Stem Cell Treatment Center

Beijing Tiantan Puahu hospital uses 4 types of stem cells to treat different neurological conditions:

1. hRPE stem cells  (used to treat Parkinson's disease, Stroke patients and  other targeted neurological conditions, derived from donated tissue).
2. Neural stem cells (used to treat a large variety of conditions, derived from donated fetal tissue)
3. Mesenchymal stem cells (bone marrow and cord blood derived from donated tissue).
4. Autologus stem cells (derived from the patient's own bone marrow).

hRPE stem cells are human Retinal Pigment Epithelial stem cells, and are the only part of the central nervous system that is visible. The cells are collected from donated material and injected via stereotactic brain injection into a specific target in the brain where dopamine is produced. hRPE cells have the function of producing dopamine, and are used for patients suffering from Parkinson's disease. hRPE stem cells are administered via a direct stereotactic brain injection.

Neural stem cells (NSC) are derived from donated fetal tissue, and proliferated in our hospital's own laboratory.

In order to repay lesions in the central nervous system, donor neural cells may have the potential to: substitute for lost cells, provide cellular support for axonal regeneration, re-myelinate axons (provide extra myelin, to substitute for lost cells), provide neurotrophic effects and offer a neurotransmitter release.

Neural stem cells therapeutic potential to treat nervous system diseases is clear from the fact that after transplantation, these cells are attracted to a neurodegenerative environment, where they seem to replace dead or dysfunctional cells. More over, neural stem cells have the ability to secrete some neurotrophic factors such as GDNF (a glial cell-line derived neurotrophic factor for midbrain dopaminergic neurons), BDNF (neurotrophic factor for dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra), to play a role in neurotrophy. Recent studies indicate that neural stem cells are capable to regulate the immune system.

Neural stem cells are used in treating stroke, Cerebral Palsy, Parkinson's disease, Dementia, Spinal Cord Injuries, Cerebral Trauma, Motor Neuron diseases (ALS), Multiple Sclerosis, Multiple System Atrophy, different types of Ataxia, and other neurodegenerative conditions and forms of brain trauma.

Neural stem cells are administered via lumbar puncture into the patient's cerebral spinal fluid.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC) are derived from donated fetal bone marrow or cord blood with informed consent and are cultured in our hospital's own laboratory.

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have great potential as therapeutic agents, which can migrate throughout the brain and differentiate into neurons and glial cells. They also have the advantage of transdifferentiation, induction of neurogenesis and angiogenesis, neuroprotection, and activation of endogenous neurorestorative processes; all these contribute to the benefits of MSCs in treating ischemic brain and anoxic brain injuries. That's why we use MSCs together with NSC in treating brain injury and apply MSC's to other patients with degenerative diseases.

MSC's are being studied for safety prior to use.

MSC's are being administered when treating nervous system diseases, refractory autoimmune diseases, diseases that require repair for hematopoieitic and mesenchymal tissue.

Mesenchyma lstem cells are administered in two ways: in a mixture with neural stem cells, via lumbar puncture into the patient's cerebral spinal fluid, and in pure form via an IV.

Autologus stem cells are used to treat patients suffering from a wide variety of neurological condition, and do not wish to get treated with neural stem cells, due to religious or personal reasons. The cells are derived from the patient's bone marrow, cultured in our laboratory for duration of no less than 2 weeks, and later are administered into the patient's cerebral spinal fluid via lumbar puncture.

Stem cells have the potential to be of help in many different areas of health and medical research. To begin with, studying stem cells helps us to understand how they are able to transform into the dazzling array of specialized cells that make us what we are. Some of the most serious current medical conditions, such as cancer and birth defects, are due to problems that occur somewhere in this process. A better understanding of normal cell development will allow us to understand and perhaps correct the errors that cause these medical conditions.

Another potential application for stem cells is in creating cells and tissues for medical therapies. Today, donated organs and tissues are often used to replace tissues that have been damaged, contaminated by disease or even destroyed. Unfortunately, the number of people needing a transplant far exceeds the number of organs available for transplantation. Pluripotent stem cells offer the possibility of a renewable source of replacement cells and tissues to treat a myriad of diseases, conditions, and disabilities including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, spinal cord injuries, strokes, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

You are referring to Bone Marrow Stem cells, which are extracted from the patient's own bone marrow. In order to use the patient's own stem cells, a small amount of stem cells will be extracted from the patient's bone marrow, and later cultured in the hospital's own stem cell laboratory.

