neural tissue.
MSCs can stimulate the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis), which is crucial for supplying oxygen and nutrients to the damaged brain tissue.
While the ability of MSCs to differentiate into neurons is limited, they may contribute to neural repair indirectly by interacting with the local environment and supporting the survival of existing neurons.
Is Regenerative Medicine Right for You?
Suffering a stroke can be devastating, leaving you with lasting damage and impacting your quality of life. Along with physical therapy and other treatments your doctor recommends, patients are exploring their options with stem cell therapy. Stem cell therapy and other regenerative medicine options offer the opportunity to give your brain the tools it needs to start healing. By helping reduce inflammation and bringing growth factors to the treatment area, stem cell therapy provides the chance to promote neuroplasticity and start healing.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a common multisystemic autoimmune disease that often results in multi-organ damage when left untreated. Currently affecting over 1.5 million Americans, the etiology and pathogenesis of SLE continue to remain unclear.
At present, glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants are the most prescribed course of therapeutic treatment and mostly as a way to manage and treat symptoms of SLE, not the cause itself.
Considering that the etiology and pathogenesis of SLE are accompanied by immune disorders including abnormal proliferation, differentiation, and activation and dysfunction of T cells, and that mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and MSC-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) play important roles in the immunity process, researchers are increasingly turning their attention to MSCs and EVs as potential therapeutic treatment options for SLE.
In this review, Yang et al. examine the immunomodulatory effects and related mechanisms of MSCs and EVs in SLE with hopes of better understanding SLE pathogenesis and guiding biological therapy.
Examining the potential use of MSC and MSC-EVs in SLE treatment the authors found some studies have established that MSCs reduce adverse effects of immunosuppressive drugs and when combined have demonstrated distinct effects on T cell activation and bias.
Additionally, Yang et al. report that MSCs are able to participate in the immune response in two distinct ways: paracrine effect and directly through cell-to-cell interaction. Since reconstruction of immune tolerance and tissue regeneration and repair are required parts of SLE treatment and since MSCs possess high self-renewal ability, rapid expansion in vitro and in vitro, and low immunogenicity, allogeneic MSC transplantation has demonstrated strong evidence for the therapeutic potential of MSC in SLE.
Besides the ability to repair and regenerate tissue, MSCs, and MSC-EVs have strong anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects, making them a potentially ideal treatment option as part of a therapeutic strategy for SLE. Considering that MSC-EVs have similar biological functions with MSCs, but are also considered cell-free, the authors point out that MSC-EVs could be the better choice for SLE treatment in the future.
Despite the potential of MSC and MSC-EVs, Yang et al. point out that genetic modification, metabolic recombination, and other priming of MSCs in vitro should be considered before MSC/MSC-EVs application for SLE treatment. The authors also recommend further clinical evaluation of the time of infusion, appropriate dosage, interval of treatment, and long-term safety of MSC/MSC-EVs in the treatment of SLE before any form of the combination is used as a treatment option.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects nearly 16 million adults in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is the sixth leading cause of death in the country. COPD refers to a number of progressive lung diseases that affect all aspects of your life, potentially leading you to not being able to work or participate in your favorite activities. There are some good habits, therapies, and treatments for COPD that you can turn to.
The Basics of a COPD Diagnosis
COPD is an umbrella term that includes a number of different progressive lung diseases. A COPD diagnosis means you have one or more of these conditions — the two most common being chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Chronic bronchitis irritates the bronchial tubes, leading to their swelling. This causes mucus to build along the lining, making breathing more difficult. People who smoke or who have chronic bronchitis have damaged cilia, which are tiny hairs that usually move mucus out of the way. This means the mucus continues to build up.
Emphysema is the wearing down of the walls of the alveoli, or minuscule air sacs, found at the end of your bronchial tubes. These air sacs help transfer oxygen into your blood and carbon dioxide out, so if they don’t work efficiently, breathing becomes very difficult.
Some of the symptoms of COPD include:
Wheezing
Shortness of breath performing regular activities
Cough with mucus that persists
Struggling to take a deep breath
Smoking is one of the main causes of COPD, but it can also result from being exposed to secondhand smoke, air pollution, and workplace fumes and dust.
Most people who have COPD have a combination of emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Although there’s no cure for COPD, there are many treatments and lifestyle change you can try to get relief from symptoms.
Bronchodilators come as nebulizers or inhalers because this allows the medications to reach your airways faster. Bronchodilators help open constricted airways, and there are two types of them — β-agonists and anticholinergics.
There are also anti-inflammatory medications you can inhale or take in pill form. Expectorants are another type of medication you may need. Expectorants help thin out mucus so that you can cough it up more easily.
Regenerative Medicine: Stem Cell Therapy
One of the most promising options for the treatment of COPD is regenerative medicine. Stem cell therapies allow you to stimulate your body’s natural healing processes, helping reduce inflammation so that the nutrient- and oxygen-rich blood can better reach your lungs and bronchial tubes.
