I thought extracting bone marrow was very painful. Can you comment on the procedure and pain involved?
Launch HN: Forever Labs (YC S17) – Stem-Cell Banking
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Re: Launch HN: Forever Labs (YC S17) – Stem-Cell Banking
#22How old is too old to use my stem cells/ I'm 64 in 2 weeks.
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Re: Launch HN: Forever Labs (YC S17) – Stem-Cell Banking
#23How much do you take? Do you think this is enough for any number of possible use cases in the future e.g. multiple diseases, experimental treatments, etc. Is there a real possibility of running out of banked stem cells?
Re: Launch HN: Forever Labs (YC S17) – Stem-Cell Banking
#24I like it but there are some major questions: 1. What kind of stem cells do you get from bone marrow pluripotent? 2. Do we know how long samples last in cryo-preservation? Eg. is there any example of a 60 year old stem cell that was able to actually seed something biologically functional? 3. Is there a roadmap for some system that tells the user how and when they would request their cells to be used? Or is it just ba…
1. There may be few pluripotent cells in what we collect, but the majority of stem cells collected are multipotent (mesenchymal and hematopoietic lineages).
2. We haven't been cryopreserving stem cells for 60 years, so that is impossible to know. However, there is evidence that bone mesenchymal stem cells can be stored for more than 20 years: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22280954 In my own experience, I have used cell lines that were stored more than 30 years, and primary cells stored more than a decade. Evidence suggests that the freezing and thawing process have the greatest impact, and that time in liquid nitrogen does not.
3. Once collected, you have a dashboard where you can log in and see/request your cells. We are working on rejuvenation therapies that employ these cells, so such a roadmap might develop should we have success.
4. I would not venture a guess.
Re: Launch HN: Forever Labs (YC S17) – Stem-Cell Banking
#25Do factors like Smoking and Drinking influence the quality of the stem cells you can procure? For example, if one has been smoking heavily for 5 years, is it beneficial to "detox" and then have cells harvested? Is the quality of gathered cells different based on lifestyle, or do MSCs have impunity in this kind of situation?
Re: Launch HN: Forever Labs (YC S17) – Stem-Cell Banking
#26Can I have a real-world example or few use cases please? Ok, I store my stem-cells with 37. And then? Can I stop aging forever or is it just for fighting diseases later?
One possibility is that you will have your young stem cells for the treatment of age-related disease later in life.
Stroke: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01716481 Congestive heart failure: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00644410
We are interested in using the cells to rejuvenate the decline in the bone marrow itself.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22355586
This is something that we are working on.
Re: Launch HN: Forever Labs (YC S17) – Stem-Cell Banking
#27I like it but there are some major questions: 1. What kind of stem cells do you get from bone marrow pluripotent? 2. Do we know how long samples last in cryo-preservation? Eg. is there any example of a 60 year old stem cell that was able to actually seed something biologically functional? 3. Is there a roadmap for some system that tells the user how and when they would request their cells to be used? Or is it just ba…
1. There may be few pluripotent cells in what we collect, but the majority of stem cells collected are multipotent (mesenchymal and hematopoietic lineages). 2. We haven't been cryopreserving stem cells for 60 years, so that is impossible to know. However, there is evidence that bone mesenchymal stem cells can be stored for more than 20 years: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22280954 In my own experience, I have u…
Thanks, great answers.
Re: Launch HN: Forever Labs (YC S17) – Stem-Cell Banking
#28Do you see any possibility for regrowing/regenerating degenerated spinal discs using stem cells in the near (5 to 10 years) future ?
Re: Launch HN: Forever Labs (YC S17) – Stem-Cell Banking
#29I thought extracting bone marrow was very painful. Can you comment on the procedure and pain involved?
I found it to be quite painful for about 10 minutes (the length of the aspiration procedure). Once the procedure is over, I would describe the sensation as "annoying, not particularly painful" for about 48 hours.
Re: Launch HN: Forever Labs (YC S17) – Stem-Cell Banking
#30I thought extracting bone marrow was very painful. Can you comment on the procedure and pain involved?
A bone marrow biopsy is much more painful than an aspiration, which is what our physicians do. There is variability, but my own experience was a fleeting cramp (3 out of 10), that lasted about 15 seconds. I have been many of our collections, and that's typical. A local anesthetic is used, and mostly what you feel is pressure. You don't see anything, because the draw is on your lower back. Our physicians often prescribe an oral pain killer, and sometimes something to relax you. However, a surprising number of our clients decline both, typically because they want to drive home. The procedure takes about 15 minutes from laying down on your side, to standing up again. You are usually in and out within 1 hour.