Archive for the ‘Bone Marrow Stem Cells’ Category
Are baby, wisdom teeth the next wave in stem cell treatment? – CNN
It's based on experimental research that suggests stem cells extracted from the pulp of these teeth might someday regrow a lost adult tooth or offer other regenerative medicine benefits -- some potentially life-saving.
"So I'll try not to get emotional here, but my husband was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2011," said Bassetto, of Naperville, Illinois, head of a sales team at a software company.
In 2012, her husband, James, had a stem cell transplant to restore his bone marrow and renew his blood.
"He was very fortunate. He was one of six kids, and his brother was a perfect match," she said. She noted that her two children, Madeline, 23, and Alex, 19, may not be so lucky if they develop health problems, since they have only each other; the chance of two siblings being a perfect stem cell match is only 25%.
Unfortunately, her husband's stem cell transplant was not successful. He developed graft-versus-host disease, where his brother's donated stem cells attacked his own cells, and he died shortly afterward.
However, she says, the transplant had given him a chance at a longer life.
Last year, when her son saw a dentist for wisdom tooth pain, a brochure for dental stem cell storage caught Bassetto's eye and struck a chord.
"I know stem cells have tremendous health benefits in fighting disease, and there's a lot ways they're used today," she said. "Had my husband had his own cells, potentially, his treatment could have been more successful."
Medical breakthroughs happen all the time, said Bassetto. "Who knows what potential there is 20 years, 40 years down the road, when my son is an adult or an aging adult?
"Almost like a life insurance policy, is how I viewed it," she said.
Some scientists see storing teeth as a worthwhile investment, but others say it's a dead end.
"Research is still mostly in the experimental (preclinical) phase," said Ben Scheven, senior lecturer in oral cell biology in the school of dentistry at the University of Birmingham. Still, he said, "dental stem cells may provide an advantageous cell therapy for repair and regeneration of tissues," someday becoming the basis for reconstructing bone tissue, retinas and even optic neurons.
Dr. Pamela Robey, chief of the craniofacial and skeletal diseases branch of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, acknowledges the "promising" studies, but she has a different take on the importance of the cells.
"There are studies with dental pulp cells being used to treat neurological disorders and problems in the eye and other things," Robey said. The research is based on the idea that these cells "secrete factors that encourage local cells to begin the repair process."
"The problem is, these studies have really not been that rigorous," she said, adding that many have been done only in animals and so provide "slim" evidence of benefits. "The science needs a lot more work."
Robey would know. Her laboratory discovered dental stem cells in 2003.
"My fellows, Songtao Shi and Stan Gronthos, did the work in my lab," Robey said. "Songtao Shi is a dentist, and basically he observed that, when you get a cavity, you get what's called 'reparative dentin.' In other words, the tooth is trying to protect itself from that cavity, so it makes a little bit of dentin to kind of plug the hole, so to speak."
Dentin is the innermost hard layer of tooth that lies beneath the enamel. Underneath the dentin is a soft tissue known as pulp, which contains the nerve tissue and blood supply.
Observing dentin perform reparative work, Shi hypothesized that this must mean there's a stem cell within the tooth that's able to activate and make dentin. So if you wanted to grow an adult tooth instead of getting an implant, knowing how to make dentin would be the start of the process, explained Robey.
Pursuing this idea, Shi, Gronthos and the team conducted their first study with wisdom teeth. They discovered that pulp cells in these third molars did indeed make dentin, but the cells found in baby teeth, called SHED (stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth), had slightly different properties.
"The SHED cells seem to make not only dentin but also something that is similar to bone," Robey said. This "dentin osteogenic material" is a little like bone and a little like dentin -- "unusual stuff," she said.
There is a meticulous process for extracting stem cells from the pulp.
"We very carefully remove any soft tissue that's adhering to the tooth. We treat it with disinfectant, because the mouth is not really that clean," Robey said, laughing.
Scientists then use a dental drill to pass the enamel and dentin -- "kind of like opening up a clam," said Robey -- to get to the pulp. "We take the pulp out, and we digest it with an enzyme to release the cells from the matrix of the pulp, and then we put the cells into culture and grow them."
According to Laning, even very small amounts of dental pulp are capable of producing many hundreds of millions of structural stem cells.
Harvesting dental stem cells is not a matter of waiting for the tooth to fall out and then quickly calling your dentist. When a baby tooth falls out, the viability of the pulp is limited if it's not preserved in the proper solution.
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry President Dr. Jade Miller explained that "it's critical that the nerve tissue in that pulp tissue, the nerve supply and blood supply, still remain intact and alive." Typically, the best baby teeth to harvest are the upper front six or lower front six -- incisors and cuspids, he said.
For a child between 5 and 8 years of age, it's best to extract the tooth when there's about one-third of the root remaining, Miller said: "It really requires some planning, and so parents need to make this decision early on and be prepared and speak with their pediatric dentist about that."
Bassetto found the process easy. All it involved was a phone call to the company recommended by her dentist.
"They offer a service where they grow the cells and save those and also keep the pulp of the tooth without growing cells from it," she said. "I opted for both." From there, she said, the dentist shipped the extracted teeth overnight in a special package.
Bassetto said she paid less than $2,000 upfront, and now $10 a month for continued storage.
So is banking teeth something parents should be doing?
In a policy statement, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry "encourages dentists to follow future evidence-based literature in order to educate parents about the collection, storage, viability, and use of dental stem cells with respect to autologous regenerative therapies."
"Right now, I don't think it is a logical thing to do. That's my personal opinion," said Robey of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. As of today, "we don't have methods for creating a viable tooth. I think they're coming down the pike, but it's not around the corner."
Science also does not yet support using dental pulp stem cells for other purposes.
"That's not to say that in the future, somebody could come up with a method that would make them very beneficial," Robey said.
Still, she observed, if science made it possible to grow natural teeth from stem cells and you were in a car accident, for example, and lost your two front teeth, you'd probably be "very happy to give up a third molar to use the cells in the molar to create new teeth." Third molars are fairly expendable, she said.
Plus, Robey explained, it may not be necessary to bank teeth: Another type of stem cell, known as induced pluripotent stem cells, can be programmed into almost any cell type.
"It's quite a different story than banking umbilical cord blood, which we do know contains stem cells that re-create blood," Robey said.
"So cord blood banking -- and now we have a national cord blood bank as opposed to private clinics -- so there's a real rationale for banking cord blood, whereas the rationale for banking baby teeth is far less clear," Robey said.
And there's no guarantee that your long-cryopreserved teeth or cells will be viable in the future. Banking teeth requires proper care and oversight on the part of cryopreservation companies, she said. "I think that that's a big question mark. If you wanted to get your baby teeth back, how would they handle that? How would they take the tooth out of storage and isolate viable cells?"
Provia's Laning, who has "successfully thawed cells that have been frozen for more than 30 years," dismissed such ideas.
"Cryopreservation technology is not the problem here," he said. "Stem cells from bone marrow and other sources have been frozen for future clinical use in transplants for more than 50 years. Similarly, cord blood has a track record of almost 40 years." The technology for long-term cryopreservation has been refined over the years without any substantial changes, he said.
Despite issues and doubts, Miller, of the pediatric dentistry academy, said parents still need to consider banking baby teeth.
A grandparent, he is making the decision for his own family.
"It's really at its infancy, much of this research," he said. "There's a very strong chance there's going to be utilization for these stem cells, and they could be life-saving."
He believes that saving baby teeth could benefit not only his grandchildren but also their older siblings and various other family members if their health goes awry and a stem cell treatment is needed.
"The science is strong enough to show it's not science fiction," Miller said. "There's going to be a significant application, and I want to give my grandkids the opportunity to have those options."
Aside from cost, Miller said there are other considerations: "Is this company going to be around in 30, 40 years?" he asked. "That's not an easy thing to figure out."
Having taken the leap, Bassetto doesn't worry.
"In terms of viability, you know, if something were to happen with the company, you could always get what's stored and move it elsewhere, so I felt I was protected that way," she said. She feels "pretty confident" with her decision and plans to store her grandchildren's baby teeth.
Still, she concedes that her circumstances may be rare.
"Not everybody's going to be touched by some kind of disease where it just hits home," Bassetto said. "For me, that made it a no-brainer."
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Are baby, wisdom teeth the next wave in stem cell treatment? - CNN
Surprising new role for lungs: Making blood – University of California
Using video microscopy in the living mouse lung, UC San Francisco scientists have revealed that the lungs play a previously unrecognized role in blood production. As reported online March 22, 2017, inNature, the researchers found that the lungs produced more than half of the platelets blood components required for the clotting that stanches bleeding in the mouse circulation.
In another surprise finding, the scientists also identified a previously unknown pool of blood stem cells capable of restoring blood production when the stem cells of the bone marrow, previously thought to be the principal site of blood production, are depleted.
This finding definitely suggests a more sophisticated view of the lungs that theyre not just for respiration but also a key partner in formation of crucial aspects of the blood, said pulmonologistMark R. Looney, a professor of medicine and of laboratory medicine at UCSF and the new papers senior author. What weve observed here in mice strongly suggests the lung may play a key role in blood formation in humans as well.
The findings could have majorimplications for understanding human diseases in which patients suffer from low platelet counts, or thrombocytopenia, which afflicts millions of people and increases the risk of dangerous uncontrolled bleeding. The findings also raise questions about how blood stem cells residing in the lungs may affect the recipients of lung transplants.
