Multiple Bone Marrow Stem Cell Studies
In 2 groundbreaking studies, doctors have used stem cells from bone marrow to help heal children with a killer skin disease and to repair injured lungs.
- Researchers led by University of Minnesota doctors John Wagner and Jakub Tolar used bone marrow stem cells to treat children with a rare genetic skin disorder called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB). The study was the first to show that bone marrow stem cells can be used to treat diseases affecting the skin and upper gastrointestinal tract, and alter the course of epidermolysis bullosa (EB), which causes skin to blister and scrape off with the slightest rub or bump — and for which there is no cure. EB can also affect the lining of the mouth and esophagus, as well as the skin, and makes activities that many children take for granted such as eating, painful. All of the children have responded to the therapy, to varying degrees, the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
- In a separate study, reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) used bone marrow stem cells to treat acute lung injury, one of the most common causes of respiratory failure in hospital intensive care units. A team led by Michael Matthay and Jae Lee at the Cardiovascular Research Institute of UCSF re-created unhealthy lung conditions in the lab by culturing human alveolar cells and then chemically causing inflammation. They then added bone marrow stem cells to the mix and observed how things changed. The authors of the UCSF study say the findings are the first to demonstrate how certain marrow bone stem cells restore the border of the lungs. They hope to begin phase II clinical trials to prove the therapy is viable for preventing respiratory failure in critically ill patients. (HWM and Karin Zeitvogel Karin Zeitvoge, AFP)
Categories: Stem Cell Technology
