I found this article interesting reading. It raises all kinds of questions in my mind. The news of this woman has been popping up in quite a few places the last few days, so many of you may have already read this. It is about a 115 year old woman who passed away in 2005 and donated her body to medical research. At the time of her death ,they found that 2/3 of her white blood cells were coming from just two stem cells.
"Blood of world's oldest woman hints at limits of life", New Scientist, April 23, 2014
At first I was confused by this, thinking they meant just two stem cell clones. But, in digging deeper, it does appear they meant literally just two physical stem cells. They also mention that at our time of birth, we are born with about 20,000 stem cells and over time they burn out as we age.
Who would have thought you could get down to just two stem cells and still maintain an immune system? There was also some theorizing that if stem cells were harvested early in life and stored, then put back in later as we age, that it could extend life span.
But when my stem cells were harvested they recovered over 20,000 stem cells. Did they get them all? How could this be if we are only born with 20,000 stem cells?
And if this women was surviving with just two stem cells, then why are far more than that needed for a successful stem cell transplant?
This leaves me a confused and wanting to know more.
I thought this would be interesting reading for those you with myeloma that take a deep interest interest in stem cells and our immune systems.
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Re: 115 year old women dies with just two stem cells left
Eric,
That is indeed a fascinating article! I am about to have my stem cells collected very soon. I am told they collect enought for 4 transplants
So, if they only return 1/4th of the amount they collect during my transplant process, do you think the info in this article suggests that those of us that have had stem cells collected could save the rest for future stem cell "rescue" infusions? How long do they keep? I've heard ~ 5 yrs.
Or
By only returning 1/4th now, is that actually a harmful thing by diminishing the amount of stem cells available in our body to create new cells?
After reading the article, it seems to suggest that perhaps it's not the amount of stem cells, but their longevity, and how many times each one can divide.
Interesting,
Thanks,
Larry
That is indeed a fascinating article! I am about to have my stem cells collected very soon. I am told they collect enought for 4 transplants
So, if they only return 1/4th of the amount they collect during my transplant process, do you think the info in this article suggests that those of us that have had stem cells collected could save the rest for future stem cell "rescue" infusions? How long do they keep? I've heard ~ 5 yrs.
Or
By only returning 1/4th now, is that actually a harmful thing by diminishing the amount of stem cells available in our body to create new cells?
After reading the article, it seems to suggest that perhaps it's not the amount of stem cells, but their longevity, and how many times each one can divide.
Interesting,
Thanks,
Larry
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Larmo222 - Name: Larry M
- Who do you know with myeloma?: me
- When were you/they diagnosed?: February, 2014
- Age at diagnosis: 58
Re: 115 year old women dies with just two stem cells left
Hi Larry,
The stems cells that are used in the transplants are CD34+, and usually 20-30+ millions cells are collected. As you can already tell, these stem cells are not quite the stem cells referred to in the article, given that it's postulated that these more pluripotent stem cells only number up to 20,000 in the human body.
Thanks, Eric, for the fascinating article.
The stems cells that are used in the transplants are CD34+, and usually 20-30+ millions cells are collected. As you can already tell, these stem cells are not quite the stem cells referred to in the article, given that it's postulated that these more pluripotent stem cells only number up to 20,000 in the human body.
Thanks, Eric, for the fascinating article.
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dnalex - Name: Alex N.
- Who do you know with myeloma?: mother
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 2007
- Age at diagnosis: 56
Re: 115 year old women dies with just two stem cells left
Ahhhh,
Thank you for that clarification.
My ignorance has led me to learn about multipotent, pluripotent, totipotent, and unipotent stem cells.
I was wondering why the numbers didn't add up.
Thank you for that clarification.
My ignorance has led me to learn about multipotent, pluripotent, totipotent, and unipotent stem cells.
I was wondering why the numbers didn't add up.
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Larmo222 - Name: Larry M
- Who do you know with myeloma?: me
- When were you/they diagnosed?: February, 2014
- Age at diagnosis: 58
Re: 115 year old women dies with just two stem cells left
In that case, I didn't use quite the right word either. The CD34+ stem cells would probably only qualify to be multipotent progenitors, but I'm not sure.
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dnalex - Name: Alex N.
- Who do you know with myeloma?: mother
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 2007
- Age at diagnosis: 56
Re: 115 year old women dies with just two stem cells left
Thanks dnalex. That does help clear things up for me. I need to read up on these stem cell types too. This raises even more questions in my mind.
If 2/3 of this woman's white blood cells were just coming from 2 stem cells, then I can see how all our myeloma cells may be originating from just a single stem cell out of the 20,000 or so we are born with. 20,000 is such a small amount of cells!
When stem cells are harvested for transplants, they are not the same type as the 20,000 referred to in the article. Those 20,000 remain in the bone marrow including the one, and possibly only one, that is defectively producing myeloma cells?