The new study was made possible by a refinement of a technique known as two-photon intravital imaging recently developed by Looney and co-authorMatthew F. Krummel, a UCSF professor of pathology. This imaging approach allowed the researchers to perform the extremely delicate task of visualizing the behavior of individual cells within the tiny blood vessels of a living mouse lung.
Looney and his team were using this technique to examine interactions between the immune system and circulating platelets in the lungs, using a mouse strain engineered so that platelets emit bright green fluorescence, when they noticed a surprisingly large population of platelet-producing cells called megakaryocytes in the lung vasculature. Though megakaryocytes had been observed in the lung before, they were generally thought to live and produce platelets primarily in the bone marrow.
When we discovered this massive population of megakaryocytes that appeared to be living in the lung, we realized we had to follow this up, saidEmma Lefranais, a postdoctoral researcher in Looneys lab and co-first author on the new paper.
More detailed imaging sessions soon revealed megakaryocytes in the act of producing more than 10 million platelets per hour within the lung vasculature, suggesting that more than half of a mouses total platelet production occurs in the lung, not the bone marrow, as researchers had long presumed. Video microscopy experiments also revealed a wide variety of previously overlooked megakaryocyte progenitor cells and blood stem cells sitting quietly outside the lung vasculature estimated at 1 million per mouse lung.
The discovery of megakaryocytes and blood stem cells in the lung raised questions about how these cells move back and forth between the lung and bone marrow. To address these questions, the researchers conducted a clever set of lung transplant studies:
First, the team transplanted lungs from normal donor mice into recipient mice with fluorescent megakaryocytes, and found that fluorescent megakaryocytes from the recipient mice soon began turning up in the lung vasculature. This suggested that the platelet-producing megakaryocytes in the lung originate in the bone marrow.
Its fascinating that megakaryocytes travel all the way from the bone marrow to the lungs to produce platelets, said Guadalupe Ortiz-Muoz, a postdoctoral researcher in the Looney lab and the papers other co-first author. Its possible that the lung is an ideal bioreactor for platelet production because of the mechanical force of the blood, or perhaps because of some molecular signaling we dont yet know about.
"Its possible that the lung is an ideal bioreactor for platelet production because of the mechanical force of the blood, or perhaps because of some molecular signaling we dont yet know about."
Guadalupe Ortiz-Muoz, postdoctoral researcher in the Mark Looney Lab
In another experiment, the researchers transplanted lungs with fluorescent megakaryocyte progenitor cells into mutant mice with low platelet counts. The transplants produced a large burst of fluorescent platelets that quickly restored normal levels, an effect that persisted over several months of observation much longer than the lifespan of individual megakaryocytes or platelets. To the researchers, this indicated that resident megakaryocyte progenitor cells in the transplanted lungs had become activated by the recipient mouses low platelet counts and had produced healthy new megakaryocyte cells to restore proper platelet production.
Finally, the researchers transplanted healthy lungs in which all cells were fluorescently tagged into mutant mice whose bone marrow lacked normal blood stem cells. Analysis of the bone marrow of recipient mice showed that fluorescent cells originating from the transplanted lungs soon traveled to the damaged bone marrow and contributed to the production not just of platelets, but of a wide variety of blood cells, including immune cells such as neutrophils, B cells and T cells. These experiments suggest that the lungs play host to a wide variety of blood progenitor cells and stem cells capable of restocking damaged bone marrow and restoring production of many components of the blood.
To our knowledge this is the first description of blood progenitors resident in the lung, and it raises a lot of questions with clinical relevance for the millions of people who suffer from thrombocytopenia, said Looney, who is also an attending physician on UCSFs pulmonary consult service and intensive care units.
In particular, the study suggests that researchers who have proposed treating platelet diseases with platelets produced from engineered megakaryocytes should look to the lungs as a resource for platelet production, Looney said. The study also presents new avenues of research for stem cell biologists to explore how the bone marrow and lung collaborate to produce a healthy blood system through the mutual exchange of stem cells.
These observations alter existing paradigms regarding blood cell formation, lung biology and disease, and transplantation, said pulmonologist Guy A. Zimmerman, who is associate chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine and was an independent reviewer of the new study forNature. The findings have direct clinical relevance and provide a rich group of questions for future studies of platelet genesis and megakaryocyte function in lung inflammation and other inflammatory conditions, bleeding and thrombotic disorders, and transplantation.
The observation that blood stem cells and progenitors seem to travel back and forth freely between the lung and bone marrow lends support to a growing sense among researchers that stem cells may be much more active than previously appreciated, Looney said. Were seeing more and more that the stem cells that produce the blood dont just live in one place but travel around through the blood stream. Perhaps studying abroad in different organs is a normal part of stem cell education.
The study was supported the UCSF Nina Ireland Program in Lung Health, the UCSF Program for Breakthrough Biomedical Research, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), a division of the National Institutes of Health (HL092471, HL107386 and HL130324).
It has been known for decades that the lung can be a site of platelet production, but this study amplifies this idea by demonstrating that the murine lung is a major participant in the process, said Traci Mondoro,project officer at the Translational Blood Science and Resources Branch of the NHLBI. Dr. Looney and his team have disrupted some traditional ideas about the pulmonary role in platelet-related hematopoiesis, paving the way for further scientific exploration of this integrated biology.
Additional authors included Axelle Caudrillier,Beat Mallavia,Fengchun Liu, Emily E. Thornton,Mark B. Headley,Tovo David, Shaun R. Coughlin, Andrew D. Leavitt, David M. Sayah, of UCLA; and Emmanuelle Passegu,a former UCSF faculty member who is now director of the Columbia Stem Cell Initiative at Columbia University Medical Center.
Cover photo:iStock/choja
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Surprising new role for lungs: Making blood - University of California
Bone marrow drive for Allums siblings at ULM, other locations – Monroe News Star
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A bone marrow drive for James Christopher Allums, 21, and his sister Elizabeth, 3, is Monday, May 1 at locations throughout northeast Louisiana.
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The News Star 11:33 a.m. CT April 26, 2017
University of Louisiana Monroe(Photo: Courtesy image)
A bone marrow drive for James Christopher Allums, 21, and his sister Elizabeth, 3, is Monday, May 1 at locations throughout northeast Louisiana.
University of Louisiana Monroe Medical Laboratory Science faculty and students are helping organize the drive. The drive on campus is 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in the SUB and Quad.
May 1 is National Fanconi Anemia Day. James Christopher and Elizabeth suffer from this disease, which is fatal without a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. They are the children of Chris and Ellen Allums.
Melanie Chapman, assistant professor to the School of Health Professions, said, "This is a wonderful opportunity for ULM Warhawks to fly high by working together and setting aside our busy agendas to give two great kids, and possibly others, the chance to live out their years. I am privileged to be a part of ULM and this community effort."
Bone marrow drive locations:
Times vary and new locations may be added. For information, check Facebook The Friends of James Christopher and Elizabeth Allums or visit caringbridge.org and search James Christopher Allums .
MORE NEWS;The Fabulous Equinox Orchestra takes the stage at ULM Friday
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Bone marrow drive for Allums siblings at ULM, other locations - Monroe News Star
Perryville family organizing bone-marrow drive Friday for ailing 6-year-old boy – Southeast Missourian
Wade Watcher
A Perryville, Missouri, family is organizing a bone-marrow registration drive in hopes of finding a match for their 6-year-old son, who needs a bone-marrow transplant.
Wade Watcher's mother Jenni said for the most part, he's a regular 6-year-old.
"Active and funny and adorable," she said. "He's smart and loves to draw. He likes playing basketball. He's a pretty awesome kid."
But for him to continue leading a normal childhood, Watcher likely would need a bone-marrow transplant.
"We knew that he had a rare disease when he was a baby, and so yearly we have to get a bone marrow biopsy to see if his bone marrow is failing," Watcher said. "It had been fairly normal until December. ... It showed his bone marrow was in the stages of failing and that it was kind of like a waiting game to see if he needs to be sent for a bone marrow transplant or not."
Wade, who suffers from Shwachman-Diamond syndrome, a rare congenital disorder, is stable, but his mother said they don't know for how long.
So they're organizing a registration drive for members of the community to sign up to have their cheeks swabbed and see whether they may be a match. The drive will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday at the AMVETS Post 94 in Perryville.
Watcher said she's not sure how many people are scheduled to participate, but she to register as many people ranging in age from 18 to 55 years old people as possible.
"Anybody that can would be amazing," she said. "It would provide a lot of help for our family as well as other families."
Registration involves filling out a form and having a cheek swabbed for about 30 seconds. Donor recruitment coordinator Olivia Haddox said people typically shy away from such drives because they are unsure of what it may mean if they are "matched" with a person in need.
"People are surprised to find how easy it is just to register, but then the next question is always, 'What's going to happen if I get that call?'" she said. "We definitely get that a lot."
There are two ways for the donation to happen if a match is found, she said. About 80 percent of the time, donations are done via peripheral blood stem-cell donation, a four- to eight-hour session in which blood is taken from one arm and filtered through an aphoresis machine to separate the blood from the stem cells. After taking the stem cells, the blood is returned to the donor's body.
"That can kind of be compared to a lengthier platelet or plasma donation," Haddox said. "You don't actually even lose any blood that day; you just lose some stem cells, and you regenerate those in about a week, so what you give you do get back," she said.
