says a scientific advisor for the Michael J. Fox foundation.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news...133_13825.html

"Stem cell therapy will be utilized in treating patients suffering from Parkinson's disease within the next five years, a renowned Swedish expert said during his visit to Seoul.

Olle Lindvall, a professor of Lund University in Sweden, said that the cure for the Parkinson's disease is likely to be one of the first and most effective applications of human stem cell research, though the field in general has many obstacles to overcome.

``I think that Parkinson's disease is one of the diseases where we will be able to do the first clinical test,'' Lindvall told The Korea Times Thursday. ``With the stem cell approach, though I cannot guarantee, scientifically-based clinical trials will be carried out within five years. When it comes to the other diseases, it is less sure.''

In stem cell research, new cells are obtained from either fertilized human eggs (embryo) or from adult tissues, and then the reproduced cells are then used to replace or reinforce damaged cells and organs of patients. South Korea is one of the leading countries in this field along with the United States and several European countries.

Parkinson's disease is one of the most common brain malfunctions, which impairs patients' physical movement and speech. Muhammad Ali, the legendary boxer, and actor Michael J. Fox also suffer from this disease.

Lindvall is a 25-year veteran in restoring brain function with cell therapies. He is also the scientific advisor for the Michael J. Fox foundation, a non-governmental organization dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease. He's attending the Seoul Symposium on Stem Cell Research being held at Korea University.

The basic idea of Lindvall's approach is to produce healthy brain cells from human stem cells, and inject them into the patient's brain. Many previous researches have shown that transplanting specific human tissues into the brain actually helps ease Parkinson's disease, even though the method may not completely cure it.

``We have transplanted dopamine cells from fetuses into the brain and saw they can survive. I think that there are many attempts to produce this type of cell from different types of stem cells,'' he said, adding that animal tests are already underway in many institutions around the world. ``I think that it can realistically happen within the next five years.''

Regarding the disgraced Korean stem-cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk, Lindvall said that the former Seoul National University professor won't be easily trusted in the scientific circle anymore. Hwang is known to have restarted his research in Thailand, to avoid public attention of Korean peers.

``I don't want to judge anyone, but it is very difficult to trust him. That is the problem,'' he said. ``Of course one has to give people a second chance but it is very difficult to do that, because you have to rely on people, and you have to trust.''

Neil.

Hate to be so skeptical, but I've been hearing "cure in 5 years" for 17 years now,

me too! My advice is believe it when your Doctor offers it to you as a cure!!

Charlie

I suppose that researchers may not realize that those of us waiting and hoping in the wings have heard the "cure in five years" claim too many times in the past for it to have much credibility anymore. Why don't they pick another number for a change?

Or maybe they mean in dog years...

He may mean 5 yrs till clinical trials. I think the part these researchers tend to leave out, is that once clinical trials begin, it's many more years till the treatment gets on the market and most don't make it.

Andy Grove is trying to say that by rebalancing the funding from NIH, to give ENOUGH funding through new types of grants to research a treatment all the way through clinical trials, and if they don't meet their endpoints, don't renew the grant. This is taking into consideration that they are not throwing away drugs as "failures" before truly analyzing that failure and that failures be redefined. Failures tell you what you should try next with the same drug. And if you have the funding, you can do this.

Who sets the baselines for improvent? Who sets the percentages of improvement required? Learn from the failure and keep going. The way they do it now, they fund tons of basic research that never gets any further. They throw away drugs that they perceive won't make money. Or they just don't have the money to continue. A massive waste.

Andy Grove's talk is one of the most important talks I"ve ever read. It makes sense, but people have to help him champion it. That's us.

paula

then you have to be right one time

I found it encouraging due to the guy's position and that he was suggesting stem cell replacement therapy was "close". I thought they were still struggling with stem cells becoming cancerous.

I await my cure in 2012 with expectation, then I shall tell you all "I told you so"

Take care,
Neil.

