Nasal Stem Cell Research
Nasal Stem Cell Research
If you’re interested in spinal cord injury treatments with stem cells, you probably already know about the procedures in Portugal which transplant stem cells from the nasal cavity to the injured area of the spine. Now researchers at the University of Louisville in Kentucky have performed similar experiments on rats. The Louisville Courier has an extensive article on the procedure.
In the experiment, stem cells from the area known as the “olfactory neurosensory epithelium” were donated by patients undergoing sinus surgery. The cells were then coaxed into becoming neurons that can attach to muscle cells and also produce myelin, the protective sheathing for the nerves. The cells were then added to a biological jelly, which was injected into rats who had been subjected to a spinal injury that caused them to lose the use of their right paw. Twelve weeks later, the rats treated with the stem cells were using both front paws, while the rats in the control group were using their left front paw only and struggled to climb or walk across the rope.
One of the key differences between this study and other studies is that this was focusing on creating new neurons, rather that re-connecting existing neurons. The researchers said that clinical studies in people were probably 3-10 years away.
This seems like an exciting and important development. Among some of the other factors that are going to need to be followed up on are duration of recovery (12 weeks seems pretty long lasting for a rat, but let’s see), if the treatment works when the injury occurred a significant amount of time prior to the treatment (can they give it to the rats in the control group now and see if they improve?), finding out if the rats become cancer-prone after the treatment, and deriving effective methods for the differentiation to occur. This may already be well under way, but if there is excessive difficulty in controlling the differentiation, that will delay treatment options.
It also will be important to see if this kind of procedure is effective with neural degenerative disorders, or if it will only work in cases of injury.
7 Comments:
The work mentioned in this article was stolen by Dr. Roisen 10 years ago from a scientist (Mahdu Gupta) at the University of Louisville. I have published a book about this scientific fraud ("Scientific misconduct and its cover-up" http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1581124228/103-4236591-6395054?v=glance&n=283155) in 2004. Pay attention to the fact that throughout the newspaper story no one of Dr. Roisen's several collaborators is mentioned. Also in an interview on NPR later that week, Roisen spoke only about himself, giving credit to no one else. Eventually he was heavily criticized for this omission and a week later a letter of his was published in the Readers' Forum of the Courier-Journal where he explained that research today is a team effort, a fact that "was not mentioned in the article." The letter has created the impression that the reporter is the one who left this detail out. In the letter he listed everyone that even marginally is involved in the project, including his secretary. The man is a fraud and I would not trust any of his claims or his science.
Thanks for your post. For the record, here are the other contributors to the article:
Xiaodong Zhang, Jun Cai, Kathleen M. Klueber, Zhanfang Guo, Chengliang Lu, Welby I. Winsteadb, and Mengsheng Qiu. All except Winstead are from the Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology; Winstead is from the
Department of Surgery-Otolaryngology, University of Louisville, School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
An abstract of the article can be found at http://stemcells.alphamedpress.org/cgi/reprint/24/2/434?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=roisen&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT.
I have notified the journal to send me an e-mail if there are any corrections to this article.
Dear Anne,
In my response to your original post I related to the Newspaper article, not the scientific article. The newspaper is the Courier-Journal, the daily newspaper of Louisville, KY, not the Louisville Courier as mentioned in your original post. I am sorry for the misunderstanding.
Thanks, I understood that about the newspaper. In going to the abstract, I was just establishing that the study had been peer-reviewed (in the journal Stem Cells) as well as covered by a regular media publication. This is essentially for my integrity, not Dr. Roisen's--I don't like to report on scientific claims without a peer review. As we all know from the cloning debacle, peer review is not a guarantee of scientific rigor, but I think it works most of the time and is much better than nothing. If this turns out to be bogus (as distinct from stolen), at least others will have been fooled along with me.
Unfortunately, scientific misconduct today is a major issue, since one's career and fortune are dependent on one's success in attracting federal research funds and reputation as a breakthrough scientist. Many scientists succumb to the pressure and commit scientific fraud. To me, a scientist who wills to steal another scientist's research and lie about it is a scientist who would have no problem lying about his findings. In my book I have described some ubelieveable deeds committed by Roisen. There is no reason that he does things differently today.
Would like to know if there is any progress in stroke patients using nasal cells to repair damage caued by strokes. Ray Bay Raybay54@windstream.net
Would like to know if there is any progress in stroke patients using nasal cells to repair damage caued by strokes. Ray Bay Raybay54@windstream.net
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