Scientists in Newcastle claim to have created human sperm in the laboratory in what they say is a world first.

The researchers believe the work could eventually help men with fertility problems to conceive.

But other experts say they are not convinced that fully developed sperm have been created.

Writing in the journal Stem Cells and Development, the Newcastle team say it will be at least five years before the technique is perfected.

They began with stem cell lines derived from human embryos donated following IVF treatment.

The stem cells had been removed when the embryo was a few days old and were stored in tanks of liquid nitrogen.

The stem cells were brought to body temperature and put in a chemical mixture to encourage them to grow. They were “tagged” with a genetic marker which enabled the scientists to identify and separate so-called “germline” stem cells from which eggs and sperm are developed.

The male, XY stem cells underwent the crucial process of “meiosis” – halving the number of chromosomes. The process over creating and developing the sperm took four to six weeks.

Understanding sperm

The Newcastle team say the sperm were fully mature, mobile sperm and they have produced a video to back up the research.

Professor Karim Nayernia at Newcastle University and the NorthEast England Stem Cell Institute says: “This is an important development as it will allow researchers to study in detail how sperm forms and lead to a better understanding of infertility in men – why it happens and what is causing it.

“This understanding could help us develop new ways to help couples suffering infertility so they can have a child which is genetically their own.

“It will also allow scientists to study how cells involved in reproduction are affected by toxins, for example, why young boys with leukaemia who undergo chemotherapy can become infertile for life – and possibly lead us to a solution.”

However, Professor Nayernia stressed the researchers had no intention of “producing human life in a dish”.

Perfectly viable human embryos have been destroyed in order to create sperm over which there will be huge questions of their healthiness and viability Josephine Quintavalle Comment on Reproductive Ethics

But Dr Allan Pacey, a sperm biologist at the University of Sheffield, said he was not convinced the sperm were fully developed.

“The quality of the images is not of sufficiently high resolution and I would need more data. They are early sperm, but functional tests would be needed to know exactly what has been achieved.”

The sperm cannot be used for fertility treatment as this is prohibited under UK law. The scientists in Newcastle say it will be at least five years before the technique is perfected – when they believe it should be available to help infertile men.

This research also raises ethical issues. Josephine Quintavalle from Comment on Reproductive Ethics (Corethics) said: “This is an example of immoral madness. Perfectly viable human embryos have been destroyed in order to create sperm over which there will be huge questions of their healthiness and viability.

“It’s taking one life in order to perhaps create another. I’m very much in favour of curing infertility but I don’t think you can do whatever you like.”

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Researchers from Human Genome Research Centre at the University of Sao Paulo have claimed that discarded human fallopian tubes can be a rich source of stem cells for regenerative medicine.#

It has previously been shown that mesenchymal stem cells obtained from umbilical cords, dental pulp and adipose tissue, which are all biological discards, are able to differentiate into muscle, fat, bone and cartilage cell lineages.

During the study, lead researcher Tatiana Jazedje set out to isolate and assess the differentiation potential of mesenchymal stem cells from discarded human fallopian tubes.

The fallopian tubes were obtained from hysterectomy and other gynecological procedures from fertile women between 35-53 years who had not undergone hormonal treatment for at least three months prior to surgery.

The Brazilian team found that human fallopian tube are abundant in mesenchymal stem cells which have the potential of becoming a variety of cell types.

The cells’ chromosome complement showed no abnormalities, suggesting chromosomal stability.

“In addition to providing an additional potential source for regenerative medicine, these findings might contribute to reproductive science as a whole,” said Jazedje.

“Moreover, the use of human tissue fragments that are usually discarded in surgical procedures does not pose ethical problems,” Jazedje added. (ANI)

The study appears in BioMed Central’s open access Journal of Translational Medicine.

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Stem Cell Treatment

Stem cell treatment involves topical injections and requires only a few hours stay at one of the 12 international clinics. In a typical MS case, there are multiple injections of the contents of a single vial of stem cells. These are injected into the skin/fat layer over the spine and one or two seriously affected areas of the body (e.g. into the vein of an unusable hand, or into the skin near an eye with visual problems.) They are not injected into the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) itself. However, the exact way the stem cells are administered is specific to each MS patient. The focus is on areas of greatest need. Cells are injected into specific sites of demyelination as indicated by a MRI report and into areas of greatest clinical need.

