I just couldn't believe it. I read in one discussion forum where one person made a big stink about a current year long study using a deaf baby's own cord blood stem cells to treat the baby's own sensorineural deafness (which has so far appears to continue to
help restore the baby's hearing loss) saying it needs to be experimented on animals first to determine the safety of cord blood stem cells. First off, the blood cord stem cells are compatible only to the baby and not in some animal. That sort of ill-conceived logic was enough to make my jaw drop. Secondly, cord blood stem cells are being used to treat a variety of conditions and even injuries such as
Traumatic Brain Injury in children in one study which uses the same IV infusion process as with deaf children in a hearing loss treatment Phase I study.
A ground-breaking clinical trial is now underway at The University of
Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) is an innovative step
in a growing number of studies exploring the potential of stem
cell-based therapies to help initiate repair and induce healing of
damaged brain tissue. The study is being performed in partnership with
Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital, UTHealth's major children's
teaching hospital.
The trial will involve children who have sustained traumatic brain
injuries and who have access to their own umbilical cord blood stem
cells, which were banked at birth. Children who meet the trial
qualifications will travel to Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital to
receive an IV infusion of their cord blood stem cells. They will then be
followed at six months, one year and two years.
"The reason we have become interested in cord blood cells is because
of the possibility of autologous therapy, meaning using your own cells.
And the preclinical models have demonstrated some really fascinating
neurological preservation effects to really support these Phase 1
trials," says Charles S. Cox, M.D., Children's Fund Distinguished
Professor of Pediatric Surgery and Pediatrics at the UTHealth Medical
School, director of the Pediatric Trauma Program at Children's Memorial
Hermann Hosptial, and principle investigator of the trial. "There's
anecdotal experience in other types of neurological injuries that
reassures us in terms of the safety of the approach and there are some
anecdotal hints at it being beneficial in certain types of brain
injury."
The Phase I safety study will enroll 10 children ages 18 months to 17 years who have suffered moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and are within 6 to 18 months of their injury.
People need to understand the potential self-healing (literally) factors of using your own cord blood stem cells. According to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) on cord blood stem cells:
Cord blood is one source of stem cells that has shown promise in
preclinical research and is now being explored in experimental
treatments for patients with brain injury. In the preclinical or lab
setting, research has shown that cord blood stem cells have the ability
to divide and change into neural-like cells. Additionally, these
stem cells have been shown to migrate to the area of injury, and to
secrete therapeutic factors, which may help repair brain damage. Further preliminary findings from studies underway at UTHealth indicate
that cord blood stem cells may also alter the body's immune response to
injury, by interacting directly with the organs and cells of the immune
system that enable the body to better repair itself.
In other words, you could possibly (and literally so) heal thyself using your own cord blood stem cells by enabling your body, in the example of
hearing loss in babies, to better repair itself. Especially among babies who gets treated early on and with the help of their own cord blood stem cells, and if it turns out to be successful for the full restoration on hearing, then it becomes a cure. This process would allow deaf babies early on take advantage of the 4 year window of opportunity to take advantage of the active auditory cortex and be able to grow up as a hearing person in every respect. With this Traumatic Brain Injury study and the
Hearing Loss study. We should know more the results of these studies by next year on whether cord blood stem cells treatment is a success or not.
