How do you send a message to everyone ??????

-----Original Message-----
From: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Linda J Herman
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2004 6:48 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: please help us to understand...


Joan,
I'll give it a try.
According to the following explanation from the NIH 's report "Stem
Cells: Scientific Progress and Future Research Directions" , umbilical
cord blood stem cells are considered  to be  a type of  hematopoietic
(blood forming) stem cell.
"A hematpoietic stem cell is a cell isolated from the blood or bone
marrow that can renew itself, can differentiate to a variety of
specialized cells, can mobilize out of the bone marrow into circulating
blood, and can undergo programmmed cell death."

The sources of these cells are:  bone marrow, peripheral blood and
umbilical cord blood. They are  currently being used to treat certain
types of diseases ( but not PD or other neurological diseases) see below:

FROM: Stem Cells: Scientific Progress and Future Research Directions ,
ch. 5
" With more than 50 years of experience studying
 blood-forming stem cells called hematopoietic stem
 cells, scientists have developed sufficient understanding
 to actually use them as a therapy. Currently, no
 other type of stem cell, adult, fetal or embryonic,
 has attained such status. Hematopoietic stem cell
 transplants are now routinely used to treat patients
 with cancers and other disorders of the blood and
 immune systems. Recently, researchers have
 observed in animal studies that hematopoietic stem
 cells appear to be able to form other kinds of cells,
 such as muscle, blood vessels, and bone. If this can
 be applied to human cells, it may eventually be
 possible to use hematopoietic stem cells to replace
 a wider array of cells and tissues than once thought.

 "Despite the vast experience with hematopoietic stem
 cells, scientists face major roadblocks in expanding
 their use beyond the replacement of blood and
 immune cells. First, hematopoietic stem cells are
 unable to proliferate (replicate themselves) and
 differentiate (become specialized to other cell types) in
 vitro (in the test tube or culture dish). Second, scientists
 do not yet have an accurate method to distinguish
 stem cells from other cells recovered from the blood
 or bone marrow. Until scientists overcome these
 technical barriers, they believe it is unlikely that
 hematopoietic stem cells will be applied as cell
 replacement therapy in diseases such as diabetes,
 Parkinson’s Disease, spinal cord injury, and many others...."

 Umbilical Cord Blood

 "In the late 1980s and early 1990s, physicians began
 to recognize that blood from the human umbilical
 cord and placenta was a rich source of HSCs. This
 tissue supports the developing fetus during pregnancy,
 is delivered along with the baby, and, is usually discarded.
 Since the first successful umbilical cord
 blood transplants in children with Fanconi anemia,
 the collection and therapeutic use of these cells has
 grown quickly. The New York Blood Center’s Placental
 Blood Program, supported by NIH, is the largest U.S.
 public umbilical cord blood bank and now has
 13,000 donations available for transplantation into
 small patients who need HSCs. Since it began collecting
 umbilical cord blood in 1992, the center has
 provided thousands of cord blood units to patients.
 Umbilical cord blood recipients—typically children—
 have now lived in excess of eight years, relying on the
 HSCs from an umbilical cord blood transplant "

Report home page:
 http://stemcells.nih.gov/stemcell/scireport.asp
Chapter on hematopoietic stem cells
 http://stemcells.nih.gov/stemcell/pdfs/chapter5.pdf

--------------------------------------
 I think by trying to compare the research or possible therapeutic value
of  cord blood cells with embryonic stem cells,  we get into similar
problems as when people compare adult and embryonic stem cell research. I
think too little is currently known about any type of stem cells to be
able to claim that their possible  future therapeutic benefits will be
the same for all types of diseases, or that one type of stem cell could
be substituted for another.

I am not aware of any  current Parkinson's research  involving umbilical
cord blood stem cells. Maybe others are. I have read about two rodent
studies that have showed promise for actually treating PD symptoms with
embryonic stem cells.

Dr. Ron McKay of the NIH  was able to convert  human embryonic stem cells
 into doamine producing cells. When  these cells were transplanted into
mice , their Parkinson-like symptoms were alleviated.

Additionally last Sept., researchers at Sloan Kettering reported
successfully using therapeutic cloning techniques to cure  symptoms of
Parkinson's disease in mice.

" The findings show therapeutic cloning "is not just a theoretical  idea
but that it can work in an animal model and cure  symptoms of a disease,"
said Dr. Lorenz Studer, who led the new
 study and heads the Stem Cell and Tumor Biology  Laboratory at Sloan
Kettering.... The study appears in the October issue of Nature
Biotechnology.  "

Someday,  unbilical cord stem cells might be able to be used to form
dopamine producing neural cells and be transplanted into the brain to
treat PD.  Or possibly adult stem cells will be found to offer the most
promise. Or maybe embryonic stem cells might prove to be the key to the
cure  --  but we won't know unless research on all types of stem cells is
allowed to continued.

Linda

On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 17:21:36 -0600 Joan E Snyder <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
> hello. i need help please. i am asking anyone and everyone on this
> list,
> not for their opinion (i'm sure that everyone has one--but i need
> straight talk and medical research) to help me to understand the
> differnece between embroyonic stem cells and cord blood stem cells.
> is
> one supurior to the other...is one completely without merit when it
> comes to possibily curing neurological disorders and is one
> completely
> sure to hold the "cure?" i am asking because i need to know this
> informationl. Dr. Barglow, Raj, Dr. Etzold or Dr. Fink: anyone care
> to
> take this on??
>
> --
>
> Joan E. Blessington Snyder       51/13
> http://www.pwnkle.com/jes/jes_web/index.htm
> <[log in to unmask]>
> "Hang tough...........no way through it but to do it."
> Chris-in-the-Morning   (Northern Exposure)
>
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