2009Issue 3

Future Health to offer Mesenchymal Stem Cell service!

You may already be familiar with the phrase Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs). These are the cord blood cells that Future Health are already fully accredited to collect and store. The ones already used in a whole host of medical therapies.

Now, we’re delighted to announce that we will be offering a new service - for the processing and storage of Cord Tissue Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs).

Like HSCs, MSCs are also derived from the umbilical cord, only unlike HSCs, which are extracted from the blood, MSCs are derived from the cord tissue.

What’s more, they’re found in greater numbers and can be cultured and multiplied successfully under controlled laboratory conditions.

MSCs have been found to be important in many therapeutic applications such as Tissue engineering, Gene Therapy, Tissue Reconstruction and Regeneration. Current research shows that these MSCs may have even greater potential use in medical therapies than HSCs. Until recently, the most conventional source of MSCs has been bone marrow. However, the ones found in Cord Tissue are younger and more versatile.

A recent study compared mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow and cord blood. Cord tissue mesenchymal stem cells were capable of expansion to approximately 20 times, whereas bone marrow derived cells expanded 5 times.1 This, and other studies, also support the important role of mesenchymal stem cell content in the biological activities of the cord blood graft. More details coming soon on our new website!

Reference: 1. Kern S, Eichler H, Stoeve J, Kluter H, Bieback K: Comparative

Analysis of Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Bone Marrow, Umbilical Cord Blood or Adipose Tissue. Stem Cells Vol. 24 No. 5 May 2006 (1294-1301) AlphaMed Press..

BREAKING

NEWS!

Safe hands - for today and tomorrow

Roger J Dainty. Director, Future Health

A very warm welcome to this the latest issue of Celltalk. As with every edition of Celltalk, this one gives you not only a fascinating insight into the latest developments in the world of cord blood stem cell storage and technology, but also shows you the touching human face of those developments.

The world of stem cell technology is seldom out of the news these days, which only serves to show just how fast the science is moving, bringing new therapies into today’s treatment strategies, and also paving the way for even more exciting ones in the future.

In a world where global business and finance seems less secure than it has done for decades, we at Future Health are pleased to reassure you that your children’s stem cells are in safe hands, stored securely in one of the UK and Europe’s top cord blood banks.

One that is joining forces with the Government to ensure that cord blood banking becomes a viable and vital option for all parents.

Thank you again for choosing Future Health.

MSCs (Microscope photo)

+44 (0)115 967 7707

Stem cell windpipe breakthrough Ground-breaking stem cell surgery was carried out last June in Barcelona. Physicians from four European universities teamed up to perform the first ever tissue-engineered whole organ transplant. The operation, on a 30-year old mother-of-two whose lung had been damaged by tuberculosis, used a windpipe made with the patient’s own stem cells. Scientists in the UK, in Bristol, helped to grow the cells for the transplant.

The breakthrough also means that for the first time, tissue transplants can be carried out without the need for organ-rejection drugs. The UK medical journal The Lancet, reports that five months after the operation, the patient, Claudia Castillo, is in perfect health.

“We are terribly excited by these results,” said Prof. Paolo Macchiarini of the University of Barcelona, who performed the operation. “Just four days after transplantation the graft was almost indistinguishable from adjacent normal bronchi.”

Government recommends national policy on cord blood bankingThe final report from the Government’s review of cord blood banking, which started in early 2008, has just been published.

Conducted by Technopolis, on behalf of the Department of Health, the review surveyed both the UK picture and practices in other countries to come up with a number of recommendations. These are to:

• Develop a national policy on cord blood, which would include the aim of increasing future rates of public donation/collection

• Create a Ministerial advisory committee to assist in forming this policy, involving representatives from the full chain of collection, storage and use, including the private sector

• Commission further research on public-private models

• Develop marketing guidelines for private cord blood companies to ensure accurate information is available to parents

• Develop further insight into the place of cord blood stem cell research in relation to other stem cell research options

• Investigate the views of the British public on public donation versus private storage

Landmark operation: Claudia Castillo has an artificial airway created entirely from her own stem cells.

More space and new labs for Future Health! As if to underline the growth in Future Health’s success and increased number of samples stored, we have recently added an extra 7,500 sq ft onto our laboratories.

The newly acquired space will allow us to accommodate further storage tanks to meet the needs of our expansion programme. It will also be home to the specialist laboratories designed to service our new Cord Tissue Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) service.

Said Future Health Director Roger Dainty, “Offering Cord Tissue Mesenchymal Stem Cell processing and storage is an exciting new development for Future Health. The expansion of our facility is something that’s been on the cards for some time, and will only serve to further enhance the breadth of services that Future Health offer.”