That'll teach you to be an optimist! I think it's the moon, lol.

paula

Tiantan - Penny Thomas
Wednesday, 19 July 2006

P A T I E N T E X P E R I E N C E – P A R K I N S O N ‘ S

NAME: Penny Thomas

COUNTRY: U.S.A. (Hawaii)

AGE: 52

DIAGNOSIS: Parkinson’s Syndrome (Diagnosed in 2002)

REASON FOR COMING FOR TREATMENT: Penny had Parkinson’s symptoms for eight years.

TREATMENT: Injection into the brain of retinal neural stem cells with a daily cocktail treatment of neurotropic factors.

BEFORE THE TREATMENT (May 11, 2006): Penny had uncontrollable shaking. She had high muscle tension and she looked like she was extremely strong but in fact her muscles were weak. When she was walking or doing anything, she would have freeze ups where she would stop and not be able to continue her motion. If she were talking on the telephone, it would be hard to talk. She could not read or write because of the tremors. She could not eat by herself. She could not get up out of a chair by herself. She could not brush her hair. She could not get out of the bed by herself. She had trouble turning her neck.

See Video (5/13): Before



AFTER THE TREATMENT (July 4, 2006):

See Videos: After1, After2, After3 , After4 , After5

Penny’s shaking was greatly reduced but it still came back from time-to-time. She said that after the treatment at the times that the shaking did come back, if she concentrated, she could stop it. The muscle tension had disappeared. Her strength increased. The freeze ups stopped. She could read and write again, speak on the telephone, and eat by herself. She could get out of a chair and out of bed by herself. Her neck could turn normally and she could brush her hair.

July 21st: (From an e-mail from Penny) - I have returned home safely. I am driving once again after passing my driver's exam. In October I gave up my driving because I did not feel I was safe anymore and it was just adding too much stress to my life. Friends are amazed at what they see they just keep staring at me...my self confidence has returned also. I went sailing the other day... I actually was at the helm of the boat for 2 and 1/2 hours! I feel like I'm a kid again.

October 25th: (From an e-mail from Penny) - Aloha, I have recently returned from traveling for a month on the US mainland visiting friends and relatives. I even attended my 35 year high school class reunion! My how time does change us all and flies by.

I continue to be in a state of great excitement and joy for life. I use to ride horses quite regularly in Colorado, so my friends made sure that I had that experience as well during my visit. I was in heaven!

I saw my 15 year old daughter after not seeing her for 3 months. The first thing she said was "Mom, is that you? You're so strong!"

I am still swimming with the dolphins in the ocean when they choose to come to swim with me!

I am hoping to be able to start to make some reductions of the medications to see how the stem cells will respond soon. I have noticed that I have been missing some of my 10pm meds (because I fall asleep reading) and so am noticing my body seems to be okay with this.

I have also discovered a more natural way to feed the brain L-dopa by an herb known as Macuna puriens. There is a website that has a neuro-program, that my doctor is going to help me be monitored and involved with. It will actually help the stem cells I believe to produce the dopamine.

You might want to check out the websites that I have looked at, they are, www.CHKNutrition.com and www.neuroassist.com. I know there are urinalysis every week or two to determine the dopamine levels in the beginning. I think this is a very important step for people to be able to take in order to step away from prescription meds if they can. I tried a sample instead of Sinemet one afternoon, it seemed to work fine in its place, but of course, that was only once.

January 17th, 2007 (from an E-mail): I just returned from spending five weeks in beautiful snowy Colorado where I was hiking (before the snows came) and cross country skiing (after the snows came) at an elevation of 8000 feet. My body adjusted to the elevation and my strength improved even more. My family said that I looked even better than I did the last time they saw me in October, that I was more relaxed. I believe that was because I knew I could stay longer and was there to relax and spend time healing my body even more in the healing hot springs of the area. I am now back in Hawaii and once again swimming in the ocean. I did notice a shift in my energy level when I first arrived home. My medication and amino acid schedule had shifted so, I believe it was due to the time difference and now that I have been home for 5 days I feel back to normal.

See Video: About the Facilities


Last Updated ( Friday, 29 June 2007 )