Real-World Successes of Adult Stem Cell Treatments - By Mr. Bradley R. Hughes Jr

With increasing frequency, American citizens and others from around the globe are experiencing newfound freedom from disease, affliction, and infirmity. Individuals' lives are forever changed with the strengthened faith and renewed hope that arise from healed bodies and physical restoration. These seemingly miraculous cures are the result of adult stem cell treatments. Yet the debates in the popular media tend to ignore and obscure the medical breakthroughs made by adult stem cell research--success that has conspicuously eluded embryonic stem cell treatments.[1]

Adult stem cells (or, more accurately, tissue stem cells) are regenerative cells of the human body that possess the characteristic of plasticity--the ability to specialize and develop into other tissues of the body. Beginning in an unspecialized and undeveloped state, they can be coaxed to become heart tissue, neural matter, skin cells, and a host of other tissues. They are found in our own organs and tissues such as fat, bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, placentas, neuronal sources, and olfactory tissue, which resides in the upper nasal cavity.[2] This simple fact has remarkable implications for medicine--diseased or damaged tissue can become healthy and robust through the infusion of such cells. This has consequently commanded the attention of many researchers as well as those suffering from disease.

It is necessary to note that the power of adult stem cells is not nebulously potential, but tangible and real, as it has produced wonderful results in multiple cases. These have been documented in clinical trials, that is, treatments with human patients. With adult stem cells, physicians have successfully treated autoimmune diseases such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.[3] Furthermore, adult stem cells have helped to avert corneal degeneration and to restore vision in cases of blindness.[4] They have also restored proper cardiac function to heart attack sufferers[5] and improved movement in spinal cord injury patients.[6]

It is also important to note that all of these successes have come exclusively from adult stem cell research. Embryonic stem cell research, which requires the destruction of early human life to acquire the cells, has not produced any successes in human patients.[7] The breakthroughs demonstrated by adult stem cells are detailed below.

Spinal Cord Injuries

"Spinal cord injuries are one of the most severe forms of debilitation known to humanity. Many times they result in different forms of paralysis, including paraplegia and quadriplegia; other times they involve the immediate or imminent death of the patient. Laura Dominguez is an example of the former. Living in San Antonio, Texas, she was a sixteen-year-old girl attending summer school in 2001. On her way back from class, she and her brother encountered an oil spill on the highway that caused their car to careen out of control. The accident left her paralyzed from the neck down with a C6 vertebrae burst fracture. She subsequently entered various hospitals to be emphatically informed that she would never walk again."[8]

Heart Tissue Regeneration

"Recent years have seen the emergence of successful adult stem cell treatment for those who have suffered from heart attacks and heart failure. Dr. Andreas M. Zeiher, the chairman of the department of internal medicine at the University of Frankfurt, and Dr. Stefanie Dimmeler, head of the division of molecular cardiology at the same institution, conducted a study of 28 heart attack patients in 2003."[13]

Corneal Reconstruction

"Another area in which adult stem cell therapy is demonstrating rapid advancement is the field of ophthalmology. A surgical procedure known as limbal stem cell transplantation offers hope to those suffering from corneal degeneration, blindness, and other ocular diseases. The procedure involves the extraction of stem cells from the limbus, the region of the eye between the epithelial layer of the cornea and the sclera, the eye's outer layer. The cells are typically extracted from a healthy eye of the patient himself, from a family member, or from cadaveric material. Once extracted, the limbal stem cells are implanted into the patient's defective eye. The stem cells then differentiate into corneal epithelial cells which improve the health of the outermost layer of the eye." [18]

Autoimmune Disease Treatment: Diabetes, Lupus, Crohn's, Multiple Sclerosis

"Adult cell treatment has also shown significant results in the treatment of various autoimmune disorders. Researchers reported that, of 250 diabetics, 200 were able to discard their insulin needles for over a year after islet cell transplantation from cadavers.[23] A research team at Harvard has shown complete reversal of juvenile diabetes in mice using adult spleen cells, and is now preparing for the first patients trials using these adult cells."[24]

Parkinson's Disease

"Parkinson's disease is a disorder of the central nervous system in which the substantia nigra, a part of the brain, ceases to produce dopamine, a chemical that allows for effective motion. Dennis Turner is a man who suffered from the disorder for fourteen years. His condition was characterized by strong shaking on the right side of his body, making arm coordination virtually impossible. He underwent years of medication and watched his condition gradually deteriorate. After consultation with a neurologist, he discovered the option of adult stem cell therapy and decided to have the procedure done. His own stem cells were extracted from his brain and subsequently transplanted into the left side of his brain in a 1999 procedure."[32]

Anemias, Cancers, and Immune Deficiencies, and Other Diseases

"Adult stem cell transplants are also widely used to treat such diseases as anemias, leukemias, lymphomas, and other cancers. Additional treatable diseases are Fanconi anemia, pure red cell aplasia, juvenile chronic myelogenous leukemia, juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, immune deficiencies, and some genetic diseases."[35]

Conclusion

The above examples are a strong testament to the amazing power of adult stem cells. These "miracle cells" have provided real treatments for real people. They have provided hope for those suffering from spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, lupus, Crohn's disease, ocular degeneration, blindness, heart disease, leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, aplastic anemia, and sickle cell anemia. Laura Dominguez, Susan Fajt, Melissa Holley, Dmitri Bonnville, Dennis Turner, Michael May, Jon Newton, Shawn Smith, Keone Penn, and Savannah Jantsch, just to name a few, are living proof of these successes.

While the potency and success of adult stem cell treatments are becoming evident, treatments using embryonic stem cells have not produced any clinical successes. Rather, embryonic stem cell treatments tend to create tumors in numerous animal studies.[47] The public should ponder these issues and ask why the media do not cover such results. In a world with limited funds for research, why are we arguing about unproven and often dangerous embryonic stem cell treatments when treatments using adult stem cells are today producing real results for real patients?

Bradley Hughes is a former fellow at the Witherspoon Fellowship - Family Research Council's professional fraternity for civic and cultural leadership development.

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Published with permission. Excerpts of Article: "Real-World Successes of Adult Stem Cell Treatments," by Mr. Bradley R. Hughes Jr. Accessed July 26, 2007. Family Research Council, 801 G Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001. 1-800-225-4008. www.frc.org