We will usually use Neural Stem Cells (derived from fetal stem cells) and MSC (mesanchymal stem cells- extracted from placenta or cord blood), which are produced in our laboratory.  For this procedure there will be no need to extract any tissue from you own body.

While injecting stem cells into the spinal fluid, stem cells find their way into the brain with the circulation (every 6 hours) of the cerebral spinal fluid. In the brain they will restore damaged neural cells and will proliferate and grow into more brain cells to compensate on the loss of brain cells that died around the damaged area.

Although the ongoing stem cell research worldwide has not yet concluded how stem cells identify a damaged area in the brain, it has however succeeded in proving that stem cells has the quality to migrate with precision directly to damaged areas. And on this knowledge stem cell treatment is based. 

Stem cells will naturally migrate to damaged areas in the brain, but to make sure this happens, stem cell treatment includes other factors as well: by using certain medicines and particular physical therapy we can activate signalization in the brain in the damaged areas, which will attract the stem cells into their target.

Several major issues has delayed the implementation of research and technology of stem cells into clinical practice in the last 10 years, and especially in western countries that usually holds the most advanced research and technologies.

Those major issues are the religious, ethical and political controversies regarding the use of stem cells in principle and the debate if is more around the question whether using stem cells technology is "right or wrong" and not whether it is effective or not.

This debate, which held back stem cell treatments, clinical trials and research funding in western countries, has never been part of China's ethical/religious principles, and that is a major reason how China came ahead with the use of stem cells for clinical applications, gathering more and more experience in the field.

Saying that, you should know that by today there are quite a few countries beside China that conduct stem cell treatments of different kinds. (Such as Germany, India, Russia, Hungary, Mexico, South America and others).

The use of stem cells to treat certain medical conditions is still in its infancy: it means that many aspects of such treatments are unknown to science and medicine today, and therefore, from this aspect, you may say it is experimental.

However, it is important to understand that there is a difference between a clinical trial and a treatment (which is paid individually by the patients and conducted according to an individual's condition and needs.). 

The treatments that are conducted in Tiantan Puhua hospital are not under clinical trial, they are conducted under certain protocols that proved to be safe and effective and their one goal is to offer improvement and better quality of life to patients.

We provide individualized treatments to patients under a certain protocol that was developed by our neurologist and neurosurgeons.

To date and throughout the last 5 years, the international department at Tiantan Puhua hospital has treated over 400 foreign patients with different neurological conditions, from Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases, through different types of Ataxia, stroke, traumatic brain injury and children's Cerebral Palsy. 

This experience gives us good knowledge as to the safety and level of results we are offering to patients. However, this experience, from a scientific point of view, does not allow us to determine accurate statistic data as to success rates in specific medical conditions.

It is due to professional approach that we do not offer such information, but try to provide an individualized evaluation and estimation of results to each patient.

Results vary. No two patients are alike, and the response of each and every patient is different. The vast majority of the patients get moderate improvements, smaller percentage of patients get excellent improvements and another small percentages see no improvements in their condition.

From our experience, patients that got no improvements were in advanced age, very severe condition, or had other medical conditions that made their general condition particularly complicated.

As the neural stem cell is a primitive cell, it has very low immunogenicity. It is unnecessary to have matching test before the transplantation. After the stem cell injection, patients needn't take anti-immunologic suppressive medication.

This is one of the largest advantages of using neural stem cell.

Additionally, we inject the stem cells into CSF, where there are few immunological cells and will not motivate a rejection procedure.

In each injection only a certain amount of stem cells can be injected, otherwise, the delicate pathways in the spine can be blocked.  Each injection contains about 5.5 million cells.

It sounds like a large amount, but in fact, we have billions and billions of cells in our brain, and a small amount of cells will have no effect on the injury.

Therefore, an amount of 22 million cells is injected via 4 separate injections to ensure both safety and efficiency of the treatment. 

The cells injected are a combination of neural stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells.