People usually watch Netflix while donating, she said, and minor side effects more often come from the series of injections donors receive before the procedure to boost the stem cells. Those injections can cause some fatigue or other side effects.
"Nothing so severe that it might keep anyone out of work," Haddox said. "It's just kind of your body preparing for the donation."
The other, less-common method is an outpatient procedure whereby liquid marrow from the lower back pelvic area is removed.
"And you're actually put under for this procedure, so you're not awake when it happens and you don't feel anything when it happens," Haddox said. "Afterwards, what most people tell me they feel is just a tenderness and a bruising around the site where they removed the marrow. A lot of people equate this to saying, 'I felt like I fell on some ice, and I had a bruise on my hip for a few days.'"
If people can't attend the drive, swab kits can be ordered at dkms.org.
(573) 388-3627
SUPERHUMANS: Mars ‘will be colonised by genetically engineered Star Trek-style beings’ – Express.co.uk
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The way to the Red Planet and other mysterious worlds is being inspired by the villainous Khan from the blockbuster films, according to new research.
The use of stem cell technology may mean the difference between life and death on any attempt to travel beyond Earth into the wilderness of space.
So the first person to walk on Mars is likely to be selected from the growing group of people whose parents took the step to store their child's stem cells at birth.
Stem cells are 'blank' cells that can be reprogrammed to turn into any other cell in the body, enabling the replacement of damaged cells.
More and more British parents, including TV presenter Natalie Pinkham and dancer Darcey Bussell, are paying more than 2,000 to freeze samples from their babies' umbilical cords at birth.
Stem cells are also found in bone marrow and some body tissue, but the procedure to harvest them from umbilical cords is less risky.
Adventurous Mars pioneers will have to be especially prepared for the dangerous trip, which could expose them to cancer and other diseases, through carefully researched gene therapy.
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We wince at the thought of genetically engineered humans
Mark Hall
Mark Hall, spokesperson for the UK's leading stem cell storage and diagnostics company StemProtect, said: "We wince at the thought of genetically engineered humans.
"And we are not going to create a Khan from Star Trek specifically to get to another planet. Getting humans to Mars and beyond will be both expensive and dangerous.
"But the scientific by-products - such as huge leaps in stem cell medicine - will benefit humanity for centuries to come."
Genetic engineering has featured in two Star Trek movies, and a number of TV episodes.
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This still image strikes an uncanny resemblance to a figure of a woman
Khan, who appeared in Space Seed and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, was modified to make him stronger and to give him greater stamina and intellectual capacity than a regular human.
Mr Hall said: "The first human to walk on Mars may not even be born yet - but that's an advantage."
StemProtect believes advanced medical techniques will be required to cope with the rigours of interplanetary space.
While a trip to Mars may appear "just around the corner" in galactic terms, it is highly possible exposure to radiation along the way could lead to the astronauts developing leukaemia and other cancers even before they arrived.
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This means future travellers will have to be 'immunised' before they leave Earth.
Mr Hall said: "There was an article in The Times suggesting elephants would make ideal Martian travellers because they'd be largely immune to the radiation.
"But those laughing at the ridiculous sounding headline completely missed the point - the fact is scientists are already working on ways of getting humans there and back alive."
Recent research has shown radiation in deep space increase the risk of leukaemia while long term exposure to micro gravity may leave astronauts open to infection.
The three year round trip to Mars would affect humans at the stem cell level, leaving them with a drastically lowered immune system, NASA funded scientists say.
And NASA's own findings say stem cells may be crucial to the future of space travel, particularly how they respond in a low gravity environment.
One study showed stem cells flown in space and then cultured back on Earth had greater ability to self renew and generate any cell type, changing more easily into specialised heart muscle cells, for instance.
Mr Hall said an astronaut will have to be prepared for the journey "quite literally at the stem cell level."
He explained: "That means working with the best and most effective stem cells available to the patient - those harvested from the umbilical cord at birth."
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The therapies required to 'immunise' humans to space travel are still being researched.
And with most space based science, it can only mean huge benefits to mankind back down on Earth when it comes to fighting otherwise deadly conditions and diseases.
Stem cells have the ability to treat a potentially infinite range of illnesses and diseases.
Stem cell therapy is already being used all over the world to treat some cancers and stroke victims - and there is fast progress being made in many other areas, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.
Read more from the original source:
SUPERHUMANS: Mars 'will be colonised by genetically engineered Star Trek-style beings' - Express.co.uk
Duluth woman meets the German donor whose stem cells saved her … – Duluth News Tribune
It was Thursday afternoon, and the little girl from near Cologne, Germany, and the 40-year-old Duluth woman had known each other for less than 24 hours. But it was obvious that Edwards already had bonded with Ina and her little sister Mila.
They were together because the girls' mother had given Edwards a much greater gift: the gift of life.
"By your donation, I still get to be a mom," Edwards told Daniela Halfkann, 30. "(You're) a mom, so you completely understand how important it is to be here with your children."
Edwards, the mother of 15-year-old twin boys and the wife of Duluth Fire Chief Dennis Edwards, is alive because of the stem cell transplant she received at the Mayo Clinic on Oct. 31, 2014. As a result, she said, she is in remission from the rare and aggressive form of leukemia with which she had been diagnosed that June.
All she was told at the time of the transplant was that the donor was a woman from Germany.
Halfkann had registered as a potential stem cell or bone marrow donor at the large insurance company where she works in Cologne, she said. One day she received a call, saying her donation was needed.
After the six-hour procedure, Halfkann was told nothing more than that the recipient was a woman in the United States.
After a two-year waiting period required in Germany, the two women learned each other's identities last October and connected via Facebook.
Their meeting in Duluth was arranged by Amanda Schamper, Midwest donor recruitment coordinator for DKMS, the international organization that facilitated the donation.
Halfkann made the trip along with husband Stefan and their daughters, leaving their home at 3 a.m. on Tuesday and arriving at the Duluth International Airport at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
Like Edwards, DKMS wants to raise awareness of the need for people to enter the registry, said Schamper, who also traveled to Duluth for the occasion.
She said 14,000 patients are in need of a peripheral blood stem cell or bone marrow donation, but fewer than half will get one because there's no match on the registry.
"We're looking for a particular protein in our DNA," she explained.
Only in 30 percent of cases are siblings a match. Edwards' brother and sister both had been screened, she said, and neither was a match for her.
Finding a match "is equated to finding your genetic twin, or winning the genetic lottery," Schamper said.
If more people were on the registry a process that only requires taking a swab from your cheek there would be more potential matches. But only 2 percent of eligible Americans are registered, Schamper said.
When the Halfkanns arrived at the gate on Wednesday, Dennis and Merissa Edwards, along with sons Caden and Jaxon, were waiting at the gate.
It was an emotional moment.
"It was hard for me," Merissa Edwards said on Friday, speaking to Daniela Halfkann. "I was crying. I was so emotional, so happy to meet you and hug you."
She wiped away a tear. "I still am."
"It was amazing," Halfkann responded. "I cried at the gate, too."
The Halfkanns, who are staying at the Edgewater, initially focused on recovery from jet lag. But Edwards is making sure they'll get a full taste of Duluth and Minnesota before beginning their return trip to Germany next Saturday. That includes visits to the Mall of America, the Great Lakes Aquarium and a trip up the North Shore.
A "thank-you party," open to the public, is planned on Sunday afternoon. Halfkann also will be recognized on Monday during the Saints Sports Awards ceremony at the College of St. Scholastica, where Edwards is an administrative assistant in the athletics department.
Recovery from the ravages of leukemia has been a long process, Edwards said, but she remains in remission. She gets a PET scan every six months to make sure that's still the case; the next one takes place next week.
Edwards shares her story, she said, not to call attention to herself but to highlight the need for people to take the simple step of registering as a potential donor.
"It's so important for us to help other people keep their families together and save a mother or father or son or daughter," she said. "The more people we can encourage to cheek-swab and get on the registry, the more lives we can help save and help families stay together."
TO LEARN MORE
For more information and to learn how to get on the bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell registry, visit dkms.org.
IF YOU GO
The thank-you party for Daniela Halfkann will be from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday at The Other Place Bar and Grill, 3930 E. Calvary Road.
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Duluth woman meets the German donor whose stem cells saved her ... - Duluth News Tribune
‘It’s amazing!’ Student discovers he’s a potential life-saving bone marrow match – Lincolnshire Echo
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A Lincoln student is set to save someone's life after finding out he was a match for someone who needed a bone marrow transplant.
John-Paul Dickie, the vice-president of academic affairs at the University of Lincoln, said he joined the register after his flatmate told him about it.
He doesn't know the identity of the person whose life he saved, but said he was delighted that he's been able to help someone who was desperate for a transplant.
He said: "My flatmate was involved with Lincoln Marrow, a student-led group trying to sign people up to the British Bone Marrow Register. He was telling me the benefits of it, including the fact it could potentially save someone's life.
READ MORE: Selfless mum marks 50th blood donation with daughter's first
"I signed up in February 2014, so it was a surprise when I heard back earlier this year that I was a potential match. I had some samples taken and eventually I had a date set for the operation in May.
"I'm looking forward to it, as it's an amazing way to help somebody.
"However I'm also a bit hesitant as it will require me to be strapped to a machine for four or five hours. My partner will be there to keep me company and I'll have books and TV to stop me from getting too bored."
When bone marrow is damaged it prevents a person from creating healthy blood cells and transplants like this help to treat the condition.
