Stem-cell therapy: Cure or hoax in China?
'Some get miracles'; others are skeptical
PATRICK WHITE
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
August 23, 2007 at 9:11 AM EDT
The website for Beike Biotechnology bursts with stories that can only
be categorized as medical miracles: a paraplegic can move his legs
again; a man with muscular dystrophy can carry a cup of water, a
stroke victim can speak.
These tales of ailments treated come from all over the world -
England, Hungary, Russia, Canada - and back the healing claims of a
controversial Chinese treatment that purports to cure the incurable.
"I saw miracles every day I was there," says Leslie Wells, who flew
to China in April, 11 years after a swimming pool accident rendered
her arms and legs limp. "It can be a crapshoot. Some people get
miracles, some people get nothing."
Doctors at Beike - based in Shenzhen, China - are treating a host of
nerve disorders with stem-cell therapy, a procedure still under early
clinical trials in much of the Western world. In just two years,
doctors at Beike have injected stem cells from umbilical cords into
the spines of nearly 1,000 patients from outside the country. Roughly
30 of those patients came from Canada, according to a Beike
spokeswoman.
Approval for such treatments in Canada is years away, and the medical
community here stands firmly opposed to people seeking them in China,
citing possible health risks. In a research paper published in
Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair last year, several doctors in
Canada and the United States followed up with patients of Hongyun
Huang, who has been offering stem-cell treatments in China for
several years. Few of the patients had improved since returning from
China.
"If it sounds too good to be true, it's too good to be true," says
Michael Rudnicki, Canada Research chair in molecular genetics at the
University of Ottawa.
But increasing numbers of Canadians are sidestepping domestic
regulations and venturing to China in hopes of a cure.
Ms. Wells, of Milton, Ont., first heard about Beike in a news story
she read about two Ontario women who had suffered spinal-cord
injuries in a car accident and then received the stem-cell treatments
in China with some success.
As she flipped through the beaming testimonials on the company's
website, it crossed her mind that the whole thing might be a scam.
She just wanted a cure to nerve pain so crippling that "no painkiller
known to man would help."
Her spine specialists warned her against it.
Eventually, she decided. "I was like, all right, what do I have to
lose? Just a little money."
Ms. Wells paid $23,000 for the procedure and travelled to Nanshan
Hospital in China, where she received six injections teeming with
stem cells into her spinal fluid. Beike says the stem cells repair
damaged nerves.
After her second injection, the pain that had made jobs and school
seem impossible, was nearly gone.
"On a scale of one to 10, it went from like a nine down to a two. I
haven't taken a single painkiller since."
She's not alone in her praise of the injections. With his speech and
balance failing, George Arruda, an Ancaster, Ont., landscaper with
ataxia, flew to Nanshan for four spine injections and two IV drips.
Ataxia is a progressive disorder that prematurely kills the nerve
cells responsible for balance and co-ordination, and is one of the
long list of neural conditions that Beike will treat. That list also
includes epilepsy, ALS, cerebral palsy, spinal-cord injury and
strokes,
Mr. Arruda knew it was an uncertain therapy, but his wife had
recently given birth to a daughter. "I just wanted to be a healthy
strong dad for her."
Before the trip, he could get around only with the aid of a walker.
One night, about midway through his treatment, he was surprised to
find himself walking to the bathroom unassisted.
"Immediately, I was about 20 per cent better," he says.
Since returning to Canada in February, he's had a relapse of
symptoms. But he says that was probable considering the degenerative
nature of ataxia. He's now looking at other stem-cell treatments.
Western medical experts chalk up the positive testimonials to the
placebo effect. "We can give people a sugar pill and tell them it
will get rid of all their pain and they'll insist that it works," Dr.
Rudnicki says, "so I'm highly doubtful of testimonials. If I just
spent $30,000 on a procedure, I would want to say it worked too."
Researchers at the University of Alberta are in the midst of studying
the proliferating number of companies offering stem-cell cures. So
far, they've discovered more than 30 based all over the world.
"The term stem cell has so much currency around the world right now,"
says Tim Caulfield, Canada Research chair in health law at the
University of Alberta and member of a Canadian network of stem-cell
researchers. "Even though the scientific community is deeply
skeptical, people just associate the term with hope. It's a perfect
area for quackery."
Eventually, Dr. Caulfield expects that researchers can use the
University of Alberta study to make policy recommendations. "If there
is fraud, we want to find it. The people going in for this are often
tremendously sick and desperate. We want to ensure they are not being
exploited."
Beike is open to the scrutiny. Patients are encouraged to post
pictures and blog entries online documenting their time in China.
Most depict a pristine hospital with cheery medical staff.
"Most of the doctors who work for us have been trained in Europe or
the U.S.," says Kirshner Ross-Vaden, lead medical consultant with
Beike's North American operations. "These are people who are leading
the entire medical field. We have the nicest hospitals in China. The
North American medical establishment is simply behind the times."
Beike says that 86 per cent of their clients show some measure of
improvement.
Researchers in Canada say that while clinical trials have begun to
look at the possibilities of stem-cell treatments, the therapies
won't be available to the public for years - if they actually work.
Until that day comes, researchers here continue to advise against a
stem-cell trip to China.
"They are ... putting patients at risk," Dr. Rudnicki says.
Umbilical stem-cell therapy step-by-step
China-based Beike Biotechnology is offering a controversial umbilical
stem-cell therapy to the rest of the world. Here's how it works.
THE UMBILICAL CORD
During pregnancy, the umbilical cord supplies the fetus with blood.
This blood is rich in stem cells, which play a major role in the
baby's development.
HARVESTING CORD BLOOD
At birth, the umbilical cord is cut and tied off at the child's
navel. Doctors use a needle to extract the blood from the separated
cord. One cord only provides approximately 300,000 stem cells, not
enough to transplant.
EXPANSION PROCESS
In order to increase their number, the stem cells are extracted from
the blood and placed in a petri dish containing a growth medium. The
dish is placed in a dark, warm incubator and the cells begin to
multiply.
STORAGE
Once they have expanded enough in number for transplantation, the
stem cells are isolated through magnetic washing which removes all
the growth medium. The cells are then stored at frozen temperatures
until needed.
TRANSPLANTATION
The cells are injected into a patient's spinal cord or delivered to
them by IV drip.
http://www.theglobe
23/BNStory/specialS
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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