For MS patients, an additional injection of mesenchymal stem cells is being delivered via an IV. During the transfusion, a total of 12 million mesenchymal stem cells are being implanted.

After the first 2 stem cell implantation, our medical team may re-evaluate the patient's medical plan, and suggest adding further mesenchymal stem cells implantations.

While injecting stem cells into the spinal fluid, they find their way into the brain with the circulation (every 6 hours) of the cerebral spinal fluid. In the brain they will restore damaged neural cells and will proliferate and grow into more brain cells to compensate on the loss of brain cells that died around the damaged area. 

Although the ongoing stem cell research worldwide has not yet concluded how stem cells identify a damaged area in the brain, it has however succeeded in proving that stem cells have the quality to migrate directly to damaged areas and restoring neural function.

Stem cells will naturally migrate to damaged areas in the brain and we help them identify these areas by activating signalization in the brain: a process that can be activated by certain medicines as also by particular physical therapy.

Neurotrophic factors are a family of proteins that are responsible for the growth and survival of developing neurons and the maintenance of mature neurons. Recent research has proven that neurotrophic factors are capable of re-growing damaged neurons.

The Self Stem cell Original Activation and Proliferation treatment ("Cocktail Treatment") is a program our hospital conducts throughout the whole stem cell treatment procedure.

Autologous (self) stem cells or adult stem cell are stem cells that our body holds in different organs. The neural self stem cells that we have differentiate at a very slow pace, thus not helping the damaged brain cells to restore their functions. In order to speed the body's own production of neural stem cells, we use a series of medications to stimulate these stem cells and consequently to repair the injury or substitute the dead cells (and at the same time, make them copy themselves (proliferation) to get a larger number of cells).

We also use some medication to clean the toxic metabolic products in patients' brain, for example, Free Radicals (a stimulant product). This procedure can enhance the brain microenvironment and protect the cells.

After neural fetal stem cell implantation, our medical team will use medications to induce and differentiate the new stem cells.

In conclusion, we will use different medications during different steps of the treatment (clean-proliferation-inducement-differentiation), and will adjust the medications according to the patient's particular condition.

There is nothing specific you will have to do after treatment.

Our International team will assist you communicating with the medical team shall you require any further assistance.

In order to prepare the patient's body for stem cells implantation, the patient receives stem cells activation and proliferation treatment used to stimulate the production of the body's own stem cells. There might be some medications prescribed upon discharge.

Stem cells can provide different relief to patients suffering from different conditions. Some patients experience more improvements than other, but in general, stem cells do not have the option "not to work", simply be less effective in treating certain conditions.

It is important to understand that every patient is different, and stem cells implantation has proven to be beneficiary in direct connection to the patient's age, general health condition and the progression of the disease. 

Although stem cell treatment does not provide a cure, it can provide different levels of improvement to patients.

Lumbar puncture as a medical procedure is a most common procedure done daily at hospitals worldwide, usually for two main purposes:

1) In order to administer medicines into the spinal fluid and brain.

2) Perform a spinal tap: taking a sample from the cerebral fluid in order to diagnose different medical conditions.   

It is therefore a very common and safe procedure. It has a low but possible risk of infection (such as in any type of injection) and before the procedure the doctor will explain to you the risks, as done in any hospital. Generally, the procedure has no 'failure rate', it is simply a 'deep' injection in the lumbar area.

During a lumbar puncture, a needle is carefully inserted into the spinal canal low in the back.  A small amount of CSF (Cerebral Spinal Fluid) is collected, then mixed with the stem cell fluid and injected back into the CSF. 

The place of the injection receives local anesthesia, and most patients do not report to feel pain during the injection, although some have expressed discomfort at the need to lie on your back for 6 hours after the procedure.

A second treatment could be considered had the results of the first treatment been satisfactory, although it would not be advised to consider second treatment prior to completing the first.

In theory, in infinite number of return treatments are possible. We maintain a safe period of 4-6 months between allowing patients to return for a second treatment.

To this day we have had a number of patients returning for a second treatment, and even a patient who has returned 5 times.

The activation drug cocktail helps prepare the brain for stem cell implantation therefore is not applicable alone. The IV is designed to maximize neural functions in the period before and during implantation and in the period when the cells are absorbed.  Those drugs cannot be taken or a regular basis for the purpose of controlling symptoms or holding back the degeneration process.

