Stem Cell Therapy for Psoriatic Arthritis

Several clinical studies have shown that stem cell therapy has not only slowed down the progression of psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis, but alleviates the symptoms of the disease altogether, with a prognosis of a 12-16-year remission phase.  Mesenchymal Stem Cells, allogeneic or autologous as well as Hematopoietic Stem Cells have been used for the treatment of this auto-immune disease.  Mesenchymal cells can be harvested from a variety of tissues such as bone, adipose tissue and umbilical cord. Hematopoietic stem cells are also extracted from the bone marrow. When autologous treatments are performed, the first step is to obtain the specimen. The patient is given a local anesthetic and then the aspiration of bone marrow without pain is done. Complete Bone marrow is preferred to complete this kind of stem cell infusion to take advantage of the many growth factors included in the bone marrow. There is minimal manipulation and preparation being very careful to keep sterility and high viability of the cells. In some cases additional minerals are added to increase the potential of the cells. Specimen is infused by IV into the body. To ensure negligible damage to the stem cells, no separation process is performed, always keeping manipulation of the bone marrow or source of mesenchymal stem cells to the minimum necessary. Fresh bone marrow has shown to engraftment better in most cases, mainly the target of stem cell therapy is immune regulation by suppressing the active proliferation and expression of inflammatory cytokines. This in turn reduces chronic inflammation markedly resulting in improved overall symptoms.  Results are extremely promising with remission of psoriasis and prompt alleviation of arthritis, by not injecting on every inflammation site of the body, we avoid poking the patient multiple times and avoid the stress and discomfort of such injections. Stem cells are carried by blood everywhere, which help cover more ground of the immune system

Are there any side effects?

There are minimal unwanted side effects of stem cells for psoriasis. Stem cells are harvested from the patient’s own body and there is minimal to no risk of transplant rejection and/or cross contamination. The side effects of a bone marrow aspiration are: Soreness and/or swelling in the following 3 days and maybe a little bruising on the aspiration site. If any other source of stem cells needs to be used for this application, any other alternatives will be presented by the doctor’s recommendation according to the needs of the patient. There is a positive side effect on this type of infusion and that is because stem cells travel through blood around the body, many of them attach to damaged tissue in the internal organs of the body. A regenerative process to those organs takes place, improving their function and efficiency. We have seen an overall wellness benefit with a huge impact on the health of patients.

I want to get an evaluation

The evaluation process is as follows: the patient is brought in for thorough evaluation prior to treatment with stem cells for psoriasis. The patient meets with one of our doctors at the medical team who will review your medical records, discuss the treatment options and procedures, and will answer any questions that may come with. This evaluation process is really important to determine whether stem cell therapy is the best path for you to follow or if there may be any other treatments out there that could give you a different benefit depending on your case and condition. If the patient has any imaging, lab work or medical reports it’s crucial to present this to the doctor, this way the evaluation will be the most accurate possible and a treatment recommendation will be easier to provide. A proper description of drug history is also very important as there are certain medicines or supplements that must be stopped at least a week before any procedure for example, blood thinners. It is always a good idea for the body to be replenished continuously by nutrients like vitamins and minerals. Intravenous infusions or special diet may be recommended by a nutritionist or by your family doctor.

After all of your questions have been cleared out, a treatment protocol will be recommended for you. One of our Regenerative Medicine Scientific Liaisons will provide an accurate quoting according to the doctors recommendation and patients needs. The next step is to set up a date for your visit at ProgenCell, to do this we’ll provide you with our available dates for you to choose the one that works best for you. In case plane tickets are purchased, ProgenCell will be coordinating logistics for your pick up the day and time of the arrival. Further instructions will be provided by your Regenerative Medicine Scientific Liaisons.

Although stem cells can be obtained from different sources, such as: bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, adipose tissue and even teeth, we prefer to use fresh, autologous bone marrow; as it contains many stimulating factors and growth factors. As research studies advance and more beneficial qualities for regenerating and repairing tissue are discovered, we are becoming more and more convinced of its potential for anti-aging, prevention and for treating a wide variety of degenerative conditions. That is why we want to bring the benefits of stem cells to all those patients with a medical condition, even when traditional treatments have had little or no results.

Are you or a loved one living with Psoriatic Arthritis? Call us today at +1 (888) 443-6235 or contact info@progencell.com for a FREE medical evaluation with our experts.

About Psoriatic Arthritis…

Psoriatic arthritis is the chronic inflammation of the skin and joints (inflammatory arthritis). It is usually associated with psoriasis, but its occurrence can be separated from it by years. Psoriasis is a skin condition that causes itchiness,redness and scaly skin around the elbows, knees, back, buttocks and scalp. While psoriasis is not age-specific, psoriatic arthritis usually affects more adults than the younger age group. It is not known why there is an association between arthritis and psoriasis. However, cytokines are known to play an important role, especially the factor for tumor necrosis. Cytokines are cells in our body that are in charge of controlling the development of immune system cells as well as blood cells. These cells also have participation in the paracrine, endocrine and autocrine signals of the immune system.

As we mentioned previously the underlying pathology of psoriatic arthritis is inflammation, but research suggests there may be certain factors that trigger this inflammation such as:

• Research shows that patients with psoriatic arthritis in whom the spine is affected exhibit the gene marker HLA-B27 in about 50% of the cases. Other genes are also involved.
• Immune System. Psoriatic arthritis is linked to autoimmune conditions as well as immunosuppressed conditions such as AIDS in which the number of T-cells are greatly reduced. This may play a role in the progression of disease in such patients.
• Environmental Factors. The influence of environmental toxins/agents is still undergoing research.

What are the symptoms?

Psoriasis usually precedes arthritis. The distribution of the signs and symptoms of psoriatic arthritis depends upon the type and the joints involved. For example:

• Joint pain: joints of the fingers, toes, knees, ankle and feet can be involved. There is pain in the small joints due to inflammation. Sometimes it may swell so much giving it a ‘sausage finger’ appearance.
• Stiffness: joint stiffness is usually worse in the mornings which makes it harder for the patient to stand and start his daily activities, some sort of exercises are performed to alleviate the stiffness. It may mimic RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis).
• Back pain and stiffness in lower back which may be also related to spondylitis.
• Enthesitis and tendonitis of surrounding bones.
• Chest pain and shortness of breath may be seen as well in some cases.