One of the most promising avenues of regenerative medicine is the injection of intact, living cells into a patient, a branch of medicine known as cell therapy. For instance, as a form of immunotherapy, T-cells may be injected into a patient to fight cancer cells with cell-mediated immunity. After a therapeutic cell phenotype has been [Read More]
Finding out you’re expecting a baby is one of the most joyful moments in life. However, losing the baby before it’s even born can be devastating. If you have had three or more miscarriages in a row, it is called recurrent miscarriage, a condition that can leave you feeling utterly hopeless. There are several reasons [Read More]
On May 5, 2016, Cranberry Holistic Pet Care in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania made headlines when they completed an unprecedented stem cell procedure on a canine patient. This particular dog suffered from osteoarthritis and was constantly in pain, but the treatment itself indicates the wider potential of stem cell treatments to improve the quality of life [Read More]
Disease is always devastating, but childhood disease in particular is heartbreaking beyond what words can describe. It seems so unfair that innocent children are forced to suffer from terrible diseases with few treatments and no known cures. The growing potential of stem cell therapy recently inspired scientists at the University of Manchester in England to [Read More]
The eye is an incredible and complex piece of anatomy, which means it stands the risk of malfunctioning or becoming injured at any time. Glaucoma is one such disease that can cause vision loss and blindness, but stem cell research recently uncovered a potential method to overcome the disease and help prevent or even cure [Read More]
Stem cell therapy could soon be used to treat what is, at present, incurable blindness caused by retinitis pigmentosa (RP), an inherited degenerative disease affecting the retina of the eye, associated with a gradual loss of vision. The retina is composed of a layer of cells responsible for sensing light in the human eye. Retinitis [Read More]
The numbers are mind boggling when it comes to the potential benefits of regenerative medicine. The direct cost of organ replacement globally is $350 billion. Heart valves cost $27 billion annually. The world’s 17 million diabetics are costing us $132 billion every year. The list goes on. By repairing and replacing damaged tissue, regenerative medicine [Read More]
The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) released its quarterly report in early May, and the numbers look promising. The data gleaned from an in-depth look at close to 700 gene therapy and cell therapy stakeholders in the regenerative medicine sector shows the trends and metrics from the first quarter of 2016. The ARM is an [Read More]
Angina—a squeezing, pressure-like chest pain—can feel similar to a heart attack and is a warning sign that the arteries carrying oxygen-rich blood to the heart are blocked. Although angina is typically short-lived, it is an indicator of underlying, potentially life-threatening heart disease. Refractory angina (RA) is resistant to traditional therapies such as drugs, angioplasty, and [Read More]
Most people had never heard of the Zika virus before the current epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean brought it into the limelight. First discovered in 1947 and named after the Zika Forest in Uganda, the virus spreads from person to person through the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. The symptoms include fever, [Read More]
Damage to the spinal cord frequently results in a permanent loss of body functions that are controlled by nerves below the site of injury. Trauma to the spine from fractures, crush injuries, gunshot wounds, and knife stabbings are some of the possible causes of spinal cord injuries (SCIs). Non-traumatic causes include arthritis, inflammation, infection, tumors, [Read More]
Just like all cells, tissues, and organs in the body, stem cells also age as a person grows older. Now scientists have developed a technique to rejuvenate aging stem cells and allow them to function like their younger, more robust versions. This method of transforming old stem cells into new has applications in the treatment [Read More]
If you are over age 50, have severe osteoarthritis of the knees, and conservative treatments have failed you, the only treatment available for your stiff and painful joints has long been a knee replacement surgery. This entails an approximately 8-12 inch cut in front of the knee, removal of the damaged joint parts, and replacement [Read More]
Gene manipulation and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are at the cutting edge of regenerative medicine. Research is underway in using these cellular and genome-editing techniques to treat innumerable diseases afflicting human beings, but their use in repairing the damages of aging have ethical and cultural implications. However, there is a growing change in attitude [Read More]
