In 2010, Anna and her husband decided to bank their son, Ryan’s, Two years later, when their daughter Sarah was born, they opted to save her cord blood as well. Later, when Sarah was diagnosed with Autism, Anna thought about the possibility of using cord blood stem cells and began a quest to research medical advancements in stem cell therapies that could potentially benefit her daughter’s condition.
Sarah’s first treatment was completed in February 2017. The family did not observe any changes in Sarah at that time. Her speech and language skills remained below grade level, her drawings were simple lines on paper and she remained socially awkward. Since the Duke University Hospital Study does not disclose clinical trial treatment information (placebo or stem cells), Anna speculates that the first treatment was, perhaps, a placebo. She does not know for sure. After Sarah’s next session, dramatic improvements were noted. In less than a year, Sarah’s language improved from two or three word sentences to 16 words and her scribbles on paper evolved into detailed images of flowers. In addition, her tantrums decreased dramatically and her social proficiency evaluation indicated that her skill set was ‘off the charts.’
Since the clinical trial at Duke University Hospital did not report the individual outcome to each participant, they only release a general report of the cumulative results, Sarah’s success was evaluated independently. She is still on her Individual Education Plan (IEP) at pre-school, but her mother reports that everything is better. “It’s not a cure and there are still challenges, but there are improvements across the board.” Anna notes that there are still lots of hurdles and developmental delays, yet their daughter’s progress has been exhilarating for the family. But Sarah’s story isn’t done yet. Her brother, Ryan, is a partial (50%) HLA match and therefore his cord blood stem cells can be used to extend her treatment. Anna has registered Sarah for an allogeneic (using stem cells from a donor, in this case Ryan) transplant this month as part of Duke’s Expanded Access Protocol.
Anna remains hopeful that there will be a mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) clinical trial for autism in the near future. MSCs are “building block” cells that not only can self replicate, but can also differentiate into many different cell types. With that trait they could one day repair or replace a wide variety of tissues, such as bone, cartilage, neural cells, muscle cells, and so on. MSC’s can be found in umbilical cord tissue and dental pulp. Anna said she wishes she had stored Sarah’s umbilical cord tissue when she preserved her cord blood.
Anna added, “I’m excited about the potential of treatment. I hope that soon the FDA will open the floodgates so people can have access to this therapy. It‘s safe, so let people benefit from it.” NECBB has shipped the sibling’s specimen to Duke University for Sarah’s additional treatment. Anna is hopeful that Sarah will show continued development in combating the symptoms of Autism. She said the results to date have been astonishing; Sarah continues to flourish as a 5-1/2 year old girl. She is thriving in school and enjoying life with her friends.
Fuente: www.cordbloodbank.com
Traducción: https://translate.google.co.ve/translate?sl=en&tl=es&js=y&prev=_t&hl=es&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cordbloodbank.com%2Fsarahs-story-treating-autism-stem-cells%2F&edit-text=&act=url
Fecha: 27-08-2018