Warning on cancer risk from stem cell therapy

[Heracles 417]

Nick Miller

November 23, 2009 - 12:00AM

EXPERTS fear that a Victorian man with leukaemia may be the first Australian ''infected'' with cancer after treatment at a private overseas stem cell therapy centre.

Stem cell specialists and patient support groups are calling for more public education about the dangers of such services, saying they get hundreds of calls a year from people considering using them - and the numbers are rising.

The companies advertise on the internet and via local information sessions, offering injections of foetal stem cells and stem cells extracted from the patient's spinal cord. They claim to treat conditions such as Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, autism and spinal injury.

Private, largely unregulated clinics in Asia and Europe charge tens of thousands of dollars plus travel costs. However few have published, clinical proof of their efficacy, relying instead on slick websites and individual testimonies.

Advocacy groups for people targeted as possible clients will meet in Canberra today to discuss how to protect people from being emotionally and financially exploited.

The stem cell treatments ranged in quality and safety but very few, if any, offered genuine hope, said Dr Kirsten Herbert, a hematologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and clinical adviser to the Australian Stem Cell Centre (ASCC).

''One man in Queensland paid $40,000 for a treatment [at a private German clinic] and was told he needed two or three more [visits] for a treatment that I cannot imagine, even with the most blue-sky open mind, could have helped him,'' she said.

''But they will take his money and not do anything to look after him when he leaves. If we practised a treatment like that we would be disbarred.''

Dr Herbert plans next month to investigate the case of a Victorian man being treated for leukaemia, which was diagnosed after his recent return from overseas stem cell therapy.

She said it was difficult to prove a link, but there was an international precedent: in February the journal PLoS Medicine reported the case of a teenage Israeli boy who developed brain tumours from experimental stem cell injections at a Russian clinic. Dr Herbert said cancer was a rare but possible side-effect of experimental stem cell therapy. ''Most stem cells grow in a culture that is exposed to proteins and hormones that encourage growth, and cancer is out-of-control growth, so these cells have a greater potential to cause cancer,'' she said.

Other risks included contamination from animal products used in laboratory processing of the stem cells, which could introduce Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Some clinics also instructed patients to go on medication to suppress their immune systems, with potentially dangerous side-effects. ''They don't follow these patients up,'' Dr Herbert said. ''They prescribe and wave goodbye without any duty of care.''

The financial and emotional risks to patients were just as great, Dr Herbert said. ''Most likely, the treatment you are going to receive is not going to work.'' It was important not to demonise people who sought these cures, but instead to help them find the right advice.

Patient advocacy groups are meeting stem cell experts in Canberra today to discuss a co-ordinated approach to public education on overseas experimental treatments.

The ASCC is about to release a patient handbook to help people critically analyse stem cell treatments. It has a list of questions to ask before signing up.

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/national/warning-...91122-isu6.html

[Heracles 417]

No comment on this from the pro stem cell 'cure to all' crowd?

Edited November 23, 2009 by Booyah!

[Ban Hammer 13,337]

No comment on this from the pro stem cell 'cure to all' crowd?

i've been waiting for that too.

[Peikko 1,575]

Who has made the claim that stem cell research is a 'cure all'? My understanding is that there is still an awful lot of research that needs to be done, and that is being done.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

This is a scientific matter, not a political one.

Kind of like climate change, really.

[Heracles 417]

Stem cell treatments are becoming the snake oil of the 21st century. People are evidently being exploited and not warned of the risks.

[Niels Bohr 72]

Hmmm....Well, people have always made ill decisions. However, for someone who is already dying, any treatment would be hope to them.

Stem cell can probably be programmed to replace the bone marrow of the leukemia patient instead of waiting for a donor. Heck, stem cells are more successful in victims that suffered from burns than internal organs.

Hal9000, and IR5MUM are experts in this area. I'm sure they can help me out.

Edited November 23, 2009 by Niels Bohr

[HAL 9000 96]

Hmmm....Well, people have always made ill decisions. However, for someone who is already dying, any treatment would be hope to them.

Stem cell can probably be programmed to replace the bone marrow of the leukemia patient instead of waiting for a donor. Heck, stem cells are more successful in victims that suffered from burns than internal organs.

Hal9000, and IR5MUM are experts in this area. I'm sure they can help me out.

Usually, these cells aren't clinically usable until their oncogenic potential can be ruled out as a side effect- specially in cases where the donor stem cell is from the same patient. In a case where the cell-replacement therapy is precisely due to cancer, stem cell therapy only works not only after the aforementioned condition can be pretty much guaranteed, but also once the cancerous tissue is extricated from the patient. In the case of leukocytes, we're talking pretty literally a complete replacement.

With organ systems one line of bioengineering is dealing with holding these replacement tissues outside the body- or implanted subdermally, inside porous biodevices capable of interacting with the intended target physiology. As the encapsulated tissues are kept separate of the body's system, one can avoid neoplasmic effects or metastatic migration. In the case of leukocytes, this isn't that feasable as these white blood cells usually need to travel to their intended sites of action for regular immune responses to work properly.

[Jasman0717 9]

I hope this isn't the beginning of 'I am Legend' or 'last man on Earth'

[HAL 9000 96]

I hope this isn't the beginning of 'I am Legend' or 'last man on Earth'

That would be even crazier... although from what I remember the entire premise of the movie and the virus mutating to such a degree (and that fast) seemed waaaaay too Hollywoodesque to believe. Quality control testing of such a virus would have indicated mutagenic potential a looooong time before clinical trials even in non-humans.

And viral gene therapy tends to use virus bugs that are not that easy to spread (via contagion).

[Ban Hammer 13,337]

I hope this isn't the beginning of 'I am Legend' or 'last man on Earth'

omega man

[Niels Bohr 72]

I am Legend, Night of the Living Dead....Maybe possible, but, with current technology we are still a long way off just as space travel to distance galaxy by humans is possible, but, a long way off