Paralysis Victim Cured by Stem Cells

[Mental-Rectangle]

Hopefully this isn't a rehash, but:

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/041128/1/3ovex.html

Paralyzed woman walks again after stem cell therapy

A South Korean woman paralyzed for 20 years is walking again after scientists say they repaired her damaged spine using stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood.

Hwang Mi-Soon, 37, had been bedridden since damaging her back in an accident two decades ago.

Last week her eyes glistened with tears as she walked again with the help of a walking frame at a press conference where South Korea researchers went public for the first time with the results of their stem-cell therapy.

They said it was the world's first published case in which a patient with spinal cord injuries had been successfully treated with stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

Though they cautioned that more research was needed and verification from international experts was required, the South Korean researchers said Hwang's case could signal a leap forward in the treatment of spinal cord injuries.

The use of stem cells from cord blood could also point to a way to side-step the ethical dispute over the controversial use of embryos in embryonic stem-cell research.

"We have glimpsed at a silver lining over the horizon," said Song Chang-Hoon, a member of the research team and a professor at Chosun University's medical school in the southwestern city of Kwangju.

"We were all surprised at the fast improvements in the patient."

Under TV lights and flashing cameras, Hwang stood up from her wheelchair and shuffled forward and back a few paces with the help of the frame at the press conference here on Thursday.

"This is already a miracle for me," she said. "I never dreamed of getting to my feet again."

Medical research has shown stem cells can develop into replacement cells for damaged organs or body parts. Unlocking that potential could see cures for diseases that are at present incurable, or even see the body generate new organs to replace damaged or failing ones.

So-called "multipotent" stem cells -- those found in cord blood -- are capable of forming a limited number of specialised cell types, unlike the more versatile "undifferentiated" cells that are derived from embroyos.

However, these stem cells isolated from umbilical cord blood have emerged as an ethical and safe alternative to embryonic stem cells.

Clinical trials with embryonic stem cells are believed to be years away because of the risks and ethical problems involved in the production of embryos -- regarded as living humans by some people -- for scientific use.

In contrast, there is no ethical dimension when stem cells from umbilical cord blood are obtained, according to researchers.

Additionally, umbilical cord blood stem cells trigger little immune response in the recipient as embryonic stem cells have a tendency to form tumors when injected into animals or human beings.

For the therapy, multipotent stem cells were isolated from umbilical cord blood, which had been frozen immediately after the birth of a baby and cultured for a period of time.

Then these cells were directly injected to the damaged part of the spinal cord.

"Technical difficulties exist in isolating stem cells from frozen umbilical cord blood, finding cells with genes matching those of the recipient and selecting the right place of the body to deliver the cells," said Han Hoon, president of Histostem, a government-backed umbilical cord blood bank in Seoul.

Han teamed up with Song and other experts for the experiment.

They say that more experiments are required to verify the outcome of the landmark therapy.

"It is just one case and we need more experiments, more data," said Oh Il-Hoon, another researcher.

"I believe experts in other countries have been conducting similar experiments and accumulating data before making the results public."

Hmm... Umbilical stem cells. Doesn't require fetus-kadavers to collect those. I guess it's a win-win situation.

[AerodynamicHair]

"Yes madame, I can cure your legs... if you bring me the BLOOD OF A NEWBORN BABE! (maniacal laughter)"

Yeah, it does look pretty good. It would be hard to see ethical delimmas in taking the cells from the umbilical cord. Does anyone know if the US stem-cell research ban effects this kind of work?

Well, now we'll just have to see how useful these stem cells are. Hopefully, these things will rock as hard as scientists have said for years.

[Mental-Rectangle]

Other than state laws, there are places here you can set up a lab and work with embryonic stem cells. California's the first state to fiscally sponsor stem-cell research programs. If you have private funding, you can do it in other places too. Umbilical stem cells probably sidestep everything in the books though. I think once people see that this technology has merit, from cases like this, they'll become more open to it.

Tinfoil hat Christians will still say it's wrong though. 9 out of 10 times, I'd guess.

[Xellos]

Bah! I bet they are using embryonic stem cells just because, if they get rid of it, it might make them loose some footing on abortion. Bah!

I say use the umbilical stem cells for as much as they can. if they hit a snag, we'll talk again. I hope I'm right in guessing that they havin't hit a snag. I havin't heard of one.......

[Gorefiend]

Nope, no baby cadavers. AWWWWW. I know, it sucks now.