It is true that patients are experiencing symptomatic improvement few days after they begin receiving the IV, and yet, this treatment cannot control symptoms on the long term.   The high efficacy of the IV "cocktail" treatment is calculated in relation to the overall success of the treatment (Cocktail of neurotrophic factors and supplements + stem cell implantation).

All the drugs that are used inside the IV cocktail are FDA approved drugs which carry absolutely no danger of developing tumors.

First, the stem cells offered are different- we offer the unique hRPE stem cells injection, with cells that have the unique ability to produce dopamine while injected directly into the damaged area (the substantia nigra in the brain) and a mixture of neural fetal and mesenchumal stem cells, whereas the treatment offered in Germany offers an autologus stem cell implantation (the patient's own cells are being cultivated and later re-injected into the cerebral spine fluid).

The hRPE stem cells are very potent and very accurate in providing a solution to Parkinson's disease. Neural and mesenchymal stem cells have been used for treatment of neurological conditions and a variety of brain trauma.
Theoretically, the younger the stem cells are (such as in fetal stem cells or umbilical cord stem cells) the more potent they will be and the more power they have for regeneration activity.  Therefore they are considered very effective in regeneration medicine. Bone marrow stem cells, taken from an adult, are not as young, and therefore their ability to regenerate new cells is, theoretically, smaller.

Apart from the stem cells used, the treatment offered in our hospital is a comprehensive treatment, built on an extensive rehabilitation program in which stem cells are only one part of the treatment protocol, supported by a daily intake of neurotrophic factors (Neurotrophic factors are a family of proteins that are responsible for the growth and survival of developing neurons and the maintenance of mature neurons.

Recent research has proven that neurotrophic factors are capable of re-growing damaged neurons), daily sessions of Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments, Physiotherapy and Occupational therapy.

While the German clinics treat the patients with one injection only, in our hospital we offer 4-5 weeks comprehensive treatment, in which the stem cells are only a part of treatment, not the main focus.

Lumbar puncture as a medical procedure is the most common medical procedure done daily at hospitals worldwide, alongside with an IV administration. We take full precautions to assure treatment to the highest standards, in order to prevent infections of any sort. The lumbar puncture has a very low, but possible risk of injection, unlike any kind of injection.

The cost of treatment includes all treatment related condition. Shall a patient undergo (for example purposes only), a heart attack while in treatment; we are not to cover his/her expenses, as it is not related to the original treatment. In the last 5 years, we have not experienced an adverse reaction to the treatment.

in theory, in principle and in practice, as far as we know today, there is no such risk in the implantation of any type of stem cells used in our hospital.

Stem cells are flexible cells that have the potential to fulfill various functions within the body. There are two types of stem cells: embryonic- and tissue-specific, or adult, stem cells. While embryonic stem cells have the potential to become any type of cell in the body, adult stem cells exist to repair damaged tissue and thus are more limited in their potential.

As far as we know, there is no clinical use anymore in embryonic stem cells as in the very early days of stem cell treatments. And there is no need to? as there are much more efficient and safe options (bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, and ? fetal stem cells.)

Fetal tissue is unique since it is fast growing and has a lower possibility of rejection from the host's immune system than adult cells.

All the cells used for treatment have been differentiated into their final appearance, and have no risk in continuing uncontrolled multiplication.

Fetal neural stem cells have already differentiated (directed) into a certain system in the human body? the neural system. They can become a different type of brain stem cells, but they cannot develop into any other type of cell. Therefore? they are very safe to use when implanted via the cerebral spinal fluid? directly into the brain. There is no danger of them developing into tumors.

We have observed a few reactions to the implantation, in the form of flu like symptoms, which last from a few hours to a few days. Neural and mesenchymal stem cells present with a low immuno genicity, and so far we have not seen any rejections. 

Depending on our doctor's research and clinic experience, there are no risk of long-term side effect of our stem cell treatment procedure.

We use cell lines. When we choose the cells, we do a series of tests to avoid virus infections, bacillus, tumors growth, mutation, etc.; these tests will insure the safety of the stem cells used for practice.

