"It not only saved my leg, it saved my life." (Rodney Schoenhardt)
Original Article: Your News Now By: Ivanhoe Broadcast News - Article of Rodney Schoenhardt receiving adult stem cell injections at TCA Cellular Therapy in Covington, Louisiana that saved his leg from amputation (posted June 2011)
To watch video, go to article site: http://austin.ynn.com/content/headlines/278940/your-health--stem-cells-save-legs
Peripheral artery disease, or PAD, is a circulatory problem where narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to a person's limbs, according to the Mayo Clinic.
When patients develop PAD, their extremities, usually the legs, do not receive enough blood flow to keep up with the demand. This causes leg pain when walking, which is known as intermittent claudication.
PAD may also be a sign of more widespread accumulation of fatty deposits in a person's arteries, known as atherosclerosis. Patients may successfully treat PAD by stopping tobacco use, exercising and eating a healthy diet.
Risk factors for PAD may include smoking, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, increasing age, a family history of PAD, heart disease or stroke and excessive levels of homocysteine, which is a protein component that helps build and maintain tissue.
People who smoke or have diabetes have the highest risk of developing PAD because of reduced blood flow.
If PAD is caused by atherosclerosis, patients may also be at risk for developing critical limb ischemia. This is a condition that begins with open sores that don't heal, an injury or an infection in someone's feet or legs.
Critical limb ischemia occurs when these injuries or infections progress, and can cause gangrene, sometimes requiring amputation of the affected limb. These patients may also be at risk for developing stroke and heart attack.
Now, researchers are studying whether adult stem cells could help patients with PAD. Two different kinds of stem cells are removed from the patient's bone marrow and processed in incubation chambers.
Once the stem cells expand and mutiply into millions, they are injected back into the patient's leg. Weeks or months after the procedure, all of the patients in a clinical trial had less pain and increased activity.
This stem cell trial was designed for critical limb ischemia patients who are not candidates for surgery and have run out of options. www.tcacellulartherapy.com
Chuck Naparalla
Chief Executive Officer
TCA Cellular Therapy, LLC
(985) 867-4860
cnapa@tcacellulartherapy.com
Jose Minguell, Ph.D., Scientific Director at TCA Cellular Therapy, discusses how using stem cells to create new blood vessels in patients unable to walk is allowing them to get back on their feet.
Where do stem cells come from, and furthermore, how are they processed?
Dr. José Minguell: Before starting with that question, it is good to know that what we are trying to do in this clinical trial is to translate what we know from cell biology into the clinical practice. In other words, if you need to produce a new blood vessel, you may need two types of cells. One cell that can give rise to the endothelia (the inner part of the blood vessel) and the subsequent cell to take care of the outer part. In that way, you will get a new blood vessel that is working fine as well as being matured. In due course, we use two types of cells. Foremost, let’s start with the cell that gives rise to the outer part of a new endothelia, and the name of that cell is pericyte, and indeed, pericyte is a type of adult mesenchymal stem cell. In the bone marrow, we have several different types of stem cells. We have the so-called hematopoietic stem cell, the so-called mesenchymal stem cell, and the so-called endothelial stem cell. Moreover, to prepare mesenchymal stem cells, and to have a population of this cell clean (devoid of any contamination of other cells), we do what we refer to as cell expansion....
So that is the part of the MSC (cells that form the outer part of the blood vessel). What about the inner part? For that, we do another bone marrow aspiration, and as I said before, in the bone marrow you have the hematopoietic stem cells, the MSC’s, as well as the endothelial stem cells, and these are the cells that give rise to new endothelia. With these cells, we do not need to expand them, or to clean and take out of the other cells. We use what we call mononuclear cell fraction, and that is a source of the new endothelia. Then we put both of them together (both the outer part as well as the inner), at which point we will infuse it to the patient. What we are waiting for is to see again what we know from cell biology – that if you have endothelia, then the other cells (MSC’s) will coexist outside of it (that means that you are going to have a new blood vessel).........What exactly happens inside of the body for all of this to come together? You gave us the scientific explanation, now give us the more practical description.
Dr. José Minguell: Well, you know that with ischemia patient means that the circulation of blood in the region of the limb is very poor. . . if there is any circulation at all. This is all because the patient does not have enough blood vessels. Furthermore, angiogenesis is a process that means anything can enlarge the number of blood vessels and create new blood vessels. That will contribute to the patient to have more blood cells flowing into the ischemic region. In other words, that leg will no longer be ischemic (devoid of oxygen), and the tissue will grow again.....
Excerpt from Article by ivanhoe.com General health channel. For full article, see http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=27060COVINGTON, LA.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- TCA Cellular Therapy was recently awarded a Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Program (QTDP) grant from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program was highly competitive with nearly seven thousand applicants vying for funding. TCA Cellular Therapy received the grant for their efforts in developing combination and single adult stem cell therapies with an emphasis on cardiovascular and neurological diseases.
This funding will help TCA Cellular Therapy continue the development of adult stem cell therapies for critical limb ischemia (lack of blood flow to the legs), cardiac ischemia (lack of blood flow to the heart), myocardial infarction (heart attack), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gherig’s Disease), and spinal cord injury.
“We are grateful for the award and the recognition of TCA Cellular’s significant advances in adult stem cell therapies,” stated TCA Cellular president and medical director Gabriel Lasala, MD. “This grant will assist the company in expanding the research for the treatment of multiple diseases and conditions.”
Under the scientific guidance of cellular biologist, Jose J. Minguell, Ph.D., TCA Cellular Therapy is a biotherapeutic adult stem cell research and development company. The company has been recognized by the FDA as one of the top 10 U.S. companies researching stem cell therapies. Founded in 2006, the privately-held company is located in Covington, Louisiana.
Read more: TCA Cellular Therapy Awarded Prestigious Grant from Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Program - FierceHealthcare http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/press-releases/tca-cellular-therapy-awarded-prestigious-grant-qualifying-therapeutic-disco#ixzz1BE9zKDaf
The St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation and LSU Louisiana Technical Transfer Office- Stennis are pleased to announce that their nominee, TCA Cellular Therapy, was awarded the “Coup d’ Tech” eWARD, for their work with Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Cells, at the Louisiana Technology Council’s 7th Annual eWARDS recently held in New Orleans.
What is important and so significant with TCA is that they only use adult stem cells in research, thus avoiding the ethical debates on research using embryonic stem cells. This year, the FDA allowed TCA to conduct the only adult stem cell clinical trial in the United States for the treatment of Lou Gehrig’s disease. For more information on TCA Cellular Therapy, visit www.tcacellulartherapy.com.
“This is yet another example of the high level of technology and research found in St. Tammany Parish,” said Brenda Reine Bertus, executive director of the St. Tammany EDF. “We are extremely proud of TCA’s accomplishments.”
For full article, follow link: http://www.tcacellulartherapy.com/pdf/stedcoupdtechaward1110.pdf
Dr. Gabriel Lasala, Dr. Jose Minguell, Dr. Carolina Allers