In a preemptive approach to treat a debilitating genetic disease, scientists in Germany and the United States are planning clinical trials to use stem cell therapy to treat osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) in ailing fetuses. Occurring in about one in 20,000 live births, OI is the result of a gene mutation that leads to a deficiency [Read More]
Celebrities have millions of dollars riding on their looks, and it’s no wonder that they are the first to try (and get hooked on) some pretty bizarre beauty treatments. One regimen that has taken Hollywood by storm has been dubbed the Vampire Facial or the Vampire Facelift. It was based on the gory photos of [Read More]
There is good news for people suffering from debilitating lateral epicondylitis, commonly known as tennis elbow. This condition, so named because it is often a significant problem for tennis players, is the result of overusing the forearm muscles. This overuse leads to injury of the tendon that lies on the outer side of the elbow. [Read More]
A study presented at the annual meeting of the 2014 American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons indicated that platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy is more effective than steroid shots in patients suffering from severe chronic hip bursitis. Bursitis of the hip is the leading cause of hip pain. A bursa is a small sac filled with a [Read More]
When John, a former college football player who now works on Wall Street, pulled a hamstring while sprinting around the Central Park reservoir, his orthopedic surgeon did not recommend PRP (platelet-rich plasma) therapy. The doctor cited recent study results that revealed that patients who get PRP do not heal any faster than those who do [Read More]
One of the leading causes of miscarriage is a problematic placenta, a temporary organ that develops in a woman’s uterus for the duration of her pregnancy to provide nutrition to the developing baby. The placenta is a critical link between the mother and her baby. In addition to providing nourishment and immunity to the fetus, [Read More]
Nature Communications reports that researchers at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Switzerland have succeeded in genetically reprogramming adipose stem cells into functional, insulin-producing beta cells. The team of biotechnologists, led by Professor Martin Fussenegger, extracted fat cells from a 50-year-old study subject and applied so-called “genetic software” to convert [Read More]
In what is being recorded as a historic event, the Vatican is hosting a three-day international conference on regenerative medicine. The conference will take place at the end of April this year in an effort to rally the world’s attention to the power of stem cells as a means of vanquishing disease, reducing suffering around [Read More]
In a big step forward for regenerative medicine, a 24-year-old man who lost most of his esophagus to an aggressive infection following a car wreck has grown a replacement. Although paralyzed from the neck down, the man is now able to swallow and eat normally and maintain his weight after many years of struggling with [Read More]
There have been news reports of elite athletes like Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods using platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy to heal from injuries by augmenting the body’s natural restorative process, but is the treatment only for celebrities? Or can regular people also benefit from PRP therapy? The preliminary findings of a small pilot study at [Read More]
Osteoporosis is asymptomatic until it presents itself with a fracture. The condition affects an estimated 200 million people worldwide and causes close to 9 million fractures every year. Hip fractures resulting from senile osteoporosis nearly always require hospitalization and are fatal in 20 percent of patients, leaving another 50 percent permanently disabled. Only a third [Read More]
In the summer of 2015, a 73-year-old Canadian man, Charles Bernique, doubled over while eating a birthday lunch with his wife. What was initially thought to be extreme food poisoning turned out, in fact, to be a burst esophagus, which led to a severe infection ravaging his frail body. Diagnosed with septic shock, a potentially [Read More]
Myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular condition in which patients must endure fluctuating degrees of debilitating fatigue and weakness, is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting about 20 people in every 100,000 in the United States. A retrospective observational study led by Dr. Harold Atkins at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada, published in JAMA Neurology, has [Read More]
Uplifting story about Rickey Rhoades, a medical staff member in the military who just returned home from Afghanistan and is now being treated in Spokane, Washington, at the Sacred Heart Medical Center for Myeloma cancer. Sacred Heart Medical Center is the only hospital outside of Seattle to help treat patients using Autologous Stem Cell Transplants. [Read More]
What is regenerative therapy? It is a relatively new type of treatment which enables or enhances body’s own mechanisms for regeneration of a particular tissue or organ, in order to restore normal anatomy and function of that part of the body. The most significant types of regeneration therapy used for treating injuries are stem cells [Read More]