Heartening news for cord bloodStem cells from umbilical cord blood may provide the raw material to repair the hearts of thousands of babies born each year with defective heart valves, according to data presented at the recent American Heart Association annual meeting.

Congenital heart defects - or problems with the heart’s structure that are present at birth - are the most common type of major birth defect.1 When infants are born with malfunctioning heart valves that can’t be surgically repaired, they rely on replacements from animal tissue, compatible human organ donations or artificial materials. These replacements are lifesaving, but don’t grow and change shape as a child develops.

Cardiologists from the University Hospital of Munich report they are about five years away from transplanting new heart valves into children with heart defects, made from the children’s own cord blood.2

References: 1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website

(www.cdc.gov/heartdisease). About Heart Disease section. 2. Waters R. Cord Blood Stem Cells May Help Repair Babies’

Heart Defects. Bloomberg news website (www.bloomberg.com) November 10, 2008.

Stem cell transplant probability could be 1 in 200According to a paper published in the March 2008 edition of the American academic journal Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation1, the probability of an individual receiving a stem cell transplant during their lifetime has been severely underestimated and may be as high as 1 in 200.

Using US data from 2001-3, researchers calculated the lifetime probability (age 0-70) that an individual will undergo a stem cell transplant and found that: 1 in 435 people will receive their own stem cells for treatment; 1 in 400 will receive someone else’s stem cells and that the combined total number of stem cell transplants should be 1 in 217.

The paper reported that, given current indications, the lifetime probability of undergoing autologous or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is much higher than previously reported by others and could rise even higher with increases in donor availability and HSCT applicability.

Reference: 1. Nietfeld JJ et al. Lifetime probabilities of hematopoietic stem

cell transplantation in the U.S. Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation 2008 Mar; 14(3): 316-22.

Future Health joins parliamentary cord blood groupFollowing on from the publishing of the Government’s latest review on cord blood banking, we’re delighted to report that Future Health were recently invited to be part of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Umbilical Cord Blood and Adult Stem Cells, held on February 25th 2009.

The report, which amongst other things, recommends a national policy on cord blood, also acknowledged the barriers that exist within some NHS hospitals, for those wishing to collect and store their children’s cord blood stem cells. It also pointed out areas for development within the UK, to make this more widely available at both public and private level.

Hopefully, this will lead to more openness in the system and the opportunity for all pregnant women to be informed about their choices for their baby’s cord blood so that fewer cords are just thrown away.

Parents fight for cord blood collection

Despite the simplicity and importance of umbilical cord blood collection and storage, there are still some hospitals whose policy prohibits this essential service, as Ian and Vickkie Barstow found out.

After having their pregnancy confirmed, they heard about cord blood stem cell collection and storage, and immediately decided that this service was an absolute ‘must’ for their baby.

They looked around and were so impressed by Future Health that they signed up there and then. Unfortunately, after receiving a positive reaction from their midwife, the hospital refused, saying it wasn’t their policy as it might interfere with the birth.

A phone call to Future Health assured Vickkie that they could arrange for a Phlebotomist (a qualified Healthcare Professional trained to collect blood samples) to do the procedure. The hospital finally relented, and on the big day, the phlebotomist took the cord blood sample easily and with no disturbance, whilst baby Emma was coming into the world.

Said proud father Ian, “Future Health were fantastic. They supported us at every stage, helped and reassured us when it was needed most. Vickkie and I were determined to ensure Emma’s stem cells were saved. We hope she never has a need to use them but it gives us tremendous reassurance knowing that they are there. Hospitals need to understand more about stem cell storage and I can’t understand why everyone can’t have access to this wonderful process.”

Cord blood stem cells - the gift of life! No match could be found to provide bone marrow to help 4-year-old Taja Harris battle leukemia, until the birth of her brother whose cord blood saved her.

Right after brother Adyn’s birth, the cord blood, rich with bone marrow-type stem cells, was collected from the umbilical cord and later transfused into Taja in the first sibling cord blood transplant in Hawaii.

Adyn’s middle name is Kamakanaokeola, meaning “the gift of life”.

Taja, now a healthy and happy 7-year-old, loves to run, tumble and play with her older sister and younger brother, now 2, whose blood DNA she shares.

Cord blood helps 2 yr old with Cerebral PalsyIn 2008, 1 yr old Chloe Levine was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Before a one-time treatment at Duke University, North Carolina in May 2008, the right side of her body was paralysed and she had speech problems.

Just two days after Chloe’s stem cell infusion, of cells taken from her own cord blood at birth as an act of foresight by her parents, she started doing things that she had never done before. The Levines immediately noticed Chloe’s clenched right hand relaxing, and instead of dragging her right leg, she began walking normally.Then, one simple word uttered from the back seat of her parents car signaled a giant leap forward. She said her nickname “Coco” for the first time.