The transplant requires taking stem cells from the blood or bone marrow of one person and giving them to another.
John-Paul added: "There are two ways to take stem cells. One is taking them out of your back using a needle, which is painful but only 10 per cent of people have. Fortunately, I'm having the more common method in which blood is taken out of one arm, the stem cells are removed and then it is returned in the other arm."
READ MORE: 'Gordon was denied stem cell treatment, but I'll hold him in my heart forever'
Most people who need stem cells will be a match with a close family member. However, if this doesn't work then they will have to wait on the British Bone Marrow Registry.
"It's a great way to contribute and help save someone's life. All you have to do is give a sample of spit to get on the register, the process is so simple and easy. If you're able to do it, I would definitely encourage you to give it a try.
"The procedure is anonymous in case something goes wrong. You can find out their age and sex, but at the moment I don't know anything. After two years, you can apply to find out who they are."
Bone marrow donors need to be aged between 17 and 40 and already registered as a blood donor.
If you meet these criteria interested in signing up to the British Bone Marrow Register, visit their website for more information at: http://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/bonemarrow/
The rest is here:
'It's amazing!' Student discovers he's a potential life-saving bone marrow match - Lincolnshire Echo
Treating Cerebral Palsy With UCB Stem Cells – Financial Tribune
The biggest national project to treat patients with cerebral palsy (CP) through injection of stems cells from umbilical cord blood (UCB) into the brain began its trial run in March. The project is jointly undertaken by Royan Institute, Childrens Medical Center (affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences), and the Iran Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO). In the first phase, it will provide treatment to 130 children with CP between the ages 5-13. The treatment was tested in September 2016 on children with CP in some hospitals, and the results were highly satisfactory. Approximately four in every 1,000 children in Iran have CP while in the developed countries the rate is 2 to 2.5 per 1000 live births. Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term for the effects of damage to a developing brain by various causes. It is connected with a range of symptoms, including muscle weakness and movement problems. The damage to the brain usually occurs early on in its development, either in the baby during pregnancy or during the period soon after birth. Symptoms may include difficulties in walking, balance and motor control, eating, swallowing, speech or coordination of eye movements. Some people affected by CP also have some level of intellectual disability. No two people with cerebral palsy are affected in exactly the same way. The IBTO plans to expand the storage of stems cells from umbilical cord blood to 100,000 samples from the current 80,000, said Ali Akbar Pourfathollah, head of the organization, ILNA reported. Around 75,000 samples have been stored in private banks and 5,000 in public banks, but the number will surpass 100,000 soon, he added.
Valuable Source for Treatment Umbilical blood is a valuable source of hematopoietic stem cells which can be used for treatment of many malignant diseases such as leukemia. Hundreds of transplants have been performed using stem cells from such blood, which is easy and risk free. The use of stem cells reduces the risk of viral diseases transmission and incidence of Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD). The ability to perform organ transplants is among the benefits of umbilical cord blood transfusion. Using stems cells is also one of the best ways to treat blood diseases since the method has a success rate of 70% worldwide. Storage of stem cells is a valuable investment. So far, 27 cord blood banks have been launched across the country. There are two types: public and private banks for stem cell storage. The former does not charge a fee for storage. But in the latter, the cost of collection and genetic testing is about $645 and the annual charge for storage is $33, according to ISNA. Pourfathollah said the IBTO is looking to store stem cells in medical cases when a patient needs to receive treatment from matched unrelated donors. In the past Iranian year (ended March 20), out of the 8,000 stem cell transplantations in the country, only 100 were from matched unrelated donors and the rest came from sibling (or related) donors. IBTO is also looking to set up coagulation/transfusion and HLA/immunogenetics laboratories in the country on par with international standards. The Immunogenetics and HLA Laboratory provides human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing, HLA antibody identification and post-transplant engraftment monitoring services. These tests are required for patients undergoing evaluation for organ transplantation, recipients of bone marrow/stem cell transplants, patients requiring platelet transfusions from HLA-matched donors, and patients undergoing evaluation of particular health conditions.
Read more:
Treating Cerebral Palsy With UCB Stem Cells - Financial Tribune
Duluth woman meets the German donor whose stem cells saved her life – WDAY
It was Thursday afternoon, and the little girl from near Cologne, Germany, and the 40-year-old Duluth woman had known each other for less than 24 hours. But it was obvious that Edwards already had bonded with Ina and her little sister Mila.
They were together because the girls' mother had given Edwards a much greater gift: the gift of life.
"By your donation, I still get to be a mom," Edwards told Daniela Halfkann, 30. "(You're) a mom, so you completely understand how important it is to be here with your children."
Edwards, the mother of 15-year-old twin boys and the wife of Duluth Fire Chief Dennis Edwards, is alive because of the stem cell transplant she received at the Mayo Clinic on Oct. 31, 2014. As a result, she said, she is in remission from the rare and aggressive form of leukemia with which she had been diagnosed that June.
All she was told at the time of the transplant was that the donor was a woman from Germany.
Halfkann had registered as a potential stem cell or bone marrow donor at the large insurance company where she works in Cologne, she said. One day she received a call, saying her donation was needed.
After the six-hour procedure, Halfkann was told nothing more than that the recipient was a woman in the United States.
After a two-year waiting period required in Germany, the two women learned each other's identities last October and connected via Facebook.
Their meeting in Duluth was arranged by Amanda Schamper, Midwest donor recruitment coordinator for DKMS, the Germany-based organization that facilitated the donation.
Halfkann made the trip along with husband Stefan and their daughters, leaving their home at 3 a.m. on Tuesday and arriving at the Duluth International Airport at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
Like Edwards, DKMS wants to raise awareness of the need for people to enter the registry, said Schamper, who also traveled to Duluth for the occasion.
She said 14,000 patients are in need of a peripheral blood stem cell or bone marrow donation, but fewer than half will get one because there's no match on the registry.
"We're looking for a particular protein in our DNA," she explained.
Only in 30 percent of cases are siblings a match. Edwards' brother and sister both had been screened, she said, and neither was a match for her.
Finding a match "is equated to finding your genetic twin, or winning the genetic lottery," Schamper said.
If more people were on the registry a process that only requires taking a swab from your cheek there would be more potential matches. But only 2 percent of eligible Americans are registered, Schamper said.
When the Halfkanns arrived at the gate on Wednesday, Dennis and Merissa Edwards, along with sons Caden and Jaxon, were waiting at the gate.
It was an emotional moment.
"It was hard for me," Merissa Edwards said on Friday, speaking to Daniela Halfkann. "I was crying. I was so emotional, so happy to meet you and hug you."
She wiped away a tear. "I still am."
"It was amazing," Halfkann responded. "I cried at the gate, too."
The Halfkanns, who are staying at the Edgewater, initially focused on recovery from jet lag. But Edwards is making sure they'll get a full taste of Duluth and Minnesota before beginning their return trip to Germany next Saturday. That includes visits to the Mall of America, the Great Lakes Aquarium and a trip up the North Shore.
A "thank-you party," open to the public, is planned on Sunday afternoon. Halfkann also will be recognized on Monday during the Saints Sports Awards ceremony at the College of St. Scholastica, where Edwards is an administrative assistant in the athletics department.
Recovery from the ravages of leukemia has been a long process, Edwards said, but she remains in remission. She gets a PET scan every six months to make sure that's still the case; the next one takes place next week.
Edwards shares her story, she said, not to call attention to herself but to highlight the need for people to take the simple step of registering as a potential donor.
"It's so important for us to help other people keep their families together and save a mother or father or son or daughter," she said. "The more people we can encourage to cheek-swab and get on the registry, the more lives we can help save and help families stay together."
TO LEARN MORE
For more information and to learn how to get on the bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell registry, visit dkms.org.
IF YOU GO
The thank-you party for Daniela Halfkann will be from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday at The Other Place Bar and Grill, 3930 E. Calvary Road.
Go here to read the rest:
Duluth woman meets the German donor whose stem cells saved her life - WDAY
Stem cells and the art of giving – Zee News (blog)
Madhu Srivastava/IANS
Our health scenario has undergone drastic changes over the past few decades. Is it not fair to say that given today`s lifestyles, finding someone who is completely fit and healthy is quite rare?
In an attempt to take precautions, people are doing their best such as exercising, controlling their diet, taking health supplements, undergoing periodic health check-ups and what not. However, these are only precautionary or preventive measures. How can you protect yourself or your family in the worst case of being diagnosed by a disorder that could take you by surprise?
The good news is that while more new diseases are being discovered, medical science is also growing at a matching pace with treatment solutions for such conditions. Here comes the role of stem cells. Stem cell treatment has been found to be a solution for many ailments that are not treatable by conventional methods of surgery or medication. Diseases such as leukemia ans thalassemia can now be treated by stem cells with a hope of survival, which was not possible even a decade or so ago.
As stem cell medicine keeps advancing with more conditions being researched, the future sounds quite promising as more and more disorders that were once considered as permanent or terminal will soon become treatable.
But, the question is, where does one find these stem cells? Well, the answer is, within you; in your bone marrow.
Unfortunately in more than 80 per cent of these disorders, your own stem cells cannot be used and you would need to seek them from someone else. Here comes the challenge of finding a matching donor and someone who is willing to donate his stem cells. Alternatively, you can source stem cells from a public bank which preserves umbilical cord stem cells of donors. Here, in addition to the rarity of finding a matching stem cell of Indian ethnicity, the problem gets compounded with the need of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for stem cell treatment. Seven out of 10 patients who require a matching stem cell do not find a match in their family.