Reducing inflammation can make breathing easier and can even reduce mucus production. Although stem cell therapy won’t cure COPD, it can help with the symptoms and might even help with the regeneration of damaged tissues in your airways.
Lifestyle Changes: Healthy Habits to Turn To
Making lifestyle changes is also important treatments for COPD. Staying active can be one of the most difficult things to do when it’s tough to get enough breath, but exercising helps strengthen muscles while also improving endurance. Exercise helps your body learn to use oxygen more efficiently. Try activities like walking, golfing, and gardening.
If you smoke, it is best to quit. If there are others in your family who smoke, you also need to get them to quit because every time you are exposed to smoke, it irritates your airways and causes more damage.
You also want to maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight puts pressure on your whole body, including your lungs and airways. Losing weight can help improve your breathing, reducing the episodes of shortness of breath.
Make sure to eat correctly as well. Avoid foods that can cause inflammation, including sugar, fried items, processed meats, and more. Reduce your intake of junk food. Instead, add more fruits and vegetables to your diet.
Consider getting vaccinated for the flu and other potential respiratory illnesses. Any infection can make COPD symptoms worse, so taking preventive actions can save you a lot of stress. In the same vein, wash your hands often and limit exposure to people who may be ill.
If you need to use supplemental oxygen, make sure to use it exactly as your doctor recommends. Lots of people don’t want to be seen with their oxygen tanks and cannulas when they are out in public, but not using them can be detrimental to your health.
You need to get enough rest as well. Shortness of breath can exhaust you, weakening your systems and making dealing with everyday life more difficult. When you get a good amount of rest, you allow your body to repair itself.
The air quality in your home is also crucial. Indoor air in homes is often more polluted than outdoor air. Installing a filter can be a great way of improving air quality.
Although it’s impossible to avoid all instances of stress, reducing it as much as possible is important. Stress causes the release of cortisol, which can trigger inflammatory responses in the body. This inflammation makes COPD symptoms worse.
You also need to avoid your COPD triggers. These can be different for everyone, so understanding what causes worsening issues is crucial so that you can make the necessary adjustments to your lifestyle and environment. It can include avoiding certain cleaning products, ensuring that there’s no dust in your living space, and more.
Living With COPD Is Possible
If you have COPD, you may not be sure what treatments options will offer the kind of results you can depend on. For most people, a combination of medications, lifestyle changes, and even regenerative treatments provide the necessary help for the management of symptoms.
Stem cell therapy and other regenerative medicine options can assist in the reduction of inflammation and even help bring better blood flow to the lungs. Ask your healthcare provider if it is the best choice for your COPD.
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most predominant neurodegenerative disorder worldwide, affecting over 10 million people. Characterized by a slow and progressive loss of control of the neurological system as a result of dopamine depletion, symptoms of PD often include tremors, slowed movement, impaired posture and balance, and gradual loss of automatic movements.
While PD cannot be cured, current treatment is focused on alleviating symptoms and slowing the progression of the disease. Specifically, deep brain stimulation or therapies to increase DA levels by administering a DA precursor are the available therapy options for PD.
However, research has found that DA precursor therapy has little effect on the progression of PD and its efficacy decreases as the disease progresses.
Recent progress in the clinical understanding of regenerative medicine and its properties associated with stem cell therapy has provided the opportunity to evaluate new and potentially effective methods for treating a wide range of neurodegenerative illnesses, including PD. Specifically, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been found to be the most promising form of stem cell and have demonstrated the ability to differentiate into dopaminergic neurons and produce neurotrophic substances.
In this review, Heris et al. discuss the application of MSCs and MSC-derived exosomes in PD treatment.
Research has identified dysregulation of the autophagy system in the brains of PD patients, suggesting a potential role for autophagy in PD. In PD models, MSCs may activate autophagy signals and exhibit immunomodulatory effects that alleviate inflammation and improve tissue healing; this type of treatment had previously been used in treating various forms of neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative illnesses.
The authors indicate that MSCs can be administered either systemically or locally. While systemic transplantation allows MSC-based treatment of pathologies affecting the entire body, local transplantation aims to alleviate symptoms associated with illnesses that originate from certain organs and is performed through intramuscular or direct tissue injection.
Research has also demonstrated that stem cell-derived dopaminergic transplants could be a suitable method for the long-term survival and function of transplants; in the case of MSC therapy, the average dose in animal models is usually 50 million cells for each kg of weight.
MSC-derived exosomes demonstrate therapeutic characteristics similar to their parents, have the ability to avoid whole-cell post-transplant adverse events, have a high safety profile, cannot turn into pre-malignant cells, and no cases of immune response and rejection have been reported.
