Cell Therapy / Cellular Therapy

Cell therapy is a type of treatment option that uses a patient’s own cells to help repair damaged tissue and repair injuries. It’s usually performed relatively quickly through injections and is a simple outpatient or in-office procedure.

This type of treatment has also been found to help

1. Speed up the length of time it takes for injuries or wounds to heal
2. Reduce pain, even chronic joint pain, with less need for medications
3. Increase functionality, a range of motion, flexibility and sleep quality
4. Reduce muscle compensations and risk for future injuries
5. Decrease nerve damage
6. Increase collagen
7. Help generate new heart and blood vessel tissue
8. Help heal skin wounds, prevent the formation of scar tissue and reduce hair loss
9. Return patients to their normal activities as quickly as possible

According to the National Institute of Health, Cells are important for living organisms for many reasons. In the 3- to 5-day-old embryo, called a blastocyst, the inner cells give rise to the entire body of the organism, including all of the many specialized cell types and organs such as the heart, lungs, skin, sperm, eggs and other tissues.

In some adult tissues, such as bone marrow, muscle, and brain, discrete populations of adult cells generate replacements for other cells that are lost through normal wear and tear, injury, or disease.

The California Cell Agency reports that there is “no limit to the types of diseases that could be treated with cell research.” Because of their amazing abilities to help with regrowth, cell therapy treatments are now being used (or continuously researched) in regards to treating:

1. Orthopaedic injuries and muscukoskeletal problems
2. Wounds and incisions following surgeries
3. Spinal cord injuries, brain trauma and spinal stenosis
4. Cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke and congestive heart failure (ranked as the number one cause of death in the United States every year since 1900!)
5. Hair loss
6. Vision impairment
7. Diabetes and other pancreatic dysfunctions
8. Neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s

HOW CELL THERAPY WORKS

Cells are usually taken from one of two areas in the patient’s body at our clinic, peripheral blood or adipose (fat) tissue in their upper thigh/abdomen. Because it’s common to remove cells from areas of stored body fat, some refer to cell therapy as “Adipose Cell Therapy” in some cases.

Once cells from removed from one of these locations, they are sent to the lab for culturing and proliferating the cells to get the desired quantity, including different types of natural growth factors). The sample of concentrated cells is then injected directly into the patient’s affected, painful area− allowing the cells’ growth factors to go to work immediately, building new skin cells, connective tissue and so on, or given intravenously depending on the type of disease.

What exactly makes cells so beneficial and gives cell injections the power to do this healing? Cells have the following unique characteristics, uses and healing abilities:

1. They are “unspecialized,” meaning cells can be removed from one part of the body and replaced into another part that is damaged, and then transform into the exact type of cell needed in order to help carry out repair work.
2. Unlike other cells, cells divide and can become another type of cell with a specialized function (muscle cell, a red blood cell, heart cell, brain cell, etc.)
3. Because they contain natural growth factors, cells accelerate the body’s natural healing response and lower pain without the need for pain-killing medications.
4. They reproduce quickly and can continue dividing in areas even after long periods of inactivity — so benefits are experienced within a short period of time.

5 BENEFITS OF CELL THERAPY

1. Treats Orthopedic Injuries

Cells being used in the most cutting-edge orthopaedic practices — including those offered at our hospital, cells have the capability of differentiating and forming new orthopedic tissues that make up muscle, bones, cartilage and tendons, ligaments and adipose tissue.

In studies regarding orthopedic care — such as those used for cartilage replacement, bone repair and soft-tissue repair — cells injections have been found to reduce chronic pain, heal stubborn injuries, improve functionality and return patients to their normal routine.

2. Can Be Used to Treat Cardiovascular Diseases

Cardiovascular diseases can deprive heart tissue of oxygen and cause scar tissue to form which changes blood flow/blood pressure. Research suggests that cells have the ability to differentiate into those needed to repair the heart and blood vessels, thanks to the secretion of multiple growth factors. Several ways in which cell therapy is now being used and further researched in regards to improving recovery of heart disease are:

1. Helping to stimulate repair and growth of blood vessel tissue
2. Generating specialized muscle cells of the heart to grow new tissue
3. Decreasing formation of scar tissue, helping to restore blood flow and blood pressure capacity
4. Decreasing overstretching of cardiac cells, thereby restoring normal cardiac output (this helps prevent heart failure)
5. Improving formation of new capillaries

Although more research is needed to assess the safety and efficacy of this approach cell types used in heart disease treatment include: embryonic stem (ES) cells, cardiac stem cells, myoblasts (muscle stem cells), adult bone marrow-derived cells, umbilical cord blood cells, mesenchymal cells (bone marrow-derived cells) and endothelial progenitor cells (these form the interior lining of blood vessels).

3. Helps Heal Wounds and Incisions

Studies have found that cell treatments can help improve the growth of healthy new skin tissue, improve collagen production, stimulate hair growth after loss or incisions, and help replace scar tissue with newly formed healthy tissue. One of the ways cells help facilitate wound healing is by increasing collagen concentrations in the skin, which shrinks as it matures and thereby strengthens and tightens the damaged area. This same mechanism also applies to treating connective tissue injuries related to collagen/cartilage loss, such as those caused by osteoarthritis or overuses that affect ligaments or tendons.

4. Treats Neurodegenerative Diseases

Recent progress in the treatment of diseases like Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Alzheimer’sand stroke recovery show that transplanted adult cells can be used to form new brain cells, neurons and synapses following cognitive degeneration or brain injuries. (6) Research conducted by the Research Center for Cell Biology and Cell Therapy in Sweden is still underway, but current findings show that cells can improve synaptic circuits, optimize functional recovery, offer relief from degeneration symptoms, slow down disease progression and potentially even more.

Some of the ways that cell injections/grafts work in neurodegeneration treatment are: normalizing striatal dopamine release, impairing akensia (loss of voluntary movement), replacing neurons destroyed by the ischemic lesions following strokes and halting destruction of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons.

5. Helps Overcome “Immune Rejection” Disorders (Including Diabetes & Autoimmune Diseases)

Immune rejection is the term used to describe damage to healthy tissue and cells in patients with autoimmune disorders and other inflammatory conditions. In people who suffer from type 1 diabetes, for example, the cells of the pancreas that normally produce insulin are destroyed by the patient’s own immune system; in people with thyroid disorders, the thyroid gland is attacked and damaged.

Research continues to show us that certain adult cells are capable of differentiating and producing needed cells, such as insulin-producing cells that eventually are used in with people diabetes.