Can this scenario change? Is there a hope for treating such dreaded conditions? The answer is yes. If you are expecting a baby in your family, then you are blessed.
We say a child is a blessing from God, which is true in real terms. While as parents we bless our children, now the baby can bless us to stay protected against such medical conditions.
The baby`s umbilical cord is a rich source of stem cells. These can be collected and preserved at the time of birth for future use so that it can come to the rescue when required. With the new concept of community stem cell banking by one of the leading stem cell banks in the country which preserves a baby`s stem cells by making him/her a member of the community of parents who have also preserved their baby`s stem cells. The stem cell of all the babies within the community forms a collective pool to be accessed by all members.
Hence, at any given time, one can access donor stem cells from this collective pool for treatment, protecting not just your baby but your family too from such ailments. There is only the initial cost of preserving your baby`s stem cells which is much lower than sourcing stem cells from a public stem cell bank. More importantly, the probability of finding a match of Indian ethnicity is higher and stem cells are readily available for treatment when required.
If you are worried about the uncertainties over the health of your family, you can now rest assured that your baby`s birth will now bless your family with the protection of good health.
Duluth woman meets the German donor whose stem cells saved her life – WDAZ
It was Thursday afternoon, and the little girl from near Cologne, Germany, and the 40-year-old Duluth woman had known each other for less than 24 hours. But it was obvious that Edwards already had bonded with Ina and her little sister Mila.
They were together because the girls' mother had given Edwards a much greater gift: the gift of life.
"By your donation, I still get to be a mom," Edwards told Daniela Halfkann, 30. "(You're) a mom, so you completely understand how important it is to be here with your children."
Edwards, the mother of 15-year-old twin boys and the wife of Duluth Fire Chief Dennis Edwards, is alive because of the stem cell transplant she received at the Mayo Clinic on Oct. 31, 2014. As a result, she said, she is in remission from the rare and aggressive form of leukemia with which she had been diagnosed that June.
All she was told at the time of the transplant was that the donor was a woman from Germany.
Halfkann had registered as a potential stem cell or bone marrow donor at the large insurance company where she works in Cologne, she said. One day she received a call, saying her donation was needed.
After the six-hour procedure, Halfkann was told nothing more than that the recipient was a woman in the United States.
After a two-year waiting period required in Germany, the two women learned each other's identities last October and connected via Facebook.
Their meeting in Duluth was arranged by Amanda Schamper, Midwest donor recruitment coordinator for DKMS, the Germany-based organization that facilitated the donation.
Halfkann made the trip along with husband Stefan and their daughters, leaving their home at 3 a.m. on Tuesday and arriving at the Duluth International Airport at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
Like Edwards, DKMS wants to raise awareness of the need for people to enter the registry, said Schamper, who also traveled to Duluth for the occasion.
She said 14,000 patients are in need of a peripheral blood stem cell or bone marrow donation, but fewer than half will get one because there's no match on the registry.
"We're looking for a particular protein in our DNA," she explained.
Only in 30 percent of cases are siblings a match. Edwards' brother and sister both had been screened, she said, and neither was a match for her.
Finding a match "is equated to finding your genetic twin, or winning the genetic lottery," Schamper said.
If more people were on the registry a process that only requires taking a swab from your cheek there would be more potential matches. But only 2 percent of eligible Americans are registered, Schamper said.
When the Halfkanns arrived at the gate on Wednesday, Dennis and Merissa Edwards, along with sons Caden and Jaxon, were waiting at the gate.
It was an emotional moment.
"It was hard for me," Merissa Edwards said on Friday, speaking to Daniela Halfkann. "I was crying. I was so emotional, so happy to meet you and hug you."
She wiped away a tear. "I still am."
"It was amazing," Halfkann responded. "I cried at the gate, too."
The Halfkanns, who are staying at the Edgewater, initially focused on recovery from jet lag. But Edwards is making sure they'll get a full taste of Duluth and Minnesota before beginning their return trip to Germany next Saturday. That includes visits to the Mall of America, the Great Lakes Aquarium and a trip up the North Shore.
A "thank-you party," open to the public, is planned on Sunday afternoon. Halfkann also will be recognized on Monday during the Saints Sports Awards ceremony at the College of St. Scholastica, where Edwards is an administrative assistant in the athletics department.
Recovery from the ravages of leukemia has been a long process, Edwards said, but she remains in remission. She gets a PET scan every six months to make sure that's still the case; the next one takes place next week.
Edwards shares her story, she said, not to call attention to herself but to highlight the need for people to take the simple step of registering as a potential donor.
"It's so important for us to help other people keep their families together and save a mother or father or son or daughter," she said. "The more people we can encourage to cheek-swab and get on the registry, the more lives we can help save and help families stay together."
TO LEARN MORE
For more information and to learn how to get on the bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell registry, visit dkms.org.
IF YOU GO
The thank-you party for Daniela Halfkann will be from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday at The Other Place Bar and Grill, 3930 E. Calvary Road.
See the original post here:
Duluth woman meets the German donor whose stem cells saved her life - WDAZ
Multiple Sclerosis patient successfully treated with bone marrow transplant – Business Standard
In an autologous BMT procedure, the healthy stem cells from the patient are taken out and preserved
IANS | New Delhi April 21, 2017 Last Updated at 05:00 IST
A team of doctors in New Delhi has successfully treated a 24-year-old girl suffering from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) with bone marrow transplant (BMT).
Kanika Juneja was diagnosed with MS an autoimmune disorder where the body's immune system starts attacking the protective sheet covering the nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.
She went through several rounds of treatments but could not be cured. Juneja got another chance at life at Fortis Healthcare where the doctors treated her with BMT.
"In an autologous BMT procedure, the healthy stem cells from the patient are taken out and preserved. Chemotherapy is then administered to reset the body's immunity and then the stem cells are injected back to rescue the person from the side effects of chemotherapy. After the surgery, the patient is kept under isolation for a few months to ensure he/she does not contract any infection," explained Dr Rahul Bhargava, Director, Clinical Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI).
Since conventional steroid injections and immune therapy are expensive and don't promise a cure, Bhargava thought of going for a BMT for Juneja.
Juneja is now actively involved in raising awareness about MS amongst the community through social media.
"I had just completed my college education when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I was lucky because I got diagnosed within a week of my symptoms and could avail treatment options faster," Juneja said.
"In this case, we have proved that bone marrow transplant can be seen as a successful alternate treatment option for multiple sclerosis patients, giving them a fresh shot at life," added Dr Simmardeep Singh Gill, Zonal Director, FMRI, in a statement.
Currently, there are 2.3 million people living with multiple sclerosis worldwide.
A team of doctors in New Delhi has successfully treated a 24-year-old girl suffering from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) with bone marrow transplant (BMT).
Kanika Juneja was diagnosed with MS an autoimmune disorder where the body's immune system starts attacking the protective sheet covering the nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.
She went through several rounds of treatments but could not be cured. Juneja got another chance at life at Fortis Healthcare where the doctors treated her with BMT.
"In an autologous BMT procedure, the healthy stem cells from the patient are taken out and preserved. Chemotherapy is then administered to reset the body's immunity and then the stem cells are injected back to rescue the person from the side effects of chemotherapy. After the surgery, the patient is kept under isolation for a few months to ensure he/she does not contract any infection," explained Dr Rahul Bhargava, Director, Clinical Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI).
Since conventional steroid injections and immune therapy are expensive and don't promise a cure, Bhargava thought of going for a BMT for Juneja.
Juneja is now actively involved in raising awareness about MS amongst the community through social media.
"I had just completed my college education when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I was lucky because I got diagnosed within a week of my symptoms and could avail treatment options faster," Juneja said.
"In this case, we have proved that bone marrow transplant can be seen as a successful alternate treatment option for multiple sclerosis patients, giving them a fresh shot at life," added Dr Simmardeep Singh Gill, Zonal Director, FMRI, in a statement.
Currently, there are 2.3 million people living with multiple sclerosis worldwide.
IANS
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Multiple Sclerosis patient successfully treated with bone marrow transplant - Business Standard
Surprise – Lungs Make Blood, Too – Newsmax
Scientists at the University of California San Francisco have discovered a new function of lungs: They make blood which leads to a new wellspring of stem cells as well.
The astonishing breakthrough comes courtesy of refinement to microscopic video imaging that allows researchers to probe individual cells within blood vessels of a living host's lungs in this case, mice lungs.
The findings have far-reaching implications for human study: Researchers were surprised to find that not only did the lungs produce more blood cells, they did so in volumes that indicated more than half of all platelets in circulation critical for clotting are produced by the lungs.
The significance for the blood stem cells also was compelling. The newly discovered pool of stem cells is capable of restoring blood production when bone marrow stem cells are depleted. This could lead to novel approaches to treating leukemia, a cancer of white blood cells that crowds out red blood cells, and bone cancer, which destroys the body's ability to manufacture red blood cells.
This finding definitely suggests a more sophisticated view of the lungs that theyre not just for respiration but also a key partner in formation of crucial aspects of the blood, said pulmonologist Mark R. Looney, a professor of medicine and of laboratory medicine at the University of California, and the research's senior author. What weve observed here in mice strongly suggests the lung may play a key role in blood formation in humans as well. The report was published online at Nature.com.