This method of Patient Specific Injection Protocol appears to deliver the fastest and strongest responses recorded.

If there is damage to the brain – stem cells are injected into the skin using the surface anatomical markers of various regions of the brain. For example if there is damage to the cerebellum, the injection of stem cells would be subcutaneously over the occipit (back of the head). There are no risks involved in this. The stem cells are able to reach damaged areas in the brain by traveling through the bloodstream. This is very straightforward as cord blood stem cells are derived from blood. One of their primary functions is to migrate to sites of need in the body through a process called homing. With homing to the brain, the blood brain barrier opens up to accept stem cells as it does for any other blood cell. In addition, a drip can be given intravenously an hour before the stem cells treatment to cause a slight dehydration of the brain making the barrier more receptive.

In MS, the damage in the brain and spinal cord does not follow a predictable pattern. Also, the findings of plaques shown on an MRI scan do not necessarily correlate with the degree of clinical severity. This makes the process of injecting directly into the brain matter or spinal fluid problematic as well as incredibly risky. For these reasons the stem cells are injected into the skin over the spine and brain and not into it.

Data shows benefits derived from stem cell therapy in both Progressive and Relapsing/Remitting types of MS. However, the type and speed of benefits, extent of regeneration and biological methods by which regeneration occurs may differ from PP to RR; however results are consistent in both types. All the above variables differ vastly from case to case within the categories of PP to RR, making it difficult to compare categories. Study groups are planned to generate a more specific answer to this question. The most important factor between cases noted to date is not the type of MS, but prescription medications (ABC drugs, antibiotics, chemotherapy) which – due to inherent toxicity factors – inhibit stem cell activity and significantly reduce the probability of benefit.

Once the stem cells have been injected they travel to the areas of damage/demyelination/inflammation via a process called ‘homing’. The stem cells follow the bodies naturally-produced chemical signals released when the body is under stress, damage or repair. These messages attract stem cells to the areas in need. Once the stem cells reach their target there are five main mechanisms, or combinations of mechanisms, by which the stem cells contribute to neurological repair. These are:

1) Transdifferentiation: Once mature, the previously primitive cells assume the function of a more specialized cell type.

2)Transdetermination: Redirection of a cell to produce other types of cells. e.g., a bone marrow stem cell may in fact start to produce cartilage or neurons.

3) De-differentiation: Mature cells are triggered to move back up the hierarchical ladder model to become able to produce any kind of cell.

4) Fusion: The stem cell fuses with existing cells to create a ‘super-cell’ that has access to suppressed DNA and is able to perform neurological repair.

5) Trophic Support: Stem cells produce growth factors that encourage the repair using existing cells.

Treatment Logistics

The time needed in clinic for pre-treatment examination, injection and monitoring is around 3 hours. The injections themselves take under five minutes.

Some clients report a warm rushing sensation following the injection and mild sleepiness for several days. Others report a boost of energy and euphoria. Some people experience nothing notable at the time of treatment but report clinical benefits later.

The therapy is designed to function as a single treatment and each case is assessed for future treatment needs on an individual basis. In each case, goals must be set regarding desired treatment benefits. If these goals are not met by the first treatment, there may be a need for booster treatments. Follow ups are done at regular intervals by the consulting physician and Follow-Up Coordinators. The cost of treatment is currently 19,500 euros while re-treatments for clients treated in 2005 are offered at a discounted rate of 10,000 euros.

The Treatment Outcome

In best case scenarios, progressive cases have returned to normal function and retain these benefits past the one year mark and don’t require boosters.
ACT has developed a Rating Scale based on the patients’ own subjective reports of the benefits the patients consider important to them and their daily activities.

Rating 1: A significant or life changing benefit for that individual (e.g. bladder control; sexual function; hand function.)

Rating 2: Multiple benefits that meet the patient’s personal goals.

Rating 3 (highest rating): An overall response beyond the expectations of both the patient and conventional doctors.

Jan Wilks experienced results very quickly which happens occasionally. On average, treatment benefits usually peak between three and six months after treatment then plateau at one year.

Booking Your Treatment

You’ll work exclusively with treatment representatives, in-house physicians, booking coordinators and follow-up specialists who arrange and follow treatments at 12 international locations in monthly treatment groups.

