(Press-News.org) Putnam Valley, NY. (Mar. 16, 2015) - Osteoarthritis (OA), a debilitating and painful degenerative disease, strikes an estimated 14 percent of adults 25 years of age and older, a third of adults age 65 and older in the U.S. alone. Those who suffer from OA may one day have a new and effective cell therapy, thanks to a team of Czech researchers who studied the effectiveness of using an OA patient's own adipose (fat) cells in a unique transplant therapy aimed at reducing the symptoms of this prevalent and difficult to treat condition as well as healing some of the damage caused by OA.
The Investigational Review Board of American Naturopathic Research Institute/Naturopathic Oncology Research Institute and local ethics committees-approved study, carried out with 1,114 OA volunteer patients who received autologous (self-donated) fat cell transplants after giving their informed consent, saw their symptoms improved by the therapy. The paper describing the study will be published in a future issue of Cell Transplantation and is currently freely available on-line as an unedited early e-pub at: http://ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/pre-prints/content-CT-1300_Michalek_et_al
"Adipose-derived cells have potential application in a wide range of clinical disorders, including myocardial infarction, stroke, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis, and breast augmentation and reconstruction" said Dr. Jaroslav Michalek, of the International Consortium for Cell Therapy and Immunotherapy, and a member of a research team from a number of research facilities and organizations in the Czech Republic. "In this study we evaluated the safety and efficacy of freshly isolated autologous stromal vascular fraction cells (SVF cells). We hypothesized that the SVF cell treatment might contribute to cartilage healing."
Dr. Michalek and his colleagues clarified the use of the term SVF cells by noting that many scientific publications use the term adipose tissue as the source of adipose cells, but that the true source of SVF cells is not adipose but the stroma, the loose connective tissue part of the fat typically obtained by liposuction.
The study followed and evaluated 1,114 patients (median age 62, range 19-94 years; 52.8% male) treated with a single dose of SVF cells isolated from lipoaspirate by a patent pending kit (Cellthera). Patients were followed for between 12 and 54 months with a median of 17.2 months of follow-up. Their evaluations were based on pain, non-steroid analgesic usage, limping, extent of joint movement and stiffness before treatment and at three, six, and 12 months. Hip and knee joints were the most common joints treated and some patients had more than one joint treated.
"No serious side effects, systemic infection or cancer was associated with SVF cell therapy," reported the researchers. "Most patients improved gradually three to 12 months after treatment."
The evaluations demonstrated that at least a 75 percent score improvement was noticed in 63 percent of the patients and at least a 50 percent score improvement was documented in 91 percent of the patients after 12 months, said the researchers. Typically patients in the study consumed large amounts of painkillers for their symptoms. Researchers found that painkiller usage declined dramatically after treatment.
"Obesity and a higher grade of OA were associated with slower healing," said Dr. Michalek.
The researchers noted that there are many advantages to using SVF cells over using bone-marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to treat OA.
Adipose tissues are easily obtained through liposuction.
They are plentiful and contain approximately a 500-2,500 times higher amount of MSCs than that can be derived from bone marrow.
MSCs in bone marrow dramatically decrease with age; the pool of adipose tissue is quite stable over a lifetime.
Adipose tissues contain unique cells that suppress inflammatory responses.
They do not require in vitro cultivation.
SVF cells are ready for immediate use after isolation from adipose tissues.
SVF therapy has no serious side effects.
The SVF cell therapy also has advantages over several other OA therapies, said the researchers. For example, treating OA with total joint (replacement) arthroplasty (TJA) may not be feasible for some because of their advanced age or general health status. TJA has also been associated with considerable side effects, including myocardial infarction, stroke, systemic infections and death.
"Autologous stromal vascular fraction cell therapy for degenerative osteoarthritis is safe, cost effective and clinically effective, and can lead to an improved quality of life," concluded the researchers. "However, there is no guarantee that this cell therapy can lead to a definite cure for degenerative OA. Future patients receiving SVF will need longer follow-up to answer questions about durability and long term safety of SVF cell therapy."
"Use of the stromal vascular fraction has recently gained attention for being more effective in ameliorating symptoms of various diseases than adipose-derived stem cells alone," said Dr. David Eve, of the Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair at the University of South Florida and associate editor of Cell Transplantation. "The large sample size of this study is commendable and further demonstration of the effectiveness and safety of this cell therapy could be achieved with longer follow-up and further exploration of the mode of action."
INFORMATION:
Contact: Dr. Jaroslav Michalek, Videnska 101/119, Brno 619 00, Czech Republic.
Email: michalek@iccti.eu
Tel: +420-511-181-555
Citation: Authors: Michalek, J.; Moster, R.; Lukac, L.; Proefrock, K.; Petrasovic, M.; Rybar, J.; Capkova, M.; Chaloupka, A.; Darinskas, A.; Michalek, J. Sr.; Kristek, J.; Travnik, J.; Jabandziev, P.; Cibulka, M.; Holek, M.; Jurik, M.; Skopalik, J.; Kristkova, Z.; Dudasova, Z. Autologous adipose tissue-derived stromal vascular fraction cells application in patients with osteoarthritis Cell Transplant. Appeared or available on-line January 20, 2015.
