by admin | Sep 26, 2019 | Stem Cell Therapy
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), now also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), is a condition that is thought to arise for a combination of reasons, but its etiology is not clear. People with the disorder experience changes to their skin, swelling, and bone loss. One hallmark of the condition is the experience of nonspecific pain that is sensitive to weather. Unfortunately, managing RSD is often difficult. Patients with RSD/CRPS may have a hard time walking because of pain and may need assistive devices.
Clinical management of RSD/CRPS often involves things like pharmaceutical medications and restorative therapies, but these strategies are limited in their effectiveness. As a result, most patients with RSD experience chronic pain and a lower quality of life than those without the disorder. A case report has described the innovative use of stem cells to treat a patient with Stage 3 RSD. The rationale for using stem cells against RSD is that stem cells have provided regenerative benefits in a variety of other disorders and are capable of promoting the generation of blood vessels, which can support healing.
The patient, who was a female Registered Nurse, had been experiencing pain in her left lower extremity after an operation aimed at fixing a complex fracture. Following the surgery, the patient had been suffering from nonspecific pain and was diagnosed with a form of RSD/CRPS. She subsequently underwent months of aggressive therapy, but the therapy failed in helping her to walk. Instead, she was left unable to bear weight on her left leg.
Given that the patient’s problems persistent despite conventional treatment options, the patient was given stem cell therapy. Specifically, cells were harvested from the bone marrow and grafted to the calf in the hopes that blood flow would be enhanced, and the symptoms would be eliminated. According to the author of the report, the results of this stem cell therapy were excellent.
After just 2 weeks, skin symptoms were already going away, as was the patient’s pain. Critically, the patient was also able to put some weight on her left leg. By 30 days post-procedure, she was able to rid herself of assistive walking devices. These results demonstrate the promise of stem cells to help with complex and difficult-to-manage medical conditions like RSD/CRPS. Further research will help to determine the best way that stem cells may be used to treat other RSD patients.
Reference: Schwartz, R.G. Stem cells for the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)/ reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD): A case study Pan American Journal of Medical Terminology, 1(2), 89-92.
by admin | Sep 24, 2019 | Adipose, Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Therapy
Crohn’s disease is a chronic illness that can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract but mostly affects the small and large intestines. People with Crohn’s disease often have inflammation of the large bowel (Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease or IBD). This colitis causes abdominal pain, cramping, diarrhea, along with bleeding and infections in the gastrointestinal tract. Crohn’s disease can interfere with a person’s ability to absorb nutrients, leading to malnutrition and weight loss. The medical community is debating whether it is possible to treat experimental colitis with fat-derived stem cells.
The standard medical treatment for Crohn’s disease involves one or more powerful drugs. When the disease flares up, patients usually must take steroids either orally or intravenously. They may also receive disease-modifying therapy such as immunomodulators and biologic medications. Many patients do enjoy remission once they receive these powerful drugs; however, side effects can be difficult to tolerate. Patients who cannot tolerate these powerful drugs or do not achieve disease remission may have to take steroids every day. Chronic steroid use has many severe and sometimes permanent side effects. If these treatments fail, patients may need to have surgery to remove a portion of their intestines that have been damaged by Crohn’s disease.
In an effort to find safe and effective treatments for Crohn’s disease, researchers have been testing stem cells in laboratory animals. In one study, scientists used a chemical to cause colon inflammation (colitis) in mice. This chemical causes many of the symptoms of humans with Crohn’s disease experience such as diarrhea, tissue damage, and weight loss. The researchers then treated some of the mice with mesenchymal stem cells gathered from human fat tissue (adipose) to see if stem cells could improve the symptoms.
Remarkably, human stem cell treatment reduced diarrhea, inflammation, and disease severity in mice with colitis. The chemical colitis caused mice to lose approximately 15 to 20% of their body weight. Mice that received stem cell treatment regained most of the weight they had lost. Researchers also noted that mice treated with adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells lived significantly longer than those that did not receive stem cell treatment.
Of course, this research was performed in laboratory animals, but it lays important groundwork for testing in humans. Indeed, since the publication of this report, researchers have been able to show that adipose-derived stem cells helped patients with Crohn’s disease. This exciting work will no doubt lead to future studies that may help pave the way to wider use of stem cells in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn’s disease.
Reference: Gonzalez, M. (2009). Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Alleviate Experimental Colitis by Inhibiting Inflammatory and Autoimmune Responses. Gastroenterology. Volume 136, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 978-989
by admin | Sep 20, 2019 | Parkinson's Disease, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Therapy, Supranuclear Palsy
Progressive supranuclear palsy, also known as PSP, is a disorder of the brain that gets worse over time (progressive neurodegenerative disorder). Many progressive supranuclear palsy symptoms are similar to Parkinson’s disease. These include rigidity, slowness of movement, cognitive (thinking) problems, difficulty speaking, and difficulty swallowing. While people with Parkinson’s disease can have an unsteady gait and “freeze,” these symptoms are much more prominent in people with progressive supranuclear palsy. Likewise, people with PSP have a particular eye problem called supranuclear gaze palsy, which causes PSP patients to have difficulty moving their eyes in certain directions.
Despite the similarities between PSP and Parkinson’s disease, there are no treatments for progressive supranuclear palsy as they are for Parkinson’s disease. Drugs like levodopa help reduce tremors and rigidity in people with Parkinson’s, but they have been largely ineffective in people with PSP. Some PSP patients may benefit from drugs like levodopa, but most experience severe visual hallucinations or other side effects, which causes them to stop the medication. Because there are so few treatments, patients with progressive supranuclear palsy rely on supportive care measures such as occupational and physical therapy, nutritional support, and palliative care.
To address this critical need, researchers are testing mesenchymal stem cells for their ability to treat progressive supranuclear palsy. Dr. Margherita Canesi and her colleagues selected five patients with progressive supranuclear palsy. Her research team used bone marrow from healthy volunteers to select healthy mesenchymal stem cells. The researchers then infused the mesenchymal stem cells into patients in a single infusion.
While patients with PSP normally deteriorate rapidly, the patients who received a single stem cell treatment remained stable for at least six months after treatment. Some patients still maintained function at the end of the study (12 months). All patients tolerated the treatment well, there were no major side effects. While the study was small, it suggests that stem cell treatment was able to change the natural course of the disease. Based on these encouraging results, the authors have set their sights on a randomized, placebo-controlled phase 2 study to further test mesenchymal stem cell treatments in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy. We look forward to their results with great enthusiasm.
Reference: Canesi, M. et al. (2016). Finding a new therapeutic approach for no-option Parkinsonisms: mesenchymal stromal cells for progressive supranuclear palsy. Journal of Translational Medicine. 14, Article number: 127 (2016).
by admin | Sep 10, 2019
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by admin | Sep 10, 2019
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