The new imaging approach allowed scientists to examine interactions between the immune system and platelets in the lungs. While following the interactions, they discovered a surprisingly large population of cells that produce platelets called megakaryocytes. Though these cells were observed in the lungs previously it was generally though that they exist primarily in bone marrow.
Researchers were baffled and more detailed imaging followed. Once they zeroed in on these cells, they soon realized that they not only took up residence in the lungs, they also were producing 10 million platelets per hour there evidence that more than half of platelet production actually occurs in the lungs (in the mice models).
To be able to track blood stem cells and blood production, researchers transplanted donor lungs to mice with fluorescent-dye-tinted megakaryocytes. They followed the fluorescent cells as they traveled to the new lungs.
In another experiment, scientists wanted to determine if lungs that already had these platelet producers imbedded would spur platelet production in mice with low platelet counts, so they transplanted lungs with fluorescent-tinted megakaryocytes into mice predetermined to have low platelet counts. The transplanted lungs quickly sprung into action and restored normal platelet levels.
In yet another experiment, researchers transplanted healthy lungs with all cells fluorescently tinted into mice without bone marrow blood stem cells. The fluorescent marker cells quickly traveled to the damaged bone marrow and began production of myriad cells including T cells, which are key immune cells.
The exact mechanism behind the bone marrow-lung blood production is not yet known. Its possible that the lung is an ideal bioreactor for platelet production because of the mechanical force of the blood, or perhaps because of some molecular signaling we dont yet know about, said Guadalupe Ortiz-Muoz, a postdoctoral researcher and the researchs co-author. But more research is sure to follow.
Now medical scientists and researchers can zero in on proving in human models that blood components stem cells key among them travel more freely than previously though, which could lead ultimately to advances in treatment options for various blood disorders.
2017 NewsmaxHealth. All rights reserved.
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Surprise - Lungs Make Blood, Too - Newsmax
David Steenblock, D.O., Uses Stem Cells and Other Therapies for Stroke Patients – GlobeNewswire (press release)
April 20, 2017 07:00 ET | Source: David Steenblock, D.O. Inc.
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., April 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- David Steenblock, an osteopathic physician based in San Clemente, CA, uses stem cells and other therapies to achieve significant and improved lifestyle outcomes for many stroke patients.
Many of our cases have demonstrated improved mobility for stroke victims who received stem cell therapy, along with other therapies, including chelation and hyperbaric oxygen, says Dr. Steenblock.
One patient who suffered a stroke several years ago, came to Dr. Steenblocks clinic to undergo the full stroke program. This included EDTA chelation, a procedure that removes heavy metals from the blood, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, along with stem cells from his bone marrow to effect healing and restoration.
After having the bone marrow stem cells, the patients eyesight improved, and both of his knees, which hadnt been working well, were back to functioning almost normally. In addition, his hip joint went back to normal function and he believes his balance when walking has improved tremendously.
The EDTA Chelation Therapy, a treatment used to remove heavy metals from the blood, was used with hyperbaric oxygen, which can lead to significant neurologic improvements for stroke patients.
Dr. David Steenblock is a leading-edge physician in many fields of medicine, from stroke care, to acute brain trauma, to generative and cell-based medicine in the treatment of ALS, Cerebral Palsy and other chronic and degenerative diseases. For more information about Dr. Steenblocks work in stem cell therapies, visit http://www.stemcellmd.org
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David Steenblock, D.O., Uses Stem Cells and Other Therapies for Stroke Patients - GlobeNewswire (press release)
Doctors successfully treat 24-year-old girl MS patient with bone marrow transplant – Zee News
New Delhi: 24-year-old girl, Kanika Juneja, suffering from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) was successfully treated by a team of doctors with bone marrow transplant (BMT).
She was diagnosed with MS, an autoimmune disorder where the body's immune system starts attacking the protective sheet covering the nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.
Juneja went through several rounds of treatments but could not be cured. She got another chance at life at Fortis Healthcare where the doctors treated her with BMT.
Dr Rahul Bhargava, Director, Clinical Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI) explained, "In an autologous BMT procedure, the healthy stem cells from the patient are taken out and preserved. Chemotherapy is then administered to reset the body's immunity and then the stem cells are injected back to rescue the person from the side effects of chemotherapy. After the surgery, the patient is kept under isolation for a few months to ensure he/she does not contract any infection."
Since conventional steroid injections and immune therapy are expensive and don't promise a cure, Bhargava thought of going for a BMT for Juneja.
Juneja is now actively involved in raising awareness about MS amongst the community through social media.
Juneja said, "I had just completed my college education when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I was lucky because I got diagnosed within a week of my symptoms and could avail treatment options faster."
Dr Simmardeep Singh Gill, Zonal Director, FMRI added, "In this case, we have proved that bone marrow transplant can be seen as a successful alternate treatment option for multiple sclerosis patients, giving them a fresh shot at life".
Currently, there are 2.3 million people living with multiple sclerosis worldwide.
(With IANS inputs)
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Doctors successfully treat 24-year-old girl MS patient with bone marrow transplant - Zee News
The Go-To Gene Sequencing Machine With Very Strange Results – WIRED
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The Go-To Gene Sequencing Machine With Very Strange Results - WIRED
8-year-old patient surprises her bone marrow donor at their first … – The Straits Times
SINGAPORE - It was a bone marrow match that defied the odds of one in 20,000 - not once, but twice.
Just months after his first match fell through when the patient withdrew from treatment, Mr Phil Tan, 27, was again identified as a suitable bone marrow donor for another patient.
His donation saved the life of eight-year-old Ryssa, who was diagnosed with a rare blood disease called Myelodysplastic Syndrome about three years ago. Both met for the first time on Wednesday (April 19). Ryssa received the transplant just before her seventh birthday.
Mr Tan was one of 22 Singaporeans who were honoured by Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam for saving the life of a patient through the donation of their bone marrow.
"We celebrate those who have come forward without expecting a benefit, other than making a huge difference in someone else's life. It is the real spirit of giving," said Mr Shanmugam, who is a patron of the Bone Marrow Donor Programme (BMDP).
Bone marrow or blood stem cell transplant is the best treatment option for patients diagnosed with blood diseases such as leukaemia and lymphoma.
At any one time, there are at least 50 patients waiting to find a matching donor.
Siblings of the patient are the first options for a donation, as they have a one in four chance of DNA compatibility for a transplant.
When that fails, the next option would be a match with a volunteer donor registered in the BMDP.
To date, more than 75,000 volunteers have joined the BMDP register, which records the genetic type of each person.
Since 2015, more than 50 Singaporeans have donated their bone marrow to patients in Singapore and overseas, including in the United States, Britain, Canada and France.
The BMDP, which was set up in 1993, aims to increase the size of the local donor register by another 50,000 by next year.
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8-year-old patient surprises her bone marrow donor at their first ... - The Straits Times
Husaini trust plans to perform bone marrow transplants, stem cell therapy – The News International
The Husaini Haematology and Oncology Trust will soon provide facilities of bone marrow transplant and stem cell therapies at its newly established Blood Transfusion Centre and Thalassaemia Centre that was inaugurated by the city director health on Tuesday.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Karachi director health Dr Muhammad Toufique urged the trust officials to share the data of patients undergoing blood transfusions, stem cell therapies and bone marrow transplant.
He said the data would help the Sindh government formulate a plan to establish more such facilities in the future. In addition to the blood screening and storage facilities, the centre is providing blood transfusion service to children suffering from genetic blood disorders as well as diagnostic services related to blood disorders.
This is a state-of-the-art blood transfusion and thalassaemia centre where bone marrow transplant and stem cell therapies would be started very soon, said a renowned haematologist associated with the Husaini Blood Bank, Dr Sarfraz Jaffery, at the inaugural ceremony of the blood transfusion and thalassaemia centre located at Qalandaria Chowk, North Nazimabad.
The head office of the Husaini Haematology and Oncology Trust is equipped with a diagnostic lab, blood bank having storage capacity of around 3,000 blood bags and blood transfusion centre for thalassaemic patients while its management is also planning to introduce bone marrow transplant and stem cell therapy services at the same facility in the near future.
Felicitating the trust officials, the city director health vowed to support them in their services. He said the government was also striving hard for provision of safe blood to thalassaemic children and other patients.
Dr Toufique hoped that institutions like Hussaini would come forward to support the government in establishing such centres in the province. Talking to journalists, the director health said steps were being taken to control the outbreak of Chikungunya in the city.
He said the health department was in contact with the municipal authorities to start fumigation in various areas of Karachi to eliminate the mosquitoes and prevent people from mosquito-borne diseases, including dengue and Malaria.
The Sindh government was planning to merge the Malaria and Dengue Prevention and Control Cells under one project director, who would be utilizing all the resources to eliminate the mosquitoes that were responsible for the deadly infectious diseases in the province, he added.
I would also urge people to take precautionary measures, prevent themselves and their children from mosquitoes by using repellents, improving sanitation conditions in their residential areas and adopt other preventive measures to protect themselves against the mosquitoes, he advised.
Earlier, speaking at a workshop on thalassaemia management held at the same place, noted haematologists of the country stressed the need for promoting the culture of prevention from diseases in the country.
They called for the implementation of laws regarding thalassaemia screening, saying that both the government and private sector could not treat the increasing number of thalassaemic patients.
