So far in my series of eight simple reasons not to get an unlicensed stem cell treatment I’ve covered three compelling reasons: potential loss of insurance coverage for negative outcomes that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, failure of patient follow up by the doctors and clinics, and exclusion from future clinical trial participation. […]
Every now and then a paper on stem cells lands many international headlines and also captures people’s imaginations. This seems to be the case for the recent urine stem cell paper from a team in China, which has made huge headlines. In addition to mainstream media, the paper was covered in Wired here and also by one
Why did urine stem cell paper create global media sensation? Read More »
Have I got a stem cell for you! We hear a lot about the dangers of an increasing number of rogue stem cell clinics, but another critical trend has flown more under the radar: direct marketing of stem cells to doctors. This is big business and arguably one of the biggest threats to patients. In
Stem cell black market emerging in the U.S. Read More »
One of the most exciting types of stem cells are mesenchymal stem cells or MSCs. Although there is some debate about these cells (e.g. I once heard Irv Weissman say at a meeting he wasn’t sure they really existed as such), a consensus would seem to be that they have great potential medical potential. Perhaps
Mapping global trends in MSC & stem cell clinical trials: unexpected findings Read More »
What’s the big deal about unproven stem cell treatments, patients often ask me. Why should patients avoid these? Because paradoxically such treatments, intended to cure disease, can have devastating negative consequences for your health. I’m doing an eight-part series, “Eight simple reasons not to get a stem cell treatment”. The first two blog posts were
This morning here at The World Stem Cell Summit there was a healthy, frank discussion of the risks associated with receiving unlicensed, unproven stem cell therapies. Dr. Jim Guest presented first and gave a great talk about the risks associated with stem cell treatments. One such risk that was mentioned is inadequate characterization of stem
Frank panel on hidden dangers of stem cell treatments to patients at WSCS2012 Read More »
I’m here at the World Stem Cell Summit in Florida. I just was in the audience for a great panel discussion on The Role of States in Regulating Stem Cell Therapies. It was contentious but raised almost all of the key questions in this area. There was particularly interesting and vigorous debate between two participants,
Supposedly there is a type of normal adult stem cell that intrinsically possesses many of the same properties as embryonic stem cells (ESCs). No reprogramming needed. No blastocysts needed. These reportedly amazing cells, called Very Small Embryonic-Like Stem Cells (VSELs), can in theory be isolated from umbilical cord blood (UCB) or even bone marrow. Yet
The field of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) has really shaken up science over the last half dozen years reversing our notion that differentiated cells are stuck in that fate, when in reality they are plastic and can “turn back the clock” to become embryonic stem cell-like cells. Now we have an iPSC paper in Nature,
Surprising human genomic mosaicism means not all your cells have the same DNA Read More »
Much earlier this year I did a poll and published my own thoughts on the top 10 stem cell journals. Topping my list was Cell Stem Cell at #1 and Stem Cells at #2. I also recently did text mining on the titles of articles in these 2 journals (here and here) finding some fascinating similarities
Top Stem Cell Journals list for 2013: some surprises Read More »