The Coeditors-in-chief for CELL TRANSPLANTATION are at the Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Center for Neuropsychiatry, China Medical University Hospital, TaiChung, Taiwan. Contact, Camillo Ricordi, MD at ricordi@miami.edu or Shinn-Zong Lin, MD, PhD at shinnzong@yahoo.com.tw or David Eve, PhD or Samantha Portis, MS at celltransplantation@gmail.com
Using a novel methodology of epigenetic quantitative analysis, Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center's interdisciplinary team of investigators led by Camilo Fadul, MD, found no correlation between regulatory T cells (Tregs) and survival in the tumor microenvironment or blood, even when adjusting for well-known prognostic factors. Titled, "Regulatory T Cells Are Not a Strong Predictor of Survival for Patients with Glioblastoma," the findings were published in Neuro-Oncology.
"The traditional methods to quantify Tregs may be subjective and result in variability ...
HANOVER, N.H. - Facebook users with so-called optimistic bias think they're less likely than other users to experience cyberbullying, depression and other negative social and psychological effects from using the site, a Dartmouth-Cornell study finds.
The study suggests that optimistic bias, or an intrinsic tendency to imagine future events in a favorable light that enhances positive self-regard - in other words, wishful thinking - leaves those Facebook users vulnerable to the negative realities of social media.
The findings appear in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, ...
"We contend that the health awareness day has not been held to an appropriate level of scrutiny given the scale at which it has been embraced," write Jonathan Purtle, DrPH and Leah Roman, MPH in a peer-reviewed commentary published online ahead of print today in the American Journal of Public Health.
Purtle, an assistant professor at the Drexel University School of Public Health, and Roman, a public health consultant, were prompted to investigate the prevalence of evaluation data for health awareness days based on their observation of two trends: On one hand, health awareness ...
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab are developing a new wearable device that turns the user's thumbnail into a miniature wireless track pad.
They envision that the technology could let users control wireless devices when their hands are full -- answering the phone while cooking, for instance. It could also augment other interfaces, allowing someone texting on a cellphone, say, to toggle between symbol sets without interrupting his or her typing. Finally, it could enable subtle communication in circumstances that require it, such as sending a quick text to a child while ...
Selective breeding of maize over the last century to create hybrids with desirable shoot characteristics and increased yield may have contributed indirectly to the evolution of root systems that are more efficient in acquiring nutrients, such as nitrogen, from the soil, according to researchers.
Their results suggest that future breeding efforts that directly select for positive root traits could lead to yield gains needed to help feed a growing world population, while reducing pollution from excess nitrogen and reducing farmers' fertilizer costs.
About half of the ...
Putnam Valley, NY. (Mar. 16, 2015) - Osteoarthritis (OA), a debilitating and painful degenerative disease, strikes an estimated 14 percent of adults 25 years of age and older, a third of adults age 65 and older in the U.S. alone. Those who suffer from OA may one day have a new and effective cell therapy, thanks to a team of Czech researchers who studied the effectiveness of using an OA patient's own adipose (fat) cells in a unique transplant therapy aimed at reducing the symptoms of this prevalent and difficult to treat condition as well as healing some of the damage caused ...
The likelihood of Asian carp eggs being kept in suspension and hatching in the St. Joseph River in Michigan has been further evaluated using a model that examines a range of multiple flow and water temperature scenarios. Results illustrate the highest percentage of Asian carp eggs at risk of hatching occurs when the streamflow is low and when the water temperature is high. This new study by the University of Illinois and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research.
"In this study, the Fluvial Egg Drift Simulator (FluEgg) model ...
Biological diversity brings beauty and variety to our lives and to the world around us. It also could be the key to keeping ecosystems strong, according to a new University of Minnesota study published April 17 in the journal Science.
The study, led by Yann Hautier a Marie Curie Fellow associated with the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota and with the University of Oxford, U.K., looked at 28 years' worth of data on plant growth, number of species, ecosystem stability and exposure to changes in nitrogen, carbon dioxide, fire, grazing and water ...
Through a combination of data analysis and numerical modeling work, researchers have found a record of the ancient Moon-forming giant impact observable in stony meteorites. Their work will appear in the April 2015 issue of the Journal Science. The work was done by NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) researchers led by Principal Investigator Bill Bottke of the Institute for the Science of Exploration Targets (ISET) team at the Southwest Research Institute and included Tim Swindle, director of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
The ...
A skin cell responsible for scarring, and a molecule that inhibits the cell's activity, have been identified by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
The molecule slowed wound healing in mice but alleviated scarring, the researchers said.
The researchers also found that the cell may play a role in the growth of melanoma and in skin damage caused by radiation. A drug that acts in the same way as the inhibitory molecule is already approved for use in humans as a treatment for type-2 diabetes, so it could potentially move quickly into clinical trials ...