Patients have reported on short-term side effects such as headache, low fever, weakness, and dizziness. Side effects usually persist between the first 24 hours and 3 days after the injection and can be controlled by our medical team.

Up to date, none of our patients have reported on a long-term reaction upon leaving the hospital.

The unique procedure of hRPE stem cell implantation for Parkinson's disease had been under research and extended clinical trial (American/German cooperation) since 2000.

Although the results were successful, as of today, such treatments are still not available to the individual patient in these countries.  The fact that hRPE cells are difficult to acquire and also the above mentioned reasons, may be the reason for that.  It is common knowledge that as of today, Beijing Tiantan Puhua hospital is one of the only medical facilities in the world that offer this procedure to patients. 

In the years 2004, a clinical trial was done at Beijing University Stem Cell Research Center. Beijing Tiantan Puhua Hospital was one of the participating hospitals in this trial. Publications were done in Chinese only and unfortunately we cannot provide the scientific data of this trial.

However, the trial tried to determine the safety of the specific procedure of hRPE stem cells implantation for Parkinson's disease patients, and based on its positive results Tiantan Puhua has started conducting and providing this procedure. 

Based on 5 years of experience, we have established a protocol that proved to be both safe and efficient for patients.

We provide individualized treatments to patients under a certain protocol that was developed by our neurologists and neurosurgeons.

Why should I consider stem cell treatment for Parkinson's disease?

Sustainability of improvements is limited to maximum of several years. Stem cell implantation does not provide a solution to the cause of PD and therefore cannot cure the disease. There is no know treatment for Parkinson's disease, apart from stem cell transplantation, which will help slowing down the progression of the disease.

Stem cell implantation can only provide functional improvements, which are:

1) Biological and not chemical (therefore, providing a 'healthier' solution, avoiding the debilitating side effects of drugs and stimulating a natural production of dopamine in patients).

2) A solution that has relatively long term effect and can therefore delay the progression of the disease while improving the quality of patients' lives.

What improvements should I expect?

Some patients have been able to reduce drugs consumption after treatments, while others experienced better effect of drugs in controlling their symptoms.

Usually, Parkinson's disease patients see improvements in their mobility, speech, rigidity and spasticity. Most patients report on improvements during hospitalization, and later report on further improvements after going back to their home countries.

The mental aspect of Parkinson's disease usually improves as well, although we cannot fully estimate to what extent, as it depends on the overall improvements you shall experience following stem cell treatment.

Different patients have responded differently to the implantation. Some have experienced a more significant shift in their condition, while others had more minor improvements.   We see among patients a normal curve, where most patients get 10%-20% improvement in their conditions, a smaller number gets 30% to even 40% improvements (rare, but possible) and on the other side of the scale a small number of patients that got minor to no results.      

Since the time we started to conduct the direct brain injection procedure for hRPE stem cells implantation, 3 patients have experienced a reaction response immediately after the operation, which was treated in the hospital. No patient has ever reported on a negative response (in the long term) after treatment.

Could hRPE stem cells be obtained from my retina, as an autologous source?

Stem cells could not be obtained from your retina, since it would mean losing sight. Retina is the only part of the Central Nervous System that is visible, and derivation of stem cells from a live person would result in damaging the eyes. The cells are obtained from donations that are extracted by qualified hospitals and kept in cells banks (similarly to donation of other organs). The cells are then cultured in Beijing Tiantan Puhua hospital's stem cell lab before implantation.

Is there a category of patient condition that only allows lumbar puncture (e.g. brain abnormalities, presence of diseases other than PD), and conversely, is there a category where surgery is required to obtain significant improvement?

Usually, patients which suffer from any cardio-vascular problems, high blood pressure, heart disease, mental disease or other, or, which are in advance age or very advance stage of the disease will not qualify for the procedure.

What is the presumed advantage of direct injection over the less intrusive lumbar puncture?

The main advantages of this procedure are:

1) A direct injection into the brain has a direct impact on the brain functioning and makes sure that the cells go directly into the desired target.

2) hRPE are very potent cells and very accurate in providing a solution to Parkinson's disease. They are adult (fully mature) stem cells, which make them very safe, and have the natural quality of developing into Dopamine-producing cells. 

