Hey all, very new to forums and know this has probably been discussed, but has anyone had stem cells, or know anything about them in relation to ataxia? <3
Hi Belinda, I was told at the National Ataxia Foundation Confrance that Stell cell thought is really great news but it's about 10 yrs away from perfecting it for injection in the body. In fact they said right now it could be harmful along with exspencive.
I just received this email from my husband I wanted to share with everyone here:
Jeannie and I just returned from a medical conference on ataxia in LA. There are over 7000 clinical trials ongoing for Parkinson. There are 4 in progress for sporadic cerebella ataxia. Shows you where the “drug” money is going. There is progress in ISP (skin cells from your body to develop) stem cells especially those cells that are dopamine production cells. However, nerve (Purkinje cells are the efferent (long-axon) cells of the cerebellar cortex ) cells have not been produced as of yet in any part of the world. These are the motor neuron cells. What is interesting is that one of the problems associated with ataxias are several involve parkinsonian type symptoms. So maybe there will be progress for both.
Check this out too! http://www.ataxia.org/forum/toast.asp?sub=show&action=posts&fid=13&tid=22331
thanks for that... all very interesting... my ataxia is due to infections, not ALS or MS etc my CD-57 is only 19, so the immune surpressive meds used would be a worry, as would infecting the healthy cells. Get so desperate for improvement that it is hard not to want to try anything!
Your not alone there! I’m confident they will find a cure for us. They are making huge advances. ;0) Meanwhile I’m thinking of making myself be as healthly and as strong as possible so when they find that cure and take the healthiest first I’ll be ready!!! I hope you will be top!
;0)
.. wanting to contribute to you discussion. In my view there is some hope that one day cures of mesenchymal stem cells will bring a sort of real cure. Actually it seems to be only in the development stage. Patients can try to do this, and some report major advances in their personal symptoms. But far from beeing all. Others have tried it and could not report success. I think having read in this forum about negative feedbacks to such a cure. - You can google the facilities how offer this and some feedbacks of patients; ressources also on Youtube. The costs are reported to be 20.000 - 50.000 Euros or Dollars for each cure period. With major symptoms you will supposedly do the cures regularly, perhaps - as an example - three times per year, This would cost as a minimum 20.000 Euros/Dollars each, so in sum 60.000 Euros. Perhaps this will become cheaper, as umbilical cord blood will be available to an extended degree. Collecting the cord blood after chid-births is not yet common, but faisible. 60.000 Euro is a sum of money which is payed for patients with some chronic cancer illnesses per year for medications. That s 5.000,00 per month. For example an iron chelator which is necessary for patients who have to get regular blood transfusions for hematologic diseases can amount to this sum, and these patients usually have to get more, partly expensive treatments in addition to iron chelating. So it is not unrealistic, that such a stem cell cure will be financed by insurances or the state insurance one day.
The research, presented in the report with link stated below was done with mice. It has been successful. Now the authors say that these results should be transferred into therapeutic approaches. Maybe next time a study will be done, or is already in work? Don`t know.
Best wishes,
Margarete
Mesenchymal stem cells rescue Purkinje cells and improve motor functions in a mouse model of cerebellar ataxia.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog?term=%22Neurobiol+Dis%22[Title+Abbreviation]
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09699961
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1. Neurobiol Dis. 2010 Nov;40(2):415-23. Epub 2010 Jul 15.
Mesenchymal stem cells rescue Purkinje cells and improve motor functions in a mouse model of cerebellar ataxia.
Jones J, Jaramillo-Merchán J, Bueno C,
Pastor D, Viso-León M, Martínez S.
Source
Neuroscience Institute, University Miguel Hernandez (UMH-CSIC), San Juan,
Alicante, Spain. ■■■■■■■■■■
Abstract
Mesenchymal stem cells have been proven to be potentially effective in the
treatment of a large variety of diseases, including neurodegenerative
disorders. Of these, cerebellar ataxia is a group of disorders
characterized by the degeneration of the cerebellum, particularly the
Purkinje cells, responsible for motor coordination and control of the motor
functions. To analyze the possibility of using bone marrow-derived
mesenchymal stem cells in treating ataxia, we transplanted these cells in
the cerebellum of newborn Lurcher mutant mice, a very aggressive mouse
model characterized by the selective early post-natal death of Purkinje
cells in the cerebellum. Two months after the surgical procedure, the
treated mice presented significant improvements in the motor behavior tests
performed. Histological analysis of the cerebellum indicated that the donor
cells had migrated throughout the cerebellum, as well as a significant
increase in the number of Purkinje cells. Many grafted stem cells were
located adjacent to the Purkinje cell layer, and expressed BDNF, NT-3 or
GDNF, neurotrophic factors implicated in Purkinje cell survival. Also, a
small percentage of the grafted stem cells had fused with Purkinje cells.
Thus, we have shown that mesenchymal stem cells are capable of integrating
into the central nervous system, migrate towards the areas where
neurodegenerative processes are occurring, and rescue the degenerating
cells through cell trophic effects. This is an adequate and feasible model
that could be translated into a therapeutic approach for clinical assays in
neurodegenerative diseases.
Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PMID: 20638477 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Belinda Baker said:
thanks for that... all very interesting... my ataxia is due to infections, not ALS or MS etc my CD-57 is only 19, so the immune surpressive meds used would be a worry, as would infecting the healthy cells. Get so desperate for improvement that it is hard not to want to try anything!
Margarete:
The brain damage could be comparable , - if it s by infection or by hereditary gen mutation - the cerebrellum is disabled, purkinje cells are missing, and so you get the symptoms (this is not the whole truth, i don`t know more actually, others perhaps).It s supposedly - in part- the development of the disease which obeys partly genetical foundations.