We are following the development of stem cell research with great interest although
the jury still seems out on what this therapy may have to offer sufferers of neurological
conditions right now. There have been articles about fantastic improvements in some
cases of MS although our initial excitement has more recently been tempered somewhat
by a certain lack of follow-up in certain quarters and by the appearance of one or
two less professional set-ups with a decidedly financial bias to their work!
We still believe that there is a great future for this method of treatment but for
the moment we think that more evidence, pursued along more rigorous scientific approaches
is necessary. Proventus members have followed this route but their results have been
nowhere near as dramatic as those published in the media sometimes they have been
completely unimproved while others even found themselves definitely worse.
What follows is hopefully a more balanced perspective on the state of current stem
cell thinking.
Proventus contacted Prof. Raisman to ask for his views on stem cell transplant therapy
in relation to neurological conditions and disease processes (as opposed to his own
work on the beneficial effects in nerve injury).
Prof Raisman moved into Queens Square, London December 2005 under the auspices of
the Institute of Neurology and University College, London.
This is because he and his 6-strong team now have permission for the first preliminary
study, which begins this autumn, as a result of his dogged refusal to give up the
fight to succeed. He feels he is on to a major breakthrough and moreover he has the
scientific community's increasing support
He felt that conditions such as MS were a particularly difficult area where this
therapy was concerned primarily because of their diffuse and widespread natures and
often as progressive diseases whose origins were not fully understood.
Even if there were to be an initial positive response the MS (as an example) progression
may well resume after a short period owing to the fact that the fundamental condition
had not been cured and may well be ongoing under the surface.
Prof Geoff Raisman FRS
A Leeds University-educated world-class neuroscientist, has just announced that he
is confident of an imminent breakthrough in spinal cord injury treatment that may
well become at least a partial cure for serious damage to this vital message highway.
Below is a precis of a six-page article from the Sunday Times magazine (April 06
9th edition-report by John Cornwell). It has taken 40 years of painstaking focused
research to achieve the current position. Stem cells are the key to his research,
but the cells are not from embryos, umbilical cords, or bone marrow.
Prof Raisman has worked on stem cells from the nose where olfactory nerve cells are
replaced every 60 days. They form in the upper nose and, when they sprout nerve fibres,
they are steered by the body processes to their connecting goals in the brain pathways.
They owe their guiding potential to their shape and have tiny porous canals, like
Cadbury’s Flake bars, through which the new nerve fibres grow and seek their corresponding
partners across the gap or injury site.These fibrous arms “flap about” till they
meet up with others on adjoining neurons
The basic strategy is to collect young stem cells from the patient, culture and cleanse
them, and then inject them into the damaged site in the spinal cord, behind the scar
tissue, in the hope they would guide the nerve fibres towards each other from either
side of the scar.
There is now abundant laboratory clinical evidence that his strategy works well for
there have been many remarkable recoveries by mice and rats described in detail.
Particular Concern
Over these past years many sufferers have been encouraged to travel to other countries
from the UK and elsewhere at great expense and effort. Private clinics have offered
stem cell therapy treatment, more so as a treatment for some of the serious neurological,
autoimmune diseases. The science has yet to be proven, some of the clinics were investigated
and closed down.
Currently there is no scientific proof nor substantial anecdotal evidence that stem
cell therapy is an effective treatment for many of the serious neurological, autoimmune
diseases.
