GLASGOW, (LifeSiteNews.com) – British researchers announced this week that they may have discovered a cure for wrinkles using stem cells taken from a person’s blood. A Glasgow based biotechnology company, Pharmacells, has announced they will begin human clinical trials next year on a method of inducing stem cells taken from blood to replace the skin’s own cells as they break down during the aging process.
Athol Haas, the company’s chief executive, told British media, “The skin has a natural elastic property which comes from cells known as fibroblasts.
“The ability of the body to produce this elastic material slows down with age because the number of these fibroblasts decrease.
“By introducing large numbers of stem cells into the right place, we are increasing the ability of the body to produce this material. It is still in its early stages but we hope to begin phase one trials within the next 12 months.”
Pharmacells owns the patent on a method of harvesting, isolating and storing a newly discovered type of blood derived adult stem cell. The company says they have created a private stem cell bank, which people can use to store their cells “for future use in personalised medicine”.
“We also supply ‘our’ adult cell line into many types of research projects, allowing others access to one of the more significant stem cell lines available anywhere in the world.”
Older methods of obtaining stem cells from fat are not as successful, he said, being able to produce only five or ten million at a time. The company says that as many as 500 million stem cells can be obtained from only a small amount of normal blood, collected in the same way as any regular blood test.
“By introducing large numbers of stem cells into the right place, we are increasing the ability of the body to produce this natural material. It will be long lasting, we think at least five years if not longer,” Haas added.
Blood-derived, or haematopoietic stem cells are currently used in treatment of some cancers, and researchers are working towards using them to treat a variety of illnesses including leukemia and kidney diseases. Pharmacells hopes to use its method of extracting stem cells to work towards treatments for heart disease and osteoarthritis.
