SACRAMENTO, CA - At 4-years-old Rydr Rudgers is able to eat, speak, and walk --all thingshis family wasn't sure he'd ever do after being diagnosed with cerebral palsy as an infant. "He was born without any brain stem functions; no sucking, no swallowing, no breathing," said Rydr's mother Elisa. When Rydr was 15-months-old, he began stem cell infusions from his cord blood that was saved in a stem cell bank.Rydris making great progress after three infusionsand can even feed himself. "These are like huge milestones that people don't think about, but actually being able to hold a fork and eat a sandwich is, in our world, an unanticipated milestone and it's amazing," Elisa Rudgers explained. "Like autism, cerebral palsy or brain injuries of that nature are a diffused population, it's not one cause,"said Dr. Michael Chez, who is the Medical Director of Pediatric Neurology at the Sutter Neuroscience Institute. Doctors at the Sutter Neuroscience Institute are now beginning research to evaluate cord blood stem cells to help improve language and behavior in autism patients. The announcement was made on Tuesday morning at Sutter Medical Plaza.It's the first FDA-approved clinical trial that uses a newborn's stem cells from cord blood to … Continue reading →

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug.21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sutter Neuroscience Institute, a recognized Center of Excellence, and CBR (Cord Blood Registry), the world's largest stem cell bank, are launching the first FDA-approved clinical trial to assess the use of a child's own cord blood stem cells to treat select patients with autism. This first-of-its-kind placebo controlled study will evaluate the ability of an infusion of cord blood stem cells to help improve language and behavior. The study is in conjunction with the Sutter Institute for Medical Research. To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please visit: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/57707-cord-blood-registry-stem-cell-trials-child-autism (Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120821/MM59477) (Logo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120216/AQ54476LOGO) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, autism spectrum disorders impact one in 88 children in the U.S., and one in 54 boys.1 The condition is thought to have multiple risk factors including genetic, environmental and immunological components. "This is the start of a new age of research in stem cell therapies for chronic diseases such as autism, and a natural step to determine whether patients receive some benefit from an infusion of their own cord blood stem cells," said Michael Chez, M.D., director of Pediatric Neurology with the Sutter Neuroscience and principal study investigator. "I will focus on … Continue reading →

By Ryan Flinn - 2012-08-21T04:01:00Z Researchers are recruiting autistic children for a study that will test whether injecting stem cells banked from their umbilical cords can lessen symptoms and provide insights into the nature of the disorder. While stem cells have been promoted, and sold, as a treatment for autism, few clinical trials have been conducted to see whether theyre effective. The study, which begins enrolling patients today, is the first of its kind approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to assess the use of stem cells as a potential autism therapy, said Michael Chez, director of pediatric neurology at Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, California, and the principal investigator. About 1 in 88 children in the U.S. are diagnosed with an autism-related condition. The disorder hurts brain development and is linked to poor social interaction and communication skills, repeated body movements, and unusual attachments to objects. With this study well be able to answer in a firm way that this is truly an observed effect, or we didnt get an observed effect, Chez said in a phone interview. Thirty children with autism, ages 2 to 7, will be divided in two groups, with one getting the stem … Continue reading →

Stem cell treatment could lower inflammation levels and demonstrate whether autism is an autoimmune disease By Kathleen Raven Image: Nature News Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way... Read More By Kathleen Raven of Nature magazine Families with autistic children must navigate a condition where questions outnumber the answers, and therapies remain sparse and largely ineffective. A clinical trial being conducted by the Sutter Neuroscience Institute in Sacramento, California to address this situation began recruiting participants today for a highly experimental stem cell therapy for autism. The institute plans to find 30 autistic children between ages 2 and 7 with cord blood banked at the privately-run Cord Blood Registry, located about 100 miles west of the institute. Already one other clinical trial, with 37 total participants between ages 3 and 12 years old, has been completed in China. The researchers affiliated with Beike Biotechnology in Shenzhen, the firm that sponsored the study, have not yet published any papers from that the trial, which used stem cells from donated cord blood. Mexican researchers are currently recruiting kids for yet another type of autism … Continue reading →

Unproven, Risky Treatments Mislead Patients to Seek Cutting-Edge Therapy There's a dark side to stem cells: bogus treatments that prey on patients' hopes when mainstream medicine has little to offer. Stephen Byer stepped far outside typical medical care when his son, Ben, had ALS. He took Ben to China for stem cell-like treatments, and later helped hundreds of people do the same, believing it would help them. The unproven procedure could have killed Ben. It didn't -- but it also didn't work. Ben later died of ALS. So did the ALS patients Byer now regrets helping get the treatment. Why take the chance? For Byer, it started with misleading promises online. "The Internet, while increasing communication, has spawned a horde of charlatans and creeps," Byer says. "We were suckered into one of the earlier forms of stem cell chicanery." But not everyone who seeks unapproved stem cell treatments feels ripped off. Even though the stem cell treatments Dawn Gusty got in Tijuana, Mexico, didn't ease her multiple sclerosis, she doesn't look back with regret. That moment -- when hope surpasses science, and when someone claims to be able to bridge that gap -- may be one of the riskiest for … Continue reading →