Booking Procedure:

Enquire via online enquiry form, specific email or phone.

A link to an online information package will be emailed or faxed.

Please quote the MSRC as the referring source.

You will be contacted by an ACT representative by phone to schedule a telephonic consultation with a consulting physician.

Consulting physician will cover all questions and medical issues. If treatment is booked at that time, a time will be scheduled for you to speak to the Bookings Coordinator regarding choice of location and date of the next available treatment group. The Bookings Coordinator will cover all logistical issues and send a provisional booking form.

Payment is made by international wire transfer and a final confirmation form is sent.

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Jan Wilks is only one of stem cell therapy’s success stories.

Multiple Sclerosis – a Cure?

Stem cell therapy is not defined as a cure for MS but as a treatment for this crippling disorder. The medical definition of a cure is a treatment which generates a remission in symptoms and normal diagnostic studies for five years or over. Data has not been monitored long enough to use the word cure. The term treatment is much more medically sound.

A stem cell is a primitive cell capable of producing many types of specialized cells. A stem cell communicates with the body to determine and travel to sites of need, to divide in a controlled manner to create a copy of itself and a copy of another more specialized cell required by the body and to assist the body to heal and regenerate its existing cells.

For Multiple Sclerosis stem cells work in three ways

1) By forming new neurons to replace the dead ones.

2) By replacing the dysfunctional and destroyed oligodendrocyes (myelin-producing cells.)

3) By coordinating the repair process via signaling cues to the existing cells. Cord blood stem cells also have the capacity to modulate the immune system and have consistently normalized markers of over-active immune systems in several in-house studies.

How Are The Stem Cells Produced?

Using specialized protocols the red and white blood cells are removed from the umbilical cords. This dispenses with the need for blood or tissue matches, and removing any associated risks. The purified stem cells are then expanded or “grown” in controlled laboratory culture to generate the high numbers needed for therapeutic application. During this process certain rare and very powerful subsets of stem cells (comprising 10% of the stem cells in a normal cord) are expanded to comprise over 70% of the total stem cell population per vial. These purified and potentiated cord blood stem cells are frozen using a specialized media. The components of the freeze media are FDA- (US Food & Drugs Administration) approved for human injection and significantly enhance viability: the number of thriving, healthy cells after defrosting. Post thaw viability using this specialized freeze media and a proprietary freeze method is more than 97%.

A Question of Ethics?

Stem cells are derived from umbilical cords with no right to life issues. Cords are obtained via informed consent donations from screened mothers of full term births, fully tested for infectious diseases using American Association of Blood Bank Standards.

Success Rates

The stem cells have been used to treat multiple sclerosis over 100 times with an average significant clinical benefit ratio of over 80%. The 80% success rate figure is based on in-house historical data. Preliminary analysis of updated data – including the data using the new site-specific injection – reflects more than 90% success rate. Different individuals have different responses. An analysis shows that 90% of cases who did not perform or performed marginally at first with no long- term benefit were taking toxic drugs such as beta-interferon (Avonex, Betaseron) chemotherapy (Novantrone) or antibiotics. It can be deduced that the toxicity or function of certain drugs may challenge or kill the stem cells or create other areas of need that would dilute the neurological progress. Beta-interferon is especially toxic to the liver consequently stem cells may prioritize that area for regeneration instead of the neurological system. Over 90% of all cases which performed with the highest rating had worked with their prescribing physicians to wean off the above drugs before starting cell treatment or had never taken them.

Good Candidates

Every single person is different and experiences a different manifestation of MS on a different schedule. Consequently every single person experiences his or her own route to healing. As with any medical treatment, it is extremely difficult to predict outcome. There are some patients who respond better than others, these include patients who:

Have not taken toxic drugs, have minimal or reduced heavy metal toxicity, don’t smoke, drink, take drugs or artificial sweeteners, eat a healthy diet with unadulterated nutrition for the cells including raw fruits, vegetables, and fat sources, do some form of physical activity/therapy and have highly positive yet realistic therapy goals.

The Risks

In more than 300 treatments no negative side effects have been reported; nor are there any medically or scientifically anticipated risks outside that of a routine outpatient injection. This is primarily due to the fact that all white blood cells have been removed from samples using a proprietary purification protocol.

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