While the use of MSCs in the treatment of PD continues to show potential, Heris et al. point out that many of the clinical trials have had few participants and can be costly. Considering these limiting factors, the results from these studies are not able to be generalized to everyday medical care without further clinical studies to address these concerns.
Treatment of injuries and damage to organs and other tissues as a result of the aging process or conditions has often relied on managing symptoms. By offering painkillers and steroids, healthcare providers can keep you more comfortable, but they are not targeting the cause of the problem. This means you have to keep relying on medications. One option more people are exploring is regenerative medicine, also known as stem cell therapy. This type of regenerative medicine offers the chance to treat the underlying cause of the issue so that you can achieve lasting relief. In this article we will discuss how does stem cell therapy work?
What Is Stem Cell Therapy?
Stem cell therapy utilizes stem cells, which are those that create specialized cells. They can regenerate damaged or dying cells. Although you retain stem cells throughout your life, the aging process can make them less effective. This aging can lead to injuries that don’t heal completely, causing chronic pain and many other problems.
The goal of stem cell therapy is to amplify your body’s natural healing processes. To do this, it relies on stem cells.
In stem cell therapy, these cells are often harvested from the patient’s own body or from donors, and then administered to the affected area or systemically. The goal is to encourage tissue regeneration, repair damaged cells, and promote healing. Stem cells can differentiate into the specific cell types needed to replace or repair damaged tissues, making them a promising treatment for a wide range of conditions.
Stem cell therapy is a less invasive option than many other therapies. It requires the removal of stem cells from fat or bone marrow and then the injection of the prepared stem cells at the site of the damage. This not only makes it a viable option for those who can’t undergo surgery, but it also means the recovery process is shorter.
Another benefit of stem cell therapy is that it helps reduce inflammation. When you get injured, your body responds by causing inflammation to prevent the spread of damaging agents while also helping remove pathogens and cell debris. Inflammation also helps prepare the area for the repair process.
In some instances, however, inflammation doesn’t go away, leading to chronic pain. Inflammation also makes it more difficult for the wound to heal because the area is not receiving enough blood.
Stem cell therapy helps reduce this inflammation, allowing oxygen and nutrients to make their way to the damaged area. Less inflammation results in less pain.
Stem cell therapy is also a quick procedure. It can be done as an outpatient option, and it doesn’t require general anesthesia. Because most people benefit from adult stem cells, the procedure also avoids the need to worry about rejections or allergic reactions.
What to Expect from the Stem Cell Therapy Procedure
The first thing you will need to do is reach out to your healthcare provider to see if you are a good candidate for stem cell therapy. Your provider will go through your medical history to see which types of stem cells you can benefit the most from. The kind of condition or injury you have will impact this choice.
If you’re using your own stem cells, your healthcare provider will collect a sample from your bone marrow or fat. They then process them in a laboratory to isolate and concentrate them. In some cases, the process can involve centrifugation, filtering, and other options to help collect the highest number of stem cells.
The next step is receiving the stem cells, which can take place intravenously, with an injection, as well as other administration techniques.
After you receive the stem cells, your healthcare provider will monitor you to ensure there are no complications. They will also schedule follow-up phone calls to monitor how you are doing post-treatment.
Most people can get right back to their daily activities with some minimal post-treatment guidelines without having to worry about long recovery times.
Available Stem Cell Treatments
How does stem cell therapy work & what are the available treatments? Stem cells can help treat a variety of conditions. It’s helpful in treating cartilage regeneration and osteoarthritis because the stem cells can differentiate into chondrocytes, which are cells that maintain cartilage.
It’s also an option that can help with scar reduction and wound healing. For this procedure, stem cells derived from fat cells are a good option. They can help with tissue regeneration, potentially leading to healing chronic wounds and even the prevention of scarring.
Stem cell therapy is also a good choice for neurodegenerative issues. It can help replace neurons and provide neuroprotective benefits, potentially leading to slowing down the disease’s progression.
Stem cell therapy may also target ligament and tendon injuries, which are common in people who are very active. This type of therapy can help speed up the recovery process and might even be able to prevent the development of chronic pain issues that can affect mobility.
Another way stem cell therapy is able to help is by treating autoimmune diseases. Most autoimmune diseases are impacted by inflammation, so an option like stem cell therapy, which helps reduce swelling, can be helpful.
Choosing Stem Cell Therapy for Lasting Results
Stem cell therapy offers hope for the treatment of many types of conditions. By targeting the cause of pain and chronic injuries, like inflammation, you can avoid relying solely on pain medications, which only mask symptoms. Stem cell therapy makes it possible to have available options to help manage orthopedic injuries, neurodegenerative conditions, and much more.
If you want to learn more about how does stem cell therapy work and not sure whether stem cell therapy is a good option for your needs, speak with a regenerative medicine specialist. They can let you know if you are a good candidate.
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