Stem cell therapy has already shown tremendous promise in healing areas of the brain damaged by radiation injury from cancer treatment. Scientists at the University of California Irvine have now made a promising discovery that an isolated part of stem cells called microvesicles can produce comparable benefits, without some of the risks associated with stem [Read More]
Australian scientists have recently shared some exciting news in the field of stem cell therapy. For the first time, researchers have been able to reprogram adult stem cells to regenerate any type of body tissue. The technique, inspired by a salamander’s ability to regrow a lost limb, makes adult stem cells lose their tissue-specific characteristics [Read More]
What is PRP therapy? PRP (Platelet-Rich-Plasma) therapy is a medical treatment which utilizes the regenerative power of blood platelets. Platelets are blood cells crucial for coagulation (blood clotting) and tissue regeneration. The therapy itself consists of three phases. In the first phase a doctor collects a small amount of patient’s own blood from a vein. [Read More]
In a breakthrough that scientists are calling remarkable, cataracts in the lens of the eye can now be cured by inducing stem cells to regenerate and grow a living lens to reverse blindness in just three months. Surgeons have succeeded in restoring sight in 12 infants born with congenital cataract (a clouded lens at birth). [Read More]
The results of a new study published in The Lancet and presented at the American College of Cardiology’s annual meeting are promising for people battling debilitating end-stage heart failure. In a controlled clinical trial conducted by the University of Utah School of Medicine, one set of patients had stem cells harvested from their own bone [Read More]
PRP is an emerging non-surgical therapy used for treating almost all musculoskeletal injuries. It is very successful in treating ligament and tendon injuries except complete tears. So professional athletes were the first to try this revolutionary treatment. One of the first athletes to successfully use a PRP treatment was a professional golf player Tiger Woods. [Read More]
There’s good news for the millions of men around the world who have resigned themselves to male pattern baldness. Determined to a large degree by genetics, androgenetic alopecia (androgens are male sex hormones) can begin as early as the teenage years, and it is estimated that more than half the men over the age of [Read More]
A Tour de France pro cyclist pedals at more than 25 miles per hour on flat terrain and generates an estimated 450 watts of power, with sprint power in the final dash for the line escalating to a whopping 1400 watts, powered by years of hard training, a support team of dozens of professionals, and [Read More]
All professional athletes have an intense routine to achieve top results. That inevitably leads to damage of their whole body, but the locomotor system takes most of the pounding. Although it makes sense that contact sports are the most common cause of injuries of the locomotor system, the fact is that although injuries in contact [Read More]
Both professional athletes and active amateurs are benefitting from a revolutionary therapy that utilizes the person’s own blood to repair and rebuild damaged cartilage or tendon. Platelet-rich plasma therapy, or PRP therapy as it is commonly called, is offering hope to thousands of people enduring intractable pain and below par performance as a result of [Read More]
The emerging medical field of regenerative medicine poses exciting possibilities. Adult stem cells can potentially restore sight to the blind, help people overcome crippling conditions, and permit someone who is wheelchair-bound to walk again. These groundbreaking therapies are based on the fundamentals of molecular biology and have the potential to cure any disease resulting from [Read More]
Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Transplantation Prevents Functional Bone Loss in a Mouse Model of Age-Related Osteoporosis Osteoporosis presents significant morbidity and healthcare burdens. It affects over 200 million people worldwide. Osteoporosis can be a life threatening condition in the elderly. Age-related osteoporosis is a bone formation dysfunction which results from defective proliferation and differentiation of mesenchymal [Read More]
Acute lung injury (ALI) is a significant source of morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients. ALI is characterized by acute inflammation that causes disruption of the lung endothelial and epithelial barrier. ALI can be caused by infection with avian influenza virus subtype H5N1. The human mortality rate of H5N1 infection is about 60 percent. [Read More]
Stem cell therapy is becoming a phrase thrown around with abandon. People are increasingly aware of regenerative medicine as a panacea for a spectrum of maladies, ranging from baldness to blindness. Clinics offering adult stem cell treatments are mushrooming in unregulated medical tourism centers in far-flung countries, offering hope to the desperately ill. Stem cells [Read More]
