Stem Cell Therapy

First, what are stem cells?  Many have heard bits and pieces over the years — mostly the politically and morally charged debate about embryonic and fetal stem cells.  However, there are many types of stem cells.  Pluripotent stem cells can divide into almost any type of cells and are found in fetal and embryonic stem cells.  Multipotent stem cells can divide into a variety of tissue types. These are found in blood, bone marrow, and adipose (fat) tissue.  Research has now moved in the direction of autologous cells (your own stem cells) versus allogenic cells (someone else's stem cells).

The advantage of using your own, less than minimally manipulated stem cells is significant:  No tissue rejection issues, and thus no immunosuppresive therapy is needed, which  has often deleterious or life-threatening consequences.  There is no possibility of foreign disease transmission, such as viruses, HIV or Hepatitis.  No possibility of replicating cells with genetic mutations, or hereditary diseases or cancer propagation.  And, lastly, it is much simpler.

In this respect, SIMPLE is very good and patient friendly.  Stem cells can be harvested in the doctor's office and then transplanted into the target area by injection, usually directed by fluoroscopic guidance (a special x-ray that allows visualization of the injection) or ultrasound guidance.

Blood is highly concentrated in vascular producing stem cells (CD34+).  Bone marrow and adipose tissue are highly concentrated in mesenchymal cells, which can differentiate into muscle, tendon, ligament, nerve and bone tissue.  Obviously, the myriad of disorders from acute athletic injuries to chronic disease states, can be addressed by using the right type of stem cell.  The possibilities are endless.

Athletes, weekend warriors and the misfortunate who suffer as a result of accidents, can be treated initially for acute injuries or later in life as the injured segment degenerates into arthritis. 

♦  Knee meniscal tears, ACL injuries, Medial Collateral sprains and severe arthritis may also be helped, accelerating the recovery time and possibly avoiding surgery.  

♦  Shoulder problems such as rotator cuff tears, Tendinopathies (scarring from chronic injury due to irregular collagen formation), Impingement Syndromes, Bursitis and severe arthritis are treatable with stem cells.  

♦  Hip disorders, from chronic bursitis, Avascular Necrosis (AVN) to severe arthritis, can be helped as well.  In effect, there is now a way to possibly prevent total joint replacement. 

 Caveat Emptor….

There are charlatan and bogus claims being made on the internet, regarding stem cells.  The news program 60 Minutes ran an excellent episode on this subject.  There are clinics claiming that injecting stem cells intravenously will make you grow younger and make your skin look years younger.  This simply is not the case.  First of all, there is a pulmonary first pass effect where may stem cells are destroyed.  There is excellent research at leading institutes such as Duke, Cambridge and Harvard developing protocols for treating serious neurologic diseases, such as spinal cord injuries, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s and early Alzheimer’s disease.

Currently though, the medical advances in autologous (your own) stem cell research has been effectively developed and FDA approved for plastic surgery and medical orthopedic procedures.  That means having your own joints or your own spine injected with your stem cells is not experimental.  As the years pass, more research will develop to support this.  Make no mistake, this is the future and it is here. 

Nanotechnology will also be the future, but it is in its infancy.  However, we can ingest a small pill that is actually a computer camera and photograph the gastrointestinal tract, rather than having an endoscopy or colonoscopy.

 
Laboratory cultured stem cells verses live stem cells

There are veterinary and human labs that culture and grow stem cells harvested from you (autologous) or others (allogeneic).  The FDA has banned the use of "cultured" or "expanded" stem cells in humans in the US.  Additionally, there is a mounting amount of literature discussing the effect of over-expansion of stem cell lines – meaning, cells can only divide a finite number of times before cell death occurs.  Every time a cell divides, its “daughter cell” has a reduced length of the telomere on the chromosome.  This process limits our life span.  The 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to this research, which Professor Leonard Hayflick termed the Hayflick limit.  Some people have good genes and are destined to live longer, having been born with longer telomeres.  You do not want to do anything to hasten cellular death.  In the 1976 movie, Embryo, with Rock Hudson and Barbara Carrera, this event takes place, where Miss Carrera’s character grows from an embryo to an adult rapidly, then ages at an accelerated pace.  On July 5, 1996, Dolly the Sheep was born near Edinburgh, Scotland.  The first cloned animal, Dolly was not cloned using a fetal cell, but using adult animal cells.  Dolly passed away at age 6 ½.  Normal life span for a sheep is 12 years.  Shortened telomeres reduce life span.

Veterinarians send stem cells to various stem cell labs for culture and expansion.  Animal literature reflects positive stem cell results in mice, cats, dogs and horses.  However, animals have much shorter life spans.  If a dog lives to age 7 and a human lives to age 70, that is a 10-fold difference in mitotic division of cell lines.

This is the importance of using your cells that have not been cultured or expanded.  It is true that a biotech company has developed a drug to reduce telomere shortening, and we can help you with that technology as well.  Typically, veterinarians and cultured and expanded cell lines describe several million stem cell reproductions.   

It has been suggested that the greatest gift you can give your children is to bank their own stem cells at a young age to provide “medical insurance” in case of disease or medical calamity.  Stem cell banking cryo-freezes and stores the cells for future use.  

The issue patients face is becoming educated.  I have always maintained that an educated patient can make a better, informed decision.  Remember Linus Pauling, the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner?  He advocated mega doses of Vitamin C.  His peers of the time thought his ideas were ridiculous.  Now, we understand oxidative damage – and he was right, especially with the ever-increasing chemicals, toxins and pesticides we are exposed to.

Understanding the potential for healing via regeneration as opposed to watching degeneration unfold year after year leads to a new perspective on medicine.  Those who do not understand will not have this perspective.

Treating each patient individually as a separate and completely different human being is important.  A post-chemotherapy patient with osteoarthritis and peripheral neuropathy is not the same as a 40-year-old corporate weekend warrior with knee pain identified as a medial collateral sprain with a medial meniscal tear.  Patient specific medicine is paramount.

For a consult with Dr. Dennis Lox, please call (800) 301-5499 or (727) 462-5582.