Parkinson's patient experiences improvements following stem cell infusions

[Boscoejean]

research being done at Hope Biosciences in Sugarland, TX

frontiersin.org/articles/10...

Conclusions

Overall, HB-adMSC therapy was efficacious in improving the patient's experience with a progressively degenerative neurological disease such as PD. Administration of monthly HB-adMSCs infusions had a promising therapeutic effect, specifically at the symptomatic levels of PD. Post-therapy, the patient experienced less dyskinesias, had pronounced improvements in her tremors, and had regained a significant level of independence. These results were in stark comparison to her experience while on the medications, during which she needed help with most ADLs. Also, HB-adMSCs therapy was well-tolerated by the patient. Given the progressive, chronic nature of Parkinson's disease, additional research using HB-adMSCs should be conducted to confirm the findings of this study.

[park_bear]

Impressive result from an IV treatment:

"The patient received multiple infusions of autologous Hope Biosciences adipose-derived MSCs (HB-adMSCs). A total of 26 infusion treatments of HB-adMSCs were administered over the course of ~2 years that resulted in marked improvements in her typical Parkinsonian symptoms, as demonstrated by the decreases in her UPDRS (Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale) scores"

[jeffreyn in reply to park_bear]

Yes, but the big question is whether you need to continue to get monthly infusions in order to maintain the improvements.

[jeffreyn in reply to jeffreyn]

Thinking about it some more, I guess I would be okay with monthly IV infusions. To keep the cost within reach, I think they would have to change to using allogeneic MSCs rather than autologous MSCs, (if the research on allogeneic MSCs is also successful).

[chartist]

Melatonin may improve the MSC transplant survival rate and potentially extend the time between transplants. Melatonin is also dopaminergic neuron protective while enhancing mitochondrial function and homeostasis. It also returns excess oxidative stress to healthy control levels at 50 mg/day as shown in a PwP/melatonin study. Melatonin appears to have synergy with MSC transplants.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10...

Here is a relevant quote :

' ERK phosphorylation inhibitor U0126 completely reversed the protective effects of melatonin, suggesting that melatonin improves MSC survival and function through activating the ERK1/2 signaling pathway. Thus, stem cells pretreated by melatonin may represent a feasible approach for improving the beneficial effects of stem cell therapy for cerebral ischemia. '

Although the above study is about cerebral ischemia, melatonin easily crosses the blood brain barrier and has already shown neuroprotective effects in PD studies, so is highly likely to work similarly in MSC transplants for PD.

Art

[nednedned in reply to chartist]

what is your experience?

[chartist in reply to nednedned]

I have no experience with MSC, just highlighting that there are several newer studies showing that melatonin seems to synergize with MSC transplants.

I recall awhile back that a forum member had MSC transplants and while they did find benefit from it, their complaint was that the effects were transient and the treatments were costly. My feeling was that if melatonin can extend and possibly improve the effects of MSC, that might lower the cost and improve the benefit very inexpensively. Here are a few animal studies illustrating how melatonin works with MSC and clearly the effects are not limited to the brain :

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

scielo.br/j/bjb/a/KqNNyh64k...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

journals.viamedica.pl/folia...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

sciencedirect.com/science/a...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

There are more studies, but the main point is to illustrate how melatonin works in synergy with MSC to prolong their existence through multiple pathways and biologic activities.

Given how many studies show this synergy between MSC and melatonin, it makes me wonder why they would ever do an MSC transplant that did not utilize melatonin in the process?

Art

[nednedned in reply to chartist]

I meant to ask what is your experience with melatonin...at 5mg it makes me feel hangover in the morning.

[chartist in reply to nednedned]

Some people, such as myself get the sleepy hungover feeling the next day whenever I raise my dose, but that effect diminishes over the next one to two weeks and that is how I was able to get to 132 mg/night, but for some people it does not diminish and for them I suggest getting melatonin from the earlier morning and later afternoon sun when infrared light and other red light from the sun is relatively high compared to uvb rays. This will increase melatonin with no side effects. I wrote a little about it and other ways to get melatonin with no side effects, here :

healthunlocked.com/cure-par...

Art

[WinnieThePoo in reply to chartist]

I'm starting to wonder if you are a real person Art, or a bot. And a bot written on a Commodore Pet computer from the 1980s. No matter the subject of the post Melatonin helps.

[chartist in reply to WinnieThePoo]

Yes, it certainly seems that way doesn't it, but what purpose would a bot do this for, Ricardo? 😉

I think a better question might be, why does melatonin seem to offer so much benefit to the human body, animals and plant life?

Melatonin is made in many areas of the body including the mitochondria, gut and brain and has receptors throughout the body and I consider that an important clue about our health. Same with plant life and animals, give them melatonin and they do better health wise.

One of the main problems seems to be the age related decline of melatonin and its receptors, which tends to coincide with the onset of age related diseases such as PD, AD, CVD, stroke, cancer, diabetes and COPD to name a few. Interestingly, melatonin has shown benefit in all of these diseases too, as well as many others!

I don't write the melatonin studies, just mention some of the interesting and relevant ones, but there are certainly plenty of them that are a complete waste of research dollars.

My feeling is that given the known biological effects of melatonin in people, it is beneficial for most, if not all of the major organs and much more in the body. I like it because it is naturally produced in the body and can also be gotten from sun exposure, which seems like a good reason to spend more time outdoors, but people seem to spend more time indoors as they age and I imagine that spending more time indoors as we age is not the best thing for our overall health because that would also cause our vitamin D levels to drop and being insufficient or deficient in vitamin D and melatonin is not good for our health.

Art

[Baron1]

Good Morning,

This seems consistent with other studies that show when Stem Cells (MSC's) are administered over a continual period over seven months, improvements are noted and are substantial. Some are even sustained after 24 month follow ups.

This is why I am concerned with clinics offering once off treatment with claims of improvement.

[Rabilo]

Where was this done?

[jeffreyn in reply to Rabilo]

"research being done at Hope Biosciences in Sugarland, TX, [USA]"

[Rabilo in reply to jeffreyn]

Thanks

[jeffreyn]

While it is great to see a successful autologous MSC case study (N=1) by Hope Biosciences, what I'd really like to see is the results of their larger (N=24) autologous MSC Phase 2 trial that was completed in Feb 2023.

classic.clinicaltrials.gov/...

They also have underway a large (N=60) Phase 2 trial of allogeneic MSCs, and it is still recruiting PwPs (with early or moderate PD).

classic.clinicaltrials.gov/...

Another large (N=45) Phase 2 trial of allogeneic MSCs has recently been completed by the University of Texas. Hopefully the results will be published within the next few months.

classic.clinicaltrials.gov/...

[jeffreyn in reply to jeffreyn]

"Hopefully the results will be published within the next few months."

Maybe this is a bit too optimistic. You can see from the links below that it took the University of Texas more than a year to publish the results of their corresponding Phase 1 trial.

classic.clinicaltrials.gov/...

movementdisorders.onlinelib...