Medical

Stem Cell Therapy

Have you ever watched a Hollywood movie where people (or their organs) are biologically cloned? It sounds rather futuristic and scary at first but the reality of accomplishments in regenerative and anti-aging medicine might surprise and impress you. Remember the boy who lived in the plastic bubble? He could have possibly been saved by stem cell therapy.

According to the National Academies of Science, doctors have been using adult stem cells—the active agents in bone marrow transplant—for over 40 years to treat a variety of diseases including leukemia, rare anemias, blood cancers and immune system diseases.

What is a stem cell?
A stem cell is a cell that has potential to transform itself into different needed cell lines in the body, helping the body recuperate from injury and disease. There are various types of stem cells that can be saved and used, including fetal cord blood stem cells, adult peripheral blood stem cells and progenitor cells.

Amazingly, the body keeps its own stem cell bank. It senses the current regenerative needs on a constant basis and then via a complex signaling system—which scientists are still trying to understand—those cells travel to the area where they are needed and turn into the special cell line that is required.

Being mammals comes at a high price because we lose our regenerative capacity as we move up the food chain. Simple bio-logical organisms can virtually replace lost limbs, such as a salamander does. Hydra can even form two entire organisms if it is halved. Humans are able to regenerate their circulating blood cells from a source in the bone marrow—“HSC” (Hematopoietic stem cells).

How many times can the human cell divide?
Leonard Hayflick, a prominent scientist in the field of anti-aging studied cell division and proved that human fibroblast cells can only divide 50 times in cell culture before their demise. Even when he froze these cells and then reconstituted them in culture, they took off at the same place they had left off—up to 50 times only. This implies that human cells have an intrinsic limit. Further research showed that stem cells from various sources can accomplish different things. Embryonic cells from five to seven day old embryos have the ability to turn into just about anything, while adult stem cells are much more limited in their usage.

Stem Cells and Anti-Aging
There seems to be an intricate connection between premature aging and stem cell regenerative capacity. Some famous scientists believe that preprogrammed cell death begins at birth following a present path that can not be altered. The number and quality of stem cells a person has affects their ability to withstand the “insults of life” that can come from toxic exposure in the environment or intrinsic stressors such as the synthesis of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate), the energy unit of the body. Cells need to remain in balance. To do this, they use a variety of signals from an immediate complex array around them, deciding whether of not to send a signal to the body that they need remodeling.

Children suffering with Progeria are an extreme example of rapidly programmed cell death. Usually these patients are as young as 10 years of age and have already suffered many diseases we normally see in older people including heart attacks, cancer, diabetes and stroke. Genetic Researchers have discovered an important factor in aging of their DNA (genetic code)—the Telomeres.

Simply put, a Telomere can be described like the plastic wraps on the end of a shoelace. Without this small but necessary component, the entire DNA strand of genetic material could potentially unwind, creating a critical loss of genetic material. Each time the DNA replicates the telomere length shortens just a little bit. Telomeres are divided in seven base pairs and once they are shortened down to a predestined cut off point, the cells ability to divide simply stops.

Certain cell lines are “immortal” in humans. These are primarily eggs and sperm, explaining why a family trait—like that prominent nose of an uncle, for example—continues on in certain family lines. These traits are passed on from “immortal” cells to the developing embryo and are virtually copied in the new baby.

Human cancer cells are immortal as well. In fact, cells like eggs, sperm and cancer cells share one trick that regular body cells or somatic cells don’t have; they express an enzyme called telomerase that can replenish the missing telomeres and thus avoid cell death.

This has been an exciting new field of anti-aging research. If only we could discover how to turn on the telomerase gene for the longevity of aging cells, and at the same time turn them off in cancer cell lines. Wouldn’t that be a perfect world? It seems that over expression can lead to cancer and under expression leads to premature aging. So, the body needs balance between these two powerful opposing forces to say the least.

Storing Your Stem Cells
Stem cell and treatment centers have sprung up all over the world. More diseases are making it on the treatment list than ever before. There were 1,095 different clinical trials using adult peripheral stem cells as of May 2008 in the U.S. alone. There are both private and public stem cell banks available and the cost of banking one’s cells has become more affordable. Why bank one’s cells, you may ask? The newest data shows that private banking can obtain greater than 95 percent viable cells even after years of storage.

Of course, the main question on the minds of many patients is whether or not they should store some of their stem cells. I believe it is a solid investment in tomorrow’s health. Banking cells has become very simple. Special collection bags are used in a similar manner to a blood donation. The amount of blood required is the usual pint, approximately 250cc. Patients should be in a good state of overall health, provide all relevant health information and obtain clearance by their banking physician. The process is very straightforward and the cells can be placed in a family will for the future. Most lay people, especially those in the U.S., are unaware of how simple and effective this procedure could be and that it is powerful medical insurance, indeed.

Most reputable banks use a rigorously monitored system of identification and cells can be sent all over the world to leading researchers in a particular field, allowing the cells to aid in overturning progressive diseases. Imagine your child’s cells saving grandma from a deadly chronic disease such as diabetes, Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease.

Miracles have happened all over the world using stem cell therapy. Unfortunately the U.S. has been a little behind due to recent government constraints of the sources used for stem cell research lines. Congresswoman Diana Degette writes in her book “Sex, Science and Stem Cells,” that the previous administration had vetoed several of her bills promoting ethical stem cell research.” Her drive for the therapy may come from the needs of a diabetic daughter.

It is notable that stem cells today are being increasingly used to restore and sustain regenerative capacity. They have been used to treat cancer and the effects of Chemotherapy and radiation, in re-growing heart and pancreatic tissues, to restore bloodflow after a stroke (angiogenesis) and to regenerate cartilage, bone and skin in non-healing wounds. Many patients and their families suffering with chronic ailments such as ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s dementia are watching the development of stem cell treatment carefully and hopefully soon we will be able to offer them more effective alternatives than ever before.

As of April 2008, there were 721 phase III FDA approved adult stem cell trials. Most of these are in cancer treatment with a significant number for cardiac by-pass surgery, diabetes, wound healing and breast cancer to name a few. Do you know of anyone suffering with some of these common afflictions? Here in South Florida, we have access to excellent stem cell banks for both fetal umbilical cord blood and adult peripheral blood. Many of these banks also have a “mother bank” usually located near the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

In choosing to bank my daughter’s cells, I was pleased to see that many more options have become available; in fact family banking has been a new trend among those families that can afford storage. There is nothing more important than keeping yourself and your loved ones healthy, so make 2009 the year of the body in both fitness and in health.

Dr. Gloria Hakkarainen, MD, FACOG, FASBP, FABAAM is an OB/GYN and also board certified in multiple disciplines. She specializes in wellness, weight loss, and anti-aging, all with a focus on prevention. She practices at Palm Beach Weight & Wellness Center in West Palm Beach.