For mum Jenny Levine, Chloe’s ongoing recovery is equal parts science, magic and miracle.

“It’s exciting,” said Dr. Brian Freed, director of the University of Colorado Cord Blood Bank at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine.

Stem cell hearing aids?According to an Italian research team, hearing loss due to cochlear damage may be repaired by transplantation of human umbilical cord hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). In their test, they showed that a small number of cells migrated to a damaged cochlea and repaired sensory hair cells and neurons.1

“Our findings show dramatic repair of damage,” said Roberto P. Revoltella, MD, PhD, lead author of the study. He added that the results suggest the possibility of an “emerging strategy for inner ear rehabilitation...providing conditions for the resumption of deafened cochlea.”

“This study provides hope for a potential treatment for the repair of hearing impairments, particularly those arising as a consequence of cochlear damage,” said David Eve, PhD, at the University of South Florida Health, and associate editor of Cell Transplantation.

When 24 year old Indian Pinky Barman sought to get pregnant last year, her parents squirmed, her doctor wasn’t sure if she could carry it through, and her husband thought she was being too ambitious.

The reason? Pinky is thalassaemic.

Thalassaemia is the name given to a group of inherited blood disorders that affect the body’s ability to create red blood cells. In mild forms, it can cause anaemia. The most serious types can cause organ damage, restricted growth, liver disease, heart failure and even death.

Undaunted, Pinky went ahead and after months of treatment and 15 blood transfusions, she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.

The newborn has not only brought smiles back to the Barman household but could also cure his mother of the potentially life-threatening ailment. Stem cells taken from cord blood are being used to treat Pinky’s thalassaemia, which, doctors said, has never happened anywhere in the world.

This is the first time a mother’s thalassaemia is being treated with stem cells taken from her child’s umbilical cord.

Reference: 1. Revoltella R et al. Cochlear Repair by Transplantation of Human Cord

Blood CD133+ Cells to Nod-Scid Mice Made Deaf With Kanamycin and Noise. Cell Transplantation 2008; (Vol 16): 665-678.

Thalassaemic mum’s baby could cure her

a newbeginning

Hi there! I’m Julia Irving, and I’m Future Health’s new Scientific Director. I’ll be writing a ‘blog’ for all future editions of Celltalk, and I think the perfect way to start things off would be to tell you a bit about myself, so here goes.

I studied Biological Sciences at Manchester University, got my degree, and went on to study for my PhD at the Christie Hospital with Professor Shant Kumar, looking at the effects of different collagens on blood vessel formation in vitro. This was the start of my blood vessel themed tissue engineering journey.

Moving from the Christie Hospital to Manchester University, I worked in the pathology department on a Wellcome trust grant using advances in molecular biology and microbial techniques to detect phage display antibodies against blood vessels - a bit like finding a needle in a very large haystack.

Then, four years ago, in January 2005, my career took a sideways turn, and I moved from academia into industry, to become Production Manager for the Skin Tissue Bank CellTran in Sheffield. A job I thoroughly relished.

Working with a third party contractor sparked my interest in stem cell banking…which brings us round nicely to my new career position as Scientific Director of Future Health.

Without doubt this is the most exciting move of my career to date, and I’m relishing both the challenges it will bring, and simply being an integral part of a very exciting field.

Well, that’s enough about me. Look out for my future blogs, where I’m sure I’ll have much more interesting things to talk about. Bye for now!

Julia’s Blog

NEW! And finAlly…

Stem cell collection and storage is something that parents all over the world are looking to for the future health of their children.

As one of the world’s pioneers in Cord Blood banking, we at Future Health are always looking for innovative ways to enhance the global growth of this service.

For instance, we recently formed an exciting partnership with another pioneer - Algosaibi, healthcare visionaries in Saudi Arabia for the past 65 years. With their help, we will be able to improve awareness of private cord blood collection, and Future Health, throughout Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Adnan Terkawi, Manager of Algosaibi’s Medical and Scientific Division: “Our partnership with Future Health is consistent with our vision to introduce cutting-edge healthcare technologies and services in Saudi Arabia. Cord blood storage services in particular bring hope and promised to a growing number of Saudi couples, by assuring future treatment options for their children.”

10 Faraday Building, Nottingham Science & Technology Park,University Boulevard, Nottingham NG7 2QP, United KingdomTel: +44 (0)115 967 7707 Fax: +44 (0)115 967 7836email: info@futurehealth.co.uk website: www.futurehealth.co.uk

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