The cost and preparation of clinical trials involving human subjects are hurdles that must be overcome by private stem cell research companies in the pre-clinical stage. Because of these associated difficulties, researchers attempt to learn what they can from animal trials, including real-world veterinary stem cell cures for large animals.
Stem cell research has resulted in therapeutic applications that are working on dogs and horses in particular. In a post we'll be doing in the near future we'll talk about two private stem cell companies, one specializing in adipose (fat) stem cells, the other in bone marrow, that have made a significant impact on the world of veterinary medicine. A lot of knowledgeable stem cell stake holders will be watching the latest UC Davis investment in the future of large animal veterinary medicine. So, exactly what is UC Davis doing?
Bone marrow transplants have been performed in human blood cancer patients for over thirty years. Now, North Carolina State University is making them available for the family pet. In a bone marrow transplant, healthy stem cells are removed from blood or bone marrow. The blood cancer is then destroyed with chemical and radiological treatments, a process that destroys the immune system along with the cancer. Once this process is completed, the healthy stem cells are transplanted and allowed to form a new immune system in the patient.
Dogs suffering from lymphoma will now be able to receive the same type of medical treatment as their human counterparts, as North Carolina State University becomes the first university in the nation to offer canine bone marrow transplants in a clinical setting.
The performance horse market may decide. Which is more clinically effective? Which is more economic, easier to extract, yields greater quanties of effective cells? The answer, perhaps only that there is no difference, will impact at least one of our sector companies, perhaps more than one.
"It's very exciting (field) and incredibly promising," says researcher Lisa Fortier of Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine. "Not only for horses. Researchers are exploring the potential of stem cells in human orthopedics also, and if the approach works in the equine world, it will probably work in the human one. Two-legged patients have only a fraction of the joint stress. "A horse is essentially walking around on your middle finger," Fortier says.
Family dogs and race horses are benefiting from the development of stem cell therapies faster than we humans. Serious regulatory hurdles exist for a new therapy in route to human application. The relative hurdles are about ankle high for therapies aimed at our pets or animal investments.
Knowhere was a winner early. In fact, he won his first two races as a novice hurdler in Britain. Following that second race, though, he suffered injuries to both forelimb superficial digital flexor tendons, with low grade tendinitis in the left leg and significant fiber rupture in the right.
With few well known alternatives, none of which looked good, the owners decided to try stem cell therapy. Bone marrow cells were
collected from Knowhere's sternum and were processed over a five week
period to increase their numbers by a large factor. The stem cells,
suspended in serum obtained from the original bone marrow sample were
injected using ultrasound guidance into the core of the damaged area in
the tendons.