On a more serious note, from my knowledge, this does indeed sidestep everything. And, as a religeous person, I can tell you, I agree with embryonic stem cell research. If it can cure all these different diseases, and it's made from spare embryos destined for the local sewer anyways, then what's the differnce? No matter what, the child dies. Thing is, it gives his life meaning, and provides an honorable death. What would be better? That we A) get every embryo born somehow, regardless of the EXTREME costs, and have them know sooner or later that they were spare parts, not product of the love of their parents. (at least not all those extra ones.) B) dump them in the sewer, effectively killing them, or C) have them save a human life, or perform miracles. (I say that a woman with a severed spine walking again is pretty miraculous.) I go for C, thank you.

[DarthZeth]

Does anyone know if the US stem-cell research ban effects this kind of work?

These is no ban on stem-cell research in the US. only on Federal funding going to Embryonic stem cell research. Federal funding does go to adult stem cell research

Umbilical stem cells are considered "adult" stem cells.

and what is this smack you people are saying about "side stepping" the books? Umbilical stem-cells have been a viable option for a while. If you didn't notice, you weren't paying attention.

[icythaco]

Alright, here's my breif schtick about stem cells. Stemcells are cells that have the potential to become any type of cell within an organism. This is because of genetic reasons: all cells in an organism have exactly the same DNA code. So why do we have so many different types of cells if all our DNA is the same? Because cells define their functions by utilizing certain proteins along the DNA strand called "repressors" that turn off all the genes in a DNA strand that aren't needed to perform that cell's function(s). For example, a red blood cell doesn't need the gene used by nerves to recieve messages from the brain, so that trait is "turned off" when a stem cell becomes a red blood cell. In essence, a cell is really defined not by what it has, but by what it DOESN'T have. Anyway, you, being the smart people you are, probably already know this.

So if stem cells contain all of the traits of every type of cell in the body, how do they manage to exist with so many conflicting genes? That's just one of the many questions scientists have asked but cannot find the answer to unless more effort is put into funding stem cell research. What it all boils down to is that stemcells, because they have the potential to be any type of cell in the human body, can most likely be used to grow back missing body parts, from fingers and toes, to even organs like livers and kidneys. Also, if scientists can find the mechanism that defines exactly what type of body cell a stem-cell will become, then they might be able to turn off the parts of the genetic code that contain the genetic error that causes cancer. This would allow for the curing of cancer on a case by case basis, maybe even stopping this malignant disease in cancer-positive humans before they are even born.
As I said before, you probably know most of this, but I just thought I'd provide a bit of a refreshor, because so many people these days toss around the word "stemcells" that many begin to forget its meaning. Anyway, here's my main portion of this post:

This amazing story I heard recently shows how succesful stem cell research is proving to be:
A doctor in Germany recently had a patient who had to have their jaw amputated to stop the spread of cancer (tobacco-induced mouth cancer), removed two decades ago. He has not had been unable to speak and was forced to suck food through a straw for the last twenty years of his life. This doctor took the amputed jaw bone of the man, which had been preserved by the hospital, and created an exact mold of it made out of plastic mesh with the help of a modern laser-scanning computer. He then connected it to the man's face at the precise locations where his lost jaw bone was originally connected at. He then took stem cells from the man's bone marrow and embedded them in the scarred muscle tissue where the man's jaw used to be attached to his face. Amazingly, the stem cells proceeded to grow into the matrix of pores located within the mesh of the plastic mold. Even more astounding, the stemcells began to develope into body cells exactly matching the amounts and cell-types of the amputated jaw, and they formed in such a way as to create an exact replicate (identical in both structure and biological makeup) of the original jaw: skin, bone, muscle, veins, nerves, bloodcells and all. The doctor then only had to removed the mold, and voila: a newly intact, healthy jaw was exposed. Incredibly, it worked perfectly, down to the last nerve-ending. Apparently, the mold of the original jaw acted as a template for the new one, defining its shape and triggering the stemcells into transforming into their repsective cell-types. The German patient, ecstatic at the sucess of his renewed body part, had only this to say to reporters: "I'm looking foward to eating sausage again."

This piece of news shows just how succesful stem-cells may be for curing medical ailments, if only it was provided with the proper funding.

[Nearly Insane]

wow... so that means that they used the umbillacal cord and not the baby? that the baby was alive, nay, healthy? if so please point this out to me, for this is a great scientific breakthrough. I've hear of stem cells before but i never really looked into it.