In the experiment, a team at Harvard University embedded healthy stem cells from mouse embryos into the brains of adult laboratory rodents who were unable to use leptin. After the transplant the rodents were able to process leptin again.

Jeffery Macklis at Harvard University said “We’ve used complex circuitry as a test case for whether precisely selected and controlled neuron transplants could rewire the brain. What we found is these neurons not only turned into the right types of cells, but they sent signals to the recipient’s brain and received signals from the recipient’s brain. The next step for us is to ask parallel questions of other parts of the brain and spinal cord, those involved in ALS (motor neuron disease) and with spinal cord injuries.”

Nerve fibers had also begun growing in the engineered teeth which indicates a near perfect transplant. Human transplants might become the standard in dental repair in the next decades.

The treatment is called hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), consists of removing the patient’s immune and other blood cells, then replacing them with new bone marrow stem cells from the same patient.

But, scientists and doctors not involved with the study recognize that it is a very risky and controversial procedure.

Dr. Aaron Miller, chief medical officer for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and a professor of neurology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, says that the idea behind the procedure is to “reset the thermostat and start fresh,” adding that he does not think the treatment will have a lasting effect on the field.

“This is a very heroic form of therapy for multiple sclerosis [MS], which is unlikely, in my view, ever to have a major impact on the field,” added Miller. “It’s a substantially risky therapy — the mortality rates have been in the 2-3 percent range . . . and it’s hugely expensive.”

The study was started 15 years ago and the results of the study were published in the March 22nd issue of Neurology.

Now, after 15 years, the authors report that overall 25 percent of the 35 initial patients are stabilized. The success rate was better — 44 percent — for those with active brain lesions, signaling aggressive disease, they found.

Many had a lessening of their disability, and fewer and smaller lesions in the brain.

Two participants, or 6 percent, died of complications from the transplant.

The authors of the report say they are continuing their research of the more aggressive types of MS. But, with the high mortality rate of patients in the study, continued research may be difficult because of a lack of volunteers.

Still, some doctors and researchers say that the procedure could be a way to improve the lives of those with aggressive MS, and that it is a good first step in treating aggressive MS.

Major players profiled in the report include Advanced Cell Technology Inc., Athersys Inc., Cytori Therapeutics Inc., Genzyme Corporation, Geron Corporation, International Stem Cell Corporation, Mesoblast Ltd., Osiris Therapeutics Inc., StemCells Inc., ThermoGenesis Corp., among others.

The research report titled “Stem Cells Research: A Global Strategic Business Report” announced by Global Industry Analysts Inc., provides a comprehensive review of the stem cells research markets (including adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells), current market trends, key growth drivers, overview of major types of stem cells, recent product innovations/introductions, recent industry activity, and profiles of major/niche global as well as regional market participants. The report provides annual estimates and forecasts of investments in the area of stem cells research for the years 2006 through 2015 by the following geographic markets – US, Europe, and Rest of World.

Cerebral palsy is a serious disease characterized by brain injury that causes permanent physical disability which cannot be cured. On the other hand, many parents with children suffering from this disease report that they have noticed improvement after their children received a stem cell therapy involving the use of the patients’ own stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. Clinical trial that will take place at the Duke University and many other research centers worldwide hope to discover enough data to prove that stem cell therapy can help people suffering from cerebral palsy.

The FDA approved clinical trial at the Duke University can be participated only by people who have their umbilical cord blood stored at a bank such as Cryo-Save since birth. In this clinical trial, participants will went through a simple and safe treatment. They will receive a transfusion of their own stem cells from their umbilical cord blood. Then, the researchers will monitor the response of participants to the treatment and hopefully, get enough evidence to support benefits of stem cell therapy for cerebral palsy.

Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the “Berlin Patient,” received the transplant in 2007 as part of a lengthy treatment course for leukemia. His doctors recently published a report in the journal Blood affirming that the results of extensive testing “strongly suggest that cure of HIV infection has been achieved.”

Brown’s case paves a path for constructing a permanent cure for HIV through genetically-engineered stem cells.

Bob Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology said that the process has been tested on rats and mice and has been found to halt the progressive disease without causing tumors or other side effects. “These cells have been really performing quite spectacularly in the animals. If we can see that in the human patients we will hit a home run here,” Lanza said.

The trial was allowed to go ahead after the US Food and Drug Administration cleared its application to start a phase I study.

The National Institutes of Health had halted support for embryonic stem cell research in late August, shortly after Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that federal law prohibits any federal funding of research that destroys human embryos. Lamberth’s decision was based on language in the Dickey-Wicker amendment, a provision added to HHS appropriations bills annually since 1996. A coalition of groups had sued to block federal stem cell research funding, including the Christian Medical & Dental Assns., an adoption agency and researchers who use nonembryonic stem cells.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia permanently stayed an injunction imposed on Aug. 23 by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who ruled that the NIH’s July 2009 funding guidelines violated the so-called Dickey-Wicker Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds for the creation of human embryos for research or research in which human embryos are destroyed or discarded.

A three-judge panel from the appeals court earlier this month had temporarily stayed the injunction, and on Monday, the court heard oral arguments about whether taxpayer dollars should fund hESC research while the case is waged.

On Tuesday, the appeals court said the government had satisfied the standards required for a stay pending appeal.

“The purpose of this administrative stay is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the merits of the emergency motion for stay and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion,” the Appeals Court says in its order.