Girl, 10, has vein made from her own stem cells successfully transplanted (Guardian)
Alok Jha, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 13 June 2012
Scientists have successfully transplanted a vein made from a 10-year-old girl's own stem cells into her body. It is the first time such an operation has been reported and marks an important step in the practical ability of doctors to use stem cells to grow replacement cells for damaged or diseased tissue.
Writing on Thursday in the Lancet, a team led by Professor Suchitra Sumitran-Holdgersson of the University of Gothenburg described how the girl had a blocked hepatic portal vein, which takes blood away from the gut and spleen to the liver. The blockage can lead to complications including internal bleeding, developmental problems and even death. The usual treatment for the condition is to remove the blocked vein and replace it with sections of healthy vein from other parts of the body.
Prof Sumitran-Holdgersson's team instead grew a vein for the young girl using her own bone marrow stem cells. They started with a nine-centimetre section of vein taken from the groin of a donor and stripped it of its cells, leaving behind a tubular protein scaffold. This was seeded with the girl's stem cells and the resulting vein was transplanted into the girl.
The procedure restored blood flow out of her liver immediately. "The patient increased in height from 137 cm to 143 cm and increased in weight from 30 kg to 35 kg in the one year since the first operation," wrote the authors. "Although we undertook no neurocognitive tests, the parents reported that the patient had enhanced physical activity (increased long distance walks of 2–3 km and light gymnastics) and improved articulated speech and concentration power in school activities."
Nine months after the operation the vein had constricted slightly in size and this was corrected in a follow-up procedure. Most significantly, scientists found no antibodies for the donor vein in the girl's blood. Her body was not rejecting the transplant because it was recognised as being made of her own cells.
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more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jun/14/girl-vein-stem-cells-transplant
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Believe it or not, the DoD has provided a lot of money for regenerative medicine purposes. The Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) has provided money for research in many areas including autogenic (self to self) and allogenic (other to self) stem cell therapy, tissue reconstruction, burn healing, scar prevention etc... Of course, this research is directed towards wounded warriors, but anything developed for the soldiers can also be applied to the civilian population. Check out the website for more details on the research being funded.
http://www.afirm.mil/
The DoD also provides money for cancer research (breast and prostate mostly). DARPA funds research that would never be able to get funding through the NIH.
I agree that embryonic stem cell research is hindered by religious fanatics in the US, but there is strong support for adult stem cell research, such as was used for the girl in this article.
