Now two separate groups led by Xiaolong Meng of the Bio-Communications Research Institute in Witchita, Kansas, and Julie Allickson at Cryo-Cell International in Oldsmar, Florida, say they have found these cells in menstrual blood. Both groups say the cells show all the hallmarks of stem cells: they replicate without differentiating, they can be made to differentiate into many different cell types, and they show characteristic markers of stem cells on their surface. Meng's work was published in the Journal of Translational Medicine last week (DOI: 10.1186/1479-5876-5-57).
Cryo-Cell has now patented a collection and storage technique called "C'Elle", enabling women to preserve their own menstrual stem cells in case they could be used to treat heart disease, diabetes, and spinal cord injury in the future.
- A Wichita doctor has found that adult stem cells can be harvested from a woman’s menstrual fluid and developed into nine different types of human tissue.
Dr. Meng of the Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning International made the discovery. His findings show the adult stem cells harvested from the fluid can be developed into tissues such as heart, lung, liver, bone, and others. The discovery is dramatic because it involves adult stem cells — not embryonic stem cells, which have been the source of recent controversy.
Researchers hope these harvested cells will one day work to repair dead and dying tissues in our bodies.
“If there is a part of the heart that is damaged, that is dead, you can inject some of the stem cell, which will repair the damaged part,” Dr. Xialong Meng, researcher, said. “Then you have whole new heart again.”
There are several years of research still ahead in the stem cell arena, but researchers believe this latest discovery is very promising.
Where do I donate? I’ve been waiting for someone to come up with a good use for this stuff.