Stem cell therapy raises hope for autoimmune hearing loss
mas
4. noviembre 2009 07:09
RNL BIO Co., Ltd, (www.rnl.co.kr) a leading biopharmaceutical company
specialized in adult stem cell therapeutics announced today that it
treated an American college student who was suffering from autoimmune
hearing loss and she gained her hearing back in two months after
treatment.
Chloe Sohl, an 18-year old college student who majors in music at
University of Arizona was suffering from autoimmune hearing loss since
the age of 15. Although there is no known cause of her diagnosis, it
is a serious disease that slowly damages the organs. Chloe's father,
Dr. Bertram Sohl is a director of Obstetrics and Gynecology at St.
Mary's Medical Center in Long Beach, California and her mother, Dr.
Veronique Jotterand is an ophthalmologist and Vice Chief of Staff at
Miller Children's Hospital in Long Beach, California. Even though
Chloe's parents are medical doctors, they felt helpless and devastated
about their daughter's progressive condition. They tried every
possible medication, but Chloe's condition got worse. The only options
they had were for Chloe to use a hearing aid and for her to take
medication to slow down her autoimmune system. Dr. Tai June Yoo, a
professor from University of Tennessee and a medical advisor of RNL
BIO explained as specialist in immune diseases, that if Chloe
continues to take strong medication like Methotrexate and Humira,
there will be high chances for further serious complications without
guarantee of improvement. Her doctors even recommended Chloe to
receive Cochlea implant that would enable Chloe to hear some sound,
but would irreversibly destroy the middle ear, which scared her
parents.
Ever since Dr. Sohl met Dr. Jeong Chan Ra, CEO of the firm, they began
to see hope in Chloe's hearing. Dr. Ra established RNL Life Science in
California to promote stem cell banking and to introduce the benefit
of stem cell therapy through medical tourism. He held a seminar on
April 20, 2009 with 30 doctors from Southern California on the topic
of adult stem cell therapy in San Pedro, California. Among the
attendees was Dr. Sohl, who was stunned at RNL BIO's achievements in
stem cell therapeutics that was able to improve various conditions by
stem cell treatment. The principle of adult stem cell therapy is
actually simple because it utilizes the natural healing ability of our
own body.
"Every part of our body already contains stem cells that play a key
role in maintaining and repairing our own structural and functional
system. Due to aging, the amount of stem cells decrease and that's why
the time and ability to recover from cellular damage slow down and
chronic and degenerative symptoms develop as time goes by. The
principle of our stem cell treatment is to make enough amount of stem
cells and to bring them back to the patient's own body. Surprisingly,
we found that stem cell therapy has great potential to treat
autoimmune diseases," explained Dr. Ra.
Earlier this year, RNL BIO treated patients with atopic dermatitis.
Other autoimmune disorders have also been treated in addition to
atopy. Many stem cell researchers have demonstrated that mesenchymal
stem cells modulate the immune system and suppress inflammation as a
major therapeutic effect. Chloe's hearing loss falls into this
example. This treatment was supposed to soothe any hypersensitive
immune response and repair damaged organ so that she might hear again.
Dr. Sohl was very intrigued for his daughter to receive stem cell
treatment, but his wife was skeptical about Chloe getting stem cell
therapy at first. Chloe's physicians even discouraged Chloe from
receiving stem cell treatment. However, they were able to decide to
try this treatment for Chloe from seeing RNL BIO's successful
outcomes. The great safety profile of RNL stem cell therapy made them
comfortable. Chloe felt assured to accept the therapy.
Chloe said, "I felt very good about it. I felt very optimistic. I've
had IV's every month since I started to lose my hearing. It was good
because I knew this could work unlike the other ones. I just felt very
optimistic about the whole procedure."
Currently, stem cell transplant is not allowed in some countries like
the United States, some European countries, and South Korea unless it
gets a market approval through clinical trials as new pharmaceutical
drugs undergo. Chloe had to travel outside of the United States and to
Japan or China where RNL established stem cell clinics. More than
2,000 patients with various diseases have been treated with stem cell
therapeutics through RNL BIO since 2008.
Chloe visited Dr. Won, a plastic surgeon in Los Angeles to harvest her
fat tissue around her belly button in last June. Then the tissue was
sent to the laboratory RNL BIO in Germantown, Maryland, where they
isolated stem cells, put them in liquid nitrogen shipper and
transported them to RNL BIO in Seoul, Korea. It took them a month to
expand her stem cells to a sufficient amount enough to treat her
hearing loss. Chloe's family planned a trip to Korea during their
summer vacation. At last, on July 27, 2009, they visited Korea for two
weeks. The stem cell treatment took place in Japan -- 600 million
cells were administered by three injections with 5 day intervals. The
cells were injected into her veins and auditory system.
Chloe's hearing was tested two months after the procedure was
completed on October 16, 2009. The results were spectacular. The left
side of her ear improved 50% from not being able to hear at all. The
right side of her ear gained almost complete hearing.
Dr. Jotterand could not bear her excitement, "Now it's just been a 180
degree turnaround. She's just enjoying life and enjoying being a
freshman at the university. She's just having a great time and it's
just wonderful to see the joy in her own face and in her life."
Chloe's parents invited Dr. Ra and other members of RNL BIO to their
home in Long Beach to celebrate her miracle. They expressed their
gratitude and felt like they received a gift of miracle. Thus, they
promised to support RNL BIO's promoting stem cell business in the
United States.
President and CEO of RNL BIO, Dr. Ra stated, "Through this great
discovery and research of adult stem cells, I am committed to create
and develop therapies that will not only prevent diseases, but ensure
a better quality of life for all."
SOURCE RNL BIO Co., Ltd"
source: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20091104/Stem-cell-therapy-raises-hope-for-autoimmune-hearing-loss.aspx