However, it is important to remember that a direct brain injection is not the only method of implantation offered, and the majority of our patients who have been implanted via lumbar puncture have experienced good results as well.

Not all patients qualify for the direct brain implantation, while the neural stem cells implantation has proved to be very efficient in elevating Parkinson's disease symptoms and improving the patient's quality of llife.

Is lumbar puncture treatment as effective as the direct implants of stem cells into the brain?

A direct implantation into the brain saves the cells from the long route throughout the cerebral spine fluid, so in a way a stereotactic brain injection should be more effective. Moreover, it uses a special type of cells, which are considered to be most effective in treating Parkinson's disease.

However, lumbar puncture is the most common procedure done in our hospital ?  about 90% of all procedures (including all medical conditions) are implantation via lumbar puncture -  therefore, we have had extended experience using this method of implantation which proved to be effective and safe in treating Parkinson's disease.

Will I be able to undergo future treatments for Parkinson's disease or Deep Brain Stimulation?

If you were to have treatment in our hospital, this would not prevent you in any way from having a similar treatment in the future should your symptoms make it necessary. The stereotactic brain surgery will unable you to undergo future brain operations, such as deep brain stimulation (DBS).

Stem cell implantation via lumbar puncture will not unable you to undergo any type of treatments available worldwide (including DBS).

How will you know if I fit the criteria for stem cell treatment for Parkinson's disease?

General criteria: clear evaluation / no contra indication for treatment (such as cancer, for example) / safety of the patient to undergo the long flight and long period of treatment abroad / no related or unrelated medical conditions that may pose risk of complications during treatment / acceptable stage of disease/ age of patient.

Of your PD patients so far, approximately how many have had a direct injection, and how many lumbar puncture?  What prompted you to introduce lumbar puncture as an alternative delivery method?

From all the Parkinson's patients that have been treated at Tiantan Puhua hospital over 20 patients have undergone the implantation via brain injection. As you can see, an implantation via lumbar puncture is not a lesser alternative, but a common procedure that we are highly experienced at. 

The lumbar injection is a very safe and simple procedure, done under local anesthesia and has no major risk involved. It allows the cells to be administered safely, gradually and effectively. When a patient is not eligible to undergo a brain operation (from reasons of age, condition or other risk factors) the lumbar injections are a very good alternative.

Stereotactic brain injection is the least invasive brain operation. It has very high success rate and is widely used for different medical procedures (also similar to DBS procedure).  Since this procedure does involve a certain risk, only patients who are eligible for this procedure in terms of general health, age, stage of disease and risk factors, are accepted for this procedure.  From our experience, a direct transplantation of hRPE via stereotactic operation is a very effective treatment and recommended whenever such procedure is possible for the patient.

Long term effects:

Since stem cell therapy is still very new, there is a theoretical answer and an answer based of experience with patients:

Our first Parkinson's patient, to be treated with stem cells was treated over 5 years ago, in June 2005. She had excellent results (about 40% improvements) and she keeps those good improvements to date. Of course there are highs and lows, and she is adjusting her medications accordingly, but she has reduced her dose of medications significantly.

Most of our Parkinson's patients that had good results after the treatment kept their results to date. Some Parkinson's patients experiencing few difficult months after they return home from the hospital and sometimes experiencing difficulties with adjusting to their medications, yet after few months they stabilize and see further improvements. In conclusion, in five years we see very good long-term results, especially when the treatment is successful.

In theory, Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disease, and stem cell implantation cannot stop the mechanism of degeneration in the brain, it can only slow it down.

It is therefore hard to tell for how long the results will hold, also considering that every patient is in different stage and different condition.

I have been diagnosed just a while ago- can I be considered a candidate for treatment?

Stem cell treatment has proven to be most effective at treating neurodegenerative conditions, when applied as early as possible from the onset of the disease.

Since there hasn't been a lot of damage to the neural tissue in your brain, the effect of the treatment might be more significant than a patient who's been ill for a longer period of time and due to the damage in his brain displays more PD related symptoms.

Judging by our past patients, we feel that stem cell treatment might slow down the progression of the disease, which, in your case, could mean staying in the 1st stage of the condition for a longer period of time and maybe staying off medications for longer.