Senior haematologist from Lahore, Prof Dr Jovaria Mannan, urged the doctors and researchers to use latest research methods in the field of haematology.
Originally posted here:
Husaini trust plans to perform bone marrow transplants, stem cell therapy - The News International
Jonathan Pitre has unexpected surgery to control a blood infection – Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Citizen | Jonathan Pitre has unexpected surgery to control a blood infection Ottawa Citizen Last year, after his first stem-cell transplant, Pitre and his mother were thrilled when doctors discovered new white cells in his bloodstream. But their hopes were crushed when tests showed Pitre's own stem cells had recolonized his bone marrow, and ... |
Excerpt from:
Jonathan Pitre has unexpected surgery to control a blood infection - Ottawa Citizen
Andrews Institute to study stem cells’ impact on knee – Pensacola News Journal
Joseph Baucum , jbaucum@pnj.com Published 4:06 p.m. CT April 16, 2017 | Updated 24 hours ago
Andrews Institute is conducting new stem cell research that could impact the FDA approval of certain treatments. Joseph Baucumjbaucum@pnj.com
Dr. Andrew Anz, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at the Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze is working on cutting-edge stem cell research for cartilage therapy.(Photo: Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com)Buy Photo
By the time most reach age 55, Adam Anz estimatesas much as 30 percent of the population will incur some form of knee degeneration, a problem that equals pain and in many cases, surgery.
Its a problem that were all going to face at some point in our lives, said Anz, orthopaedic surgeon at Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine.
But in May, a new study will begin at Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze that could play a game-changing role in evolving the range of medicine available for treating knee injuries. In the process, the research may also help drive down patients costs.
Anz will help spearhead a study next month into increasing the amount of stem cells doctors are able to harvest from bone marrow transplants with the goal of utilizing those cells to regrow cartilage in knees. Cartilage, a tough and flexible material, is essential to the knee, because it acts as a cushion between the bones in the joint. Damaged cartilage can often necessitate knee replacement.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:Andrews Institute expands prep athletics care in region
In the study, Anz said researchers will attempt to increase the amount of stem cells in participants bone marrow, which would then empty from the marrow into their bloodstream. Researchers would collect the blood, separate the stem cells from it and inject the cells into patients knees. Doctors would then monitor if the marrow cells transform into cartilage cells and spark regeneration.
Its about determining how can we obtain those cells in efficient quantities and put those cells in the right place at the right time to help with healing patients injuries, Anz said.
Because the Food & Drug Administration has not approved the vast majority of stem cell-based remedies, not all treatments involving the cells are available for patients, including the cartilage procedure. For the treatments that are offered, health insurance providers do not cover them without the FDAs consent. Patients who choose to undergo them must pay out-of-pocket prices.
The study at Andrews Institute could push a stem cell cartilage treatment closer to FDA approval and by extension, availability and affordability. The research is an official FDA study. It is led by Khay Yong Saw, a Malaysian physicianwho has already demonstrated conceptual proof of the treatment in an animal study in 2006. He completed a randomized control trial in 2012. This study is the next step in proving the safety and efficacy of the procedure to gain federal endorsement.
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ADDITIONAL CONTENT:Elite athletes just piece of Andrews Institute
Anz, optimistic about the studys potential, emphasized more research must be conducted into the effectiveness of stem cell treatments those already available and those still in the testing phase.
Its important to be excited about technologies, but its also important to be honest with the patients that more must be done to show these treatments are effective, said Anz, who estimated the cartilage study to require two years for participant enrollment and another two years before researchers can observe outcomes.
But some who have undergone stem cell treatments advocate for the procedures federal approval. Jody Falvey, a retired Pensacola resident, had a stem cell procedure conducted at Andrews Institute on her knee in the fall of 2012.
Falvey, 67, tore the medial and lateral meniscus in her knee during a family visit to South Florida while brewing coffee in the morning. The sensation, she said, felt like a knife slicing through her joint.
Following a consultation with Anz, who described an available stem cell treatment known as bone marrow aspirate concentrate, Falvey chose to have the procedure done. The treatment utilized cells from her own body to repair the knee. The process, from procedure to recovery, spanned about two years.
Falvey said her knee does not feel like it ever underwent surgery. The fact that it helped prevent her from having to undergo a knee replacement made the operation even better.
I did not want metal in my body, she said. This was just one of the greatest alternatives I had heard of. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
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Andrews Institute to study stem cells' impact on knee - Pensacola News Journal
Bone Marrow Drive & Fundraiser To Support Sarina Vito, 18, Battling Leukemia – Long Island Press
On March 13th, Sarina Vito, an 18-year-old from Elwood, was preparing to spend a weekend away with her mother ather very first orientation as an incoming fall freshman at High Point University in North Carolina.
Instead, the John Glenn High School seniors entire world was flipped upside down bya devastating phone call: Sarina was diagnosed with acute myeloid (AML) leukemiaa cancer characterized by the production of a large number of abnormal white blood cells inthe bone marrow.
Sarina was immediately admitted into the Cohen Childrens Medical Center, where shewill require a lifesaving bone marrow/stem cell transplant after her third round of chemotherapy. She will also have to undergo fertility treatments in order to be able to have children of her own.
To help Sarina find her donor match as well as raise awareness and much-needed funds for not just her and her familys battle with this disease, but also for childhood cancer foundations, her family, friends and the Elwood community are holding a bone marrow drive and fundraiser at John Glenn High School on Tuesday, April 25, from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (Scroll down for official flier.)
This Bone Marrow Registry Drive & Sarinas Strands of Strength Ponytail Drive will include bone-marrow test swabbing provided by Be The Match Foundation, a bake sale, a raffle with prizes, vendor tables, music by Tony Bruno, and hair extensions by Cactus Salons. Among its proud supporters: Be The Match Foundation, Mondays at Racine, Hair We Share and Cactus Salon.
The Sarina Strong Fund also has a GoFundMe Page collecting donations.
Although Sarina will be missing many things that she worked very hard for, this event will help her and her family in many other ways. As the organizers of this benefit understand, no family should have to suffer the devastating emotional, mental and financial strains a disease such as AML leukemia causes them, especially not alone.
Consider this post an open invitation for local businesses and members of the Long Island community to contribute and lend support by donating baskets, gift certificates, services, raffle prizes, food and/or refreshments, become a sponsor with monetary donations, or simply help spread the wordthats why a special hashtag #SarinaStrong has been created to help raise awareness across social media; spread it far and wide!
Sarina and her family thank you in advance: Together, we can do this!
Featured Photo: The Elwood Community is hosting the #SarinaStrong Bone Marrow Registry Drive & Fundraiser for Sarina Vito, 18, who is battling AML leukemia, at John Glenn High School in Elwood, on April 25, 2017. (Photo: #SarinaStrong GoFundMe page)
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Bone Marrow Drive & Fundraiser To Support Sarina Vito, 18, Battling Leukemia - Long Island Press
Billings Clinic accredited for using stem cell method to ‘successfully treat’ a rare cancer – Billings Gazette
The prognosis was dire when Cheryl Grantham learned she had multiple myeloma, a rare form of cancer, in March 1999.
"I thought I'd be dead by Christmas," she said.
The best treatment to extend her life was a round of specialty high-dose chemotherapy, a course more potent than the normal chemotherapy prescribed to combat more common cancers.
Multiple myeloma is cancer of the plasma cells and the high-dose chemotherapy treatments fight it by destroying the cancerous cells in the bone marrow, where plasma originates. The treatments are intense enough that it can kill a patient. But it's one of the most effective ways to treat the cancer.
So doctors a few decades ago created a workaround using stem cells, extracting them from the patient's blood before administering the high-dose chemotherapy and then transplanting them back in to repair the damaged bone marrow after the chemo has been given.
Stem cells are given back to the patient like a blood transfusion, saidBrock Whittenberger, Grantham's doctor at Billings Clinic.
Billings Clinic has been using this stem cell approach with its myeloma cancer treatments for years, and Whittenberger has been the one performing procedure.
"What it's allowed us to do is successfully treat the cancer," he said. "There's a fairly rapid recovery."
Billings Clinic was recently accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy for its stem cell treatment.With the FACT accreditation, those treatments will be more accessible.
The accreditation also will make it easier for insurance companies to approve the procedure and will allow Billings Clinic to conduct trials on the stem cell treatment.
Billings Clinic is currently the only FACT-accredited center in Montana.
Grantham, who was an infusion nurse at the time of her diganosis, elected to have the treatment and has outlived her initial prognosis by almost two decades.
"I've been fine," she said. "I've been alive for 18 years."
Unexpectedly, the treatments helped her become a better nurse.
"It made me more empathetic," she said.
The stem cell treatment eradicates certain forms of lymphoma but it won't cure Grantham's cancer. At some point themultiple myeloma will return.
Until then, she visits with her doctor every three months for blood work and works to keep her focus on the now.
"With a diagnosis like that you have short-term goals," she said.
Her youngest son was in high school in 1999, and she was still working full time as a nurse. As much as she wanted to crawl under her covers and not face the reality of her cancer diagnosis, she had no choice but to move forward.
"It made me be normal," she said.
And it helped her focus on what was important in the moment. The Christmas before she began her treatments, she took her three sons to the Cayman Islands for the holidays.
"Because everything was going to change," she said."You just do it."
And it's an attitude she still carries. Her youngest son, long graduated from high school, is now married. These days, she's hopeful he'll give her a grandchild.