When the melphalan is administered to kill off our bone marrow, does it affect any of these 20,000 cells at all?
I guess it must not, since a transplant if not a cure. If even a small amount of those 20,000 cells were killed off by the melphalan, I would think some would be lucky enough to have that single defective stem cell killed off and would be cured. But then maybe those stem cells that are put back in would always have some defective stem cells that eventually bring the cancer back.
There is a lot more to this than I had thought.
If 2/3 of this woman's white blood cells were just coming from 2 stem cells, then I can see how all our myeloma cells may be originating from just a single stem cell out of the 20,000 or so we are born with. 20,000 is such a small amount of cells!
When stem cells are harvested for transplants, they are not the same type as the 20,000 referred to in the article. Those 20,000 remain in the bone marrow including the one, and possibly only one, that is defectively producing myeloma cells?
When the melphalan is administered to kill off our bone marrow, does it affect any of these 20,000 cells at all?
I guess it must not, since a transplant if not a cure. If even a small amount of those 20,000 cells were killed off by the melphalan, I would think some would be lucky enough to have that single defective stem cell killed off and would be cured. But then maybe those stem cells that are put back in would always have some defective stem cells that eventually bring the cancer back.
There is a lot more to this than I had thought.
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Eric Hofacket - Name: Eric H
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 01 April 2011
- Age at diagnosis: 44
Re: 115 year old women dies with just two stem cells left
Hi Eric,
This is a very much simplified explanation, but I hope that it will suffice.
There are stem cells that are totipotent, meaning that these cells have the capability to differentiate (become) every/any type of cell in our body. Totipotent stem cells are the cells that are there right after fertilization of an egg, for example.
Next up, we have pluripotent stem cells (which are derived from the totipotent cells). These stem cells can still differentiate into many different types of cells, but not as many as the more power totipotent cells.
Then, we have multipotent stem cells, with can differentiate into fewer types of cells and so on and so forth.
In the case of the immune system, there are hematopoietic stem cells, which gives rise to all the cells in the immune system, as well as red blood cells. These cells are identified by a number of surface markers, one of the more famous of which is CD34. CD34 is not unique to the hematopoietic stem cells, though, and other cells express them as well. So, when we collect these CD34+ cells for transplant, only some of those cells are stem cells that can repopulate the bone marrow compartment, while the others are there incidentally to the collection method. Nevertheless, we know that selection by CD34 is enough to have enough stem cells for the transplant to work.
http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/scireport/pages/chapter5.aspx
As for your other questions:
- The stem cells are not responsible for producing more myeloma cells. Rather, the residual myeloma cells that remains after treatment (however few they may be), may expand to cause relapse
- The melphalan may kill off some of these 20,000 stem cells, but certainly not all, or even the majority of them.
Stem cell biology is a fascinating topic, and one that many scientists from many disciplines are studying.
This is a very much simplified explanation, but I hope that it will suffice.
There are stem cells that are totipotent, meaning that these cells have the capability to differentiate (become) every/any type of cell in our body. Totipotent stem cells are the cells that are there right after fertilization of an egg, for example.
Next up, we have pluripotent stem cells (which are derived from the totipotent cells). These stem cells can still differentiate into many different types of cells, but not as many as the more power totipotent cells.
Then, we have multipotent stem cells, with can differentiate into fewer types of cells and so on and so forth.
In the case of the immune system, there are hematopoietic stem cells, which gives rise to all the cells in the immune system, as well as red blood cells. These cells are identified by a number of surface markers, one of the more famous of which is CD34. CD34 is not unique to the hematopoietic stem cells, though, and other cells express them as well. So, when we collect these CD34+ cells for transplant, only some of those cells are stem cells that can repopulate the bone marrow compartment, while the others are there incidentally to the collection method. Nevertheless, we know that selection by CD34 is enough to have enough stem cells for the transplant to work.
http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/scireport/pages/chapter5.aspx
As for your other questions:
- The stem cells are not responsible for producing more myeloma cells. Rather, the residual myeloma cells that remains after treatment (however few they may be), may expand to cause relapse
- The melphalan may kill off some of these 20,000 stem cells, but certainly not all, or even the majority of them.
Stem cell biology is a fascinating topic, and one that many scientists from many disciplines are studying.
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dnalex - Name: Alex N.
- Who do you know with myeloma?: mother
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 2007
- Age at diagnosis: 56
Re: 115 year old women dies with just two stem cells left
Eric:
Another way of looking at it,...."The lady was a Pig, as she evidently only needed ONE cell".
Think about it..
Good luck.
Another way of looking at it,...."The lady was a Pig, as she evidently only needed ONE cell".
Think about it..
Good luck.
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Rneb
8 posts
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