Stanford successfully injects stem cells directly into brain

[burg]

For Strokes, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, MS & ALS


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016 ... -cells-in/

[1eye]

Scientists have known about this for years, having cured brain-injured mice by injecting their brains with human and other stem cells. I saw it in ThisIsMS, so it must have been true.

[David1949]

Well it sounds like the procedure is safe. According to the paper published in Stanford Medicine:

Although more than three-quarters of them suffered from transient headaches afterward — probably due to the surgical procedure and the physical constraints employed to ensure its precision — there were no side effects attributable to the stem cells themselves, and no life-threatening adverse effects linked to the procedure used to administer them.

http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2 ... ients.html
And it might work for MS.
Under standard procedures there are two more phases of tests to be done before the procedure can be marketed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_of ... l_research
Those will likely take several years. In the meantime hundreds of thousands of patients with strokes, MS, ALZ, Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s will grow worse and edge closer to death ... or worse.

If its safe why not let patients have the procedure at their own discretion? The worst that could happen is that it won't work. Why all the extra phases? Could it be that they're making it too safe and depriving patients of the only treatment that might save them?

[1eye]

I think it's sort of like what we do with inmates receiving lethal injections. We swab the site with alcohol, to avoid any site infections.

Wouldn't want any complications from lethal injections, after all, would we? For one thing, those lawyers might sue us. That could get, well, complicated.

Something adverse might happen, that could lead to death... or worse. Or more complicated.

[jay123]

LOL, I should be happy but this gets me very mad. I have been supposed to be in a study similar to this, but using the good stuff - embryonic stem cells, I have been waiting for the last two years. BUT, the researcher is having trouble getting the money in order for the university to approve the study.
He told me in an appt last week that studies using drugs are easily approved due to the drug companies paying for them - but just try and do a study that doesn't involve drugs.....

[1eye]

I don't think anything about science or drug companies will change unless enough people get mad enough. In the meantime, perhaps you could suggest to the scientist that he give the treatment to, say, 10 people who win some kind of draw. They would each be expected to pay 10% of the cost of the trial. I suspect there would be thousands entered in the draw. The trial would be paid for. And if the FDA said "we don't want you to do that", there might be some violent reactions.

Crowd-funding might also work.

You can be damn sure when time comes to protect IP some drug company will call it a drug no matter if it is or not. If the stem cells are human they'll claim something is exclusively theirs, probably patenting some process or other. Then the FDA will really get interested. Hope the trial happens without them.

[jay123]

My doctor told me the drug companies are already working on ways to get involved withstem cells.
He mentioned though that their biggest push is to get involved with medical pot!! He said that where they see the money is at.

[NHE]

He mentioned though that their biggest push is to get involved with medical pot!! He said that where they see the money is at.

Sure. We're not the only ones watching Sanjay Gupta's Weed documentary. When they watch it, they probably start salivating like hungry wolves.

[Vivianne766]

Regarding Stanford study for injecting stem cells in the brain. In case of MS , what if the damage is mostly in the spine not the brain?

[CureOrBust]

Regarding Stanford study for injecting stem cells in the brain. In case of MS , what if the damage is mostly in the spine not the brain?

Just a guess, but I would assume they are injecting the stem cells into the spinal fluid, which surrounds the brain and is shared with the brain.

[euphoniaa]

Regarding Stanford study for injecting stem cells in the brain. In case of MS , what if the damage is mostly in the spine not the brain?

Just a guess, but I would assume they are injecting the stem cells into the spinal fluid, which surrounds the brain and is shared with the brain.

According to the article in The Telegraph:

All the patients involved in the trial had suffered ischemic strokes where a clot prevents blood getting to the brain, which leads to brain cell death. The procedure involved drilling a small hole in the skull above the damaged area so that SB623 stem cells could be injected at several spots around the edge of the injury.

So it appears it was only tried on stroke patients so far, and only injected around the edges of that specific area of damage. Although it's a great discovery with potential for other kinds of brain injuries, I also wonder how they would adapt this to MS patients like me, who have too many lesions to count, in every part of their brain (no spinal lesions).

[CureOrBust]

Regarding Stanford study for injecting stem cells in the brain. In case of MS , what if the damage is mostly in the spine not the brain?

Just a guess, but I would assume they are injecting the stem cells into the spinal fluid, which surrounds the brain and is shared with the brain.

According to the article in The Telegraph:

All the patients involved in the trial had suffered ischemic strokes where a clot prevents blood getting to the brain, which leads to brain cell death. The procedure involved drilling a small hole in the skull above the damaged area so that SB623 stem cells could be injected at several spots around the edge of the injury.

well that will teach me not to assume. but most probably not...

So it appears it was only tried on stroke patients so far, and only injected around the edges of that specific area of damage. Although it's a great discovery with potential for other kinds of brain injuries, I also wonder how they would adapt this to MS patients like me, who have too many lesions to count, in every part of their brain (no spinal lesions).

Hopefully to redeem my indiscretion This trial may give some hope. They use the same kind of stem cells used above
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/2 ... t-Patients This Japanese group appear to plan to bring it to market ASAP under some quick approval scheme in Japan.

They all seem to inject it directly into the brain near the site if damage, but its hard to believe there is no "leakage" of benefits beyond a small area surrounding the injection site. But we all know where assumptions got me previously...

[centenarian100]

This whole thing seems kind of dubious to me. Click the link below and watch the video

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to- ... ient-walk/

The "miraculous" results seem pretty marginal to me. The journalists really took liberties in their descriptions. This could easily just be the placebo effect, physical therapy, optimism. My guess is that in a randomized double blind trial, it will have no benefit versus the sham procedure. I would be interested to see the results though.

Sorry to be so pessimistic, but we can't drill holes into everyone's skull unless a procedure is actually proven to work first. If anecdotes are enough to convince us, we should go back to blood letting.

[1eye]

In the case of MS you may cross-inherit cancer of the brain. However our friend Dr. Freedman says you might not get it right away, and in the meantime you might live without MS a while. Worth it?

[samovar]

This is such a stunning little study. It concerns everone who has had a brain injury and possibly, hopefully people with a neurodegenerative disease like MS.

With the evil powers-that-be at work, this study might be washed away into oblivion.

How incredible it would be to participate in a similar study run on MS'ers How was it possible to do it without all that immunosupression phase that seemed to be a part of every stem cell treatment, thus making them so risky? I wonder...

And I wonder WHY so few people have watched that incredible video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGuBMroX7c8

ipek