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Doctors Credit Israeli Stem Cell Therapy for Saving Girl's Life

(Reuters) Jim Drury - An experimental stem cell treatment has saved the life of a Romanian girl with a deadly bone marrow disease after two bone marrow transplants failed. Bianca, 7, suffers from aplastic anemia - a deadly condition where bone marrow produces insufficient cells to replenish blood cells - and doctors gave her just months to live. Bianca traveled to Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center to receive PLacental eXpanded cells therapy - PLX. Prof. Reuven Or, Director of Bone Marrow Transplantation at Hadassah, explained: "We use here human cells that are universal, that can be given to patients regardless of typing or matching, and they can induce in the body probably many important things, including supporting bone marrow function." Cells extracted from human placenta were processed in a laboratory before being injected into Bianca. Within ten days of the final round of treatment, her body restarted its production of red and white blood cells and blood platelets. Zami Aberman, Chairman and CEO of Pluristem, the company behind the therapy, believes it could treat a wide range of conditions. "We have animal studies that demonstrate that our cells can be good to treat patients with multiple sclerosis or inflammatory bowel disease....We have evidence that we can use the cell for orthopedic use in repetitive injuries, like sport injuries."
2015-04-20 00:00:00
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