"That's my goal now," she said, smiling.
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UW Treats First Participant in Trial of Stem-Cell Therapy for Heart Failure – University of Wisconsin-Madison
A research team at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has treated its first patient in an innovative clinical trial using stem cells for the treatment of heart failure that develops after a heart attack.
The trial is taking place at University Hospital, one of three sites nationwide currently enrolling participants. The investigational CardiAMP therapy is designed to deliver a high dose of a patients own bone-marrow cells directly to the point of cardiac injury to potentially stimulate the bodys natural healing response.
The patient experience with the trial begins with a cell-potency screening test. Patients who qualify for therapy are scheduled for a bone-marrow aspiration. The bone marrow is then processed on-site and subsequently delivered directly to the damaged regions in a patients heart in a minimally invasive procedure.
Patients living with heart failure experience a variety of negative symptoms that can greatly impact their day-to-day life, said UW Health cardiologist Dr. Amish Raval, associate professor of medicine and one of the principal investigators for the trial. By being at the forefront of research for this debilitating condition, we look forward to studying the potential of this cell therapy to impact a patients exercise capacity and quality of life.
The primary outcome to be measured is the change in distance during a six-minute walk 12 months after the initial baseline measurement.
Heart failure commonly occurs after a heart attack, when the heart muscle is weakened and cannot pump enough blood to meet the body's needs for blood and oxygen. About 790,000 people in the U.S. have heart attacks each year. The number of adults living with heart failure increased from about 5.7 million (2009-2012) to about 6.5 million (2011-2014), and the number of adults diagnosed with heart failure is expected to dramatically rise by 46 percent by the year 2030, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).
The CardiAMP Heart Failure Trial is a phase III study of up to 260 patients at up to 40 centers nationwide. Phase III trials are conducted to measure effectiveness of the intervention, monitor side effects and gather information for future use of the procedure. Study subjects must be diagnosed with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class II or III heart failure as a result of a previous heart attack.
Information about eligibility or enrollment in the trial is available at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, or through a cardiologist.
The trial is funded by Biocardia, Inc., which developed the potential therapy.
Date Published: 04/17/2017
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UW Treats First Participant in Trial of Stem-Cell Therapy for Heart Failure - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ensure Medicare Access to Blood and Marrow Transplants for Seniors with Cancer – Morning Consult
Last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services enacted a significant policy change improving access to blood and marrow transplants for Medicare patients diagnosed with life-threatening blood cancers. The change came in the form of a Medicare rule on how outpatient blood and marrow transplants are reimbursed by the federal health care program beginning on Jan. 1, 2017.
While this move a step in the right direction, this rule does not address the vast majority of transplants (97 percent) that are performed in the inpatient setting. Sadly, Medicare continues to provide inadequate reimbursement to hospitals performing inpatient transplants and this limitation threatens to limit access to seniors needing this lifesaving therapy.
It is estimated that a new patient is diagnosed with a blood cancer every three minutes. More than 170,000 Americans will receive a blood cancer diagnosis like leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma this year alone; approximately 1.2 million Americans currently live with these diseases.
Blood and marrow transplants using a donor (allogeneic transplants) remain the only curative treatment for many blood cancers. The process of transplantation typically involves treating the patient with chemotherapy and then restoring healthy cells in the recipient by an infusion of blood or bone marrow stem cells, obtained from a matched related or unrelated donor or from umbilical cord blood. These donor cells also help to eliminate any cancer cells that survive chemotherapy.
The fatal blood diseases that require transplants occur most commonly in older individuals, who are also most likely to be covered by Medicare. Historically, the risks of transplant were too great to allow us to safely transplant many seniors. However, rapid clinical advances have resulted in dramatically improved outcomes in older adults. In fact, patients over the age of 65 are now the most rapidly growing population in U.S. transplant centers.
Despite the overwhelming clinical evidence demonstrating the curative potential of transplants in older patients, transplant access for seniors is threatened by Medicares chronic underfunding for both the transplant itself and the costs required to obtain matched bone marrow or cord blood. Medicare, for the most part, adequately reimburses transplants of solid organs such as hearts and lungs, appropriately covering the costs of acquiring those organs.
Surprisingly, Medicare treats the cost of acquiring bone marrow differently. Currently, Medicare pays for the cost of acquiring bone marrow and the transplant procedure and hospitalization in a single payment. Unfortunately, the amount currently reimbursed falls well short of the costs of providing the complex care required for blood and marrow transplant recipients, who are vulnerable to complications including infections in the post-transplant period. Unlike solid organ transplants, the cost of obtaining unrelated donor blood, bone marrow or cord blood is not directly and completely reimbursed.
This inadequate reimbursement threatens the ability of transplant centers to continue to take on the complex care of seniors with blood cancers. Unless reimbursement policies change, some seniors may face limited access to their only curative treatment option.
Thanks to national investment in research and continued innovation, seniors diagnosed with cancer today have more treatment options than they had in the past. Poor federal reimbursement policies must be updated to provide patients with access to the treatments that offer them the best possible outcomes, including transplantation.
While last years policy change was a marked improvement in reimbursement for those three percent of transplants occurring in the outpatient setting, it is important that similar payment reforms now address themajority of blood and marrowtransplants that are performed as inpatient procedures.
I urge Medicare to revise its payment policies for blood and marrow transplants to strengthen reimbursement in the inpatient hospital setting to ensure American seniors the full range of life-saving treatment options for cancer that they deserve.
Krishna Komanduri is president of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation and the Kalish Family Chair in Stem Cell Transplantation, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Morning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be foundhere.
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Ensure Medicare Access to Blood and Marrow Transplants for Seniors with Cancer - Morning Consult
DKMS Creates Celebrity Driven #Castingforahero Campaign – Yahoo Finance
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
DKMS, the international non-profit leading the fight against blood cancer, teamed with the film industry and launched #CastingforaHero, a campaign designed to raise awareness about diversity in bone marrow donation and to urge more people to swab their cheeks and register as potential lifesaving bone marrow/blood stem cell donors. The campaign was first launched by actor/producer Vin Diesel, has been supported on social media by Fast franchise players Tyrese Gibson, Cris Bridges (Ludacris), Don Omar and the brother of late actor Paul Walker, Cody Walker, and will be joined by other cast members to support the campaign this month. It has also garnered support by a number of celebrities including Guardians of the Galaxy actress, Zoe Saldana and Larenz Tate. Tate appeared on the television show POWER, alongside Charlie Murphy, who passed away earlier this month from complications related to blood cancer.
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Diesel launched the campaign on his Instagram (@vindiesel) posting, Today, premiere day (April 8), I am proud to launch#CastingforaHero- a campaign to save lives by increasing the multicultural community's presence in the worldwide bone marrow registries.
The campaign was conceived by DKMS through a partnership with Samantha Vincent, (Executive Producer, the Fate of the Furious) and Frank E. Flowers (Director, Haven) after they lost a family member to leukemia and became aware of the overwhelming odds faced by minorities and those of mixed race backgrounds of finding an unrelated match due to being underrepresented on the registry. Of all donors registered only 6% are African American, 9% are Hispanic/Latino, 6% are Asians, and 4% are Mixed Race.
In partnership with the community, one of the nations premier cross cultural creative advertising agencies, the #castingforahero concept was developed and executed through social and experiential channels leveraging key influencers with the goal of raising awareness and activating younger donors. The campaign was launched with the support of Universal Pictures, Saturday, April 8 during the Fate of the Furious #F8 premiere at Radio City Music Hall in NYC, with #castingforahero photo booths present at the F8premiere after party which gave VIP guests an opportunity to register.
In the companion video, written and directed by Flowers and produced by Andrew Molina, Anne McCarthy (Casting Director, Furious 7) and her associates audition real-life unknown actors for a hero role where they are asked to cold-read scripts about the lack of diversity on the bone marrow registry. The actors become emotional upon learning the scripts are in fact about themselves and their own chances to beat a disease like leukemia if there are not enough potential donors registered who share the same ancestry. The video calls for more trueheroes potential bone marrow/blood stem cell donors to join the effort to fight blood cancer and help find more matches for people of all ethnic backgrounds.
The newly launched website, castingforahero.com, allows people to create their own casting photo with custom skins representing unique identities and share on their social media platforms, while directing them to register with DKMS as a potential lifesaving donor.
Each year thousands of people lose the fight against blood cancer because they are unable to find their hero: a lifesaving bone marrow match, said Katharina Harf, co-founder of DKMS US. #CastingforaHero will help bring attention to the need for more diversity among potential bone marrow donors. By registering to become a DKMS donor, you can change the odds and become a life-saving hero yourself.
For more information about #CastingforaHero, visit http://www.castingforahero.com. To learn more about DKMS or register as a potential lifesaving donor, please visit http://www.dkms.org/register or @dkms.us.
About DKMS
DKMS is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating blood cancers like Leukemia and other blood-related illnesses inspiring both men and women around the world to register as bone marrow and blood stem cell donors. DKMS is providing patients with a second chance at life, working closely with families from diagnosis to transplant and beyond. The donor journey begins with a swab of the cheek that takes less than 60 seconds and can be the action that leads to a lifesaving transplant. DKMS, originally founded in Germany in 1991 by Dr. Peter Harf, has organizations in Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The U.S. office was started in 2004. Globally, DKMS has registered more than 7.2 million people. To join the fight against blood cancer or for more information, please go to dkms.org or @DKMS.us.
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