Stem Cell Treatments Typically Not "Advertised"

The US Food and Drug Administration has been in litigation for several years over its authority to regulate stem cell transplantation. As a result, stem cell transplants and implants for bone marrow replacement and sickle anemia treatment can be publicly advertised, while stem cell transplants for other applications are not. It not unlawful to administer stem cells to repair hearts and brains and spines in the United States, but the procedures are not approved.

Texas governor Rick Perry is not inclined to let a little thing like FDA approval stand in the way of Texas becoming a center for adult stem cell therapy. Just three weeks after his own stem cell injections, Governor Perry wrote the Texas Board of Medical Examiners that he would like for Texas to become "a world leader in the research and use of adult stem cells", and that they should make rules for the use of stem cells accordingly. Even before Perry's procedure, he had approved a $5 million grant to the Texas A&M Health Science Center Institute for Regenerative Medicine and a $2.5 million grant to a Texas-based company known as America Stem Cell to further their efforts.

But do adult stem cell implants work?

For certain established procedures, the answer is "more often than not". Bone marrow transplants are stem cell transplants, preferable from a related donor who has compatible bone marrow tissue. The bone marrow enables the recipient's body to continue to make blood after irradiation to treat cancer or when there is a hereditary blood disease. The procedure is successful 70-90% of the time when the cells are received from a sibling and no cancer is involved. The procedure may only be successful about 25% of the time when cells come from an unrelated donor (which is only attempted when there is no medical need for radiation treatment.)

Umbilical cord blood contains the baby's own stem cells. It provides stem cells that are an exact match for the baby itself later in life (if the blood is frozen). These cells are a good match for a sibling, and sometimes a second child is conceived to save the first child's life. Procedures involving umbilical cord blood are usually successful.

Culturing adult stem cells to repair hearts and spines, however, can have unintended consequences.  Stem cells have to be placed on an artificial scaffold so they form not just the right tissue but the right tissue in the right size and shape.  Adult cells that have been deprogrammed to create stem cells and reprogrammed to provide the desired kind of tissue have been known to become cancerous. People have been known to travel around the world to Texas for stem implantation, spend $10,000 to $50,000 for an injection of their own stem cells, and get no benefits at all.

As a presidential candidate, Governor Perry will become a very visible "advertisement" for the success or failure of his procedure. Any seriously deleterious results of his treatment, however, may not be visible for several years.