Holistic Medicine
The Key to Good Health Is Hiding in Your Bone Marrow

22 SPRING 2007 - Health’n Vitality

A Research Scientist’s Breakthrough Findings
There’s been a lot of discussion on stem cell research over the last several years, with claims being made for possible cures for any number of diseases from Parkinson’s to spinal cord injury.

The process of acquiring stem cells for treatment, however, has been complicated. Becoming pregnant for the sake of using a new baby’s cells seems unethical and most of us were born long before the idea of saving the umbilical cord for future harvesting of stem cells was ever conceived.

But there may be another, easier way to tap into the healing potential of stem cells. HNV talked to Christian Drapeau, MSc, a recognized authority in adult stem cell research, research scientist and neurophysiologist with over thirteen years of research experience in the fields of natural foods and nutrition. Mr. Drapeau and his collaborators have proposed and published a breakthrough theory on adult stem cell physiology.

HnV: You and Dr. Gitte Jensen proposed that the stem cells already present in bone marrow can be released and travel through the body, reaching virtually any organ or tissue in need of help, and restore it to optimal health. This phenomenon is the very mechanism used by the human body to heal and regenerate itself. This stands in vivid contrast to the current scientific approach of harvesting embryonic stem cells from human embryos, triggering their activation in a test tube and then injecting them into the bloodstream of a patient to stimulate recovery of a failing organ. How did you discover this? Were you looking for such a discovery?

C. Drapeau: We did not discover anything; we only interpreted existing scientific articles in a different manner. And these articles did not just come from a limited number of scientific teams but from literally dozens of independent teams. We did not set out to work with stem cells. Dr. Jensen and I were studying a natural product called aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA). People consuming AFA reported all kinds of health benefits improvement in inflammatory conditions, immune support and increases in mental clarity/mood elevation.

In collaboration with several scientific teams, we have identified over the years the presence of specific compounds in AFA that explain these various benefits. AFA contains phycocyanin, a blue pigment that was shown to have strong anti-inflammatory properties; a polysaccharide that was shown to support several immune functions; and phenylethylamine (PEA), known as the “molecule of love,” a compound endogenous to the brain that elevates mood and increases mental alertness.

But I also received many letters reporting health benefits that we could not explain. What was really puzzling was the wide variety of the benefits. People reported benefits pertaining to the health of almost every organ, including the skin, liver, pancreas, bone, heart, lungs and brain. How could one product bring benefits to so many different organs and tissues? That’s the question that puzzled us until data began to appear in the scientific literature about the promise of embryonic stem cells. The health problems for which embryonic stem cells were touted as being beneficial were almost the same health problems for which people had reported benefits while taking AFA.

Then one day Dr. Jensen shared a paper with me titled “Turning brain into blood.” The paper described how scientists took brain stem cells and changed them to blood cells. If something like this could happen, which contradicted all the dogma pertaining to both brain and stem cells, what else could be possible? It showed an amazing unsuspected plasticity in the body and opened our minds to so many possibilities. We immediately began devouring the scientific literature about stem cells. And although it took four to five years for the scientific community as a whole to begin considering this possibility, back in 2000 it was already quite clear that adult bone marrow stem cells constituted the natural healing system of the body.

I believe the current focus on extracting stem cells from the blood – or growing embryonic stem cells in vitro and then expanding them and triggering some level of differentiation before injecting them into an organ – is the consequence of an enormous and insidious bias in the scientific world, the belief that science supersedes nature; science takes it where nature left it and goes further.

I think that all the current efforts towards manipulating stem cells in vitro come from this bias and from the obvious pharmaceutical influence that no research is going to be directed in a direction where there is not a tight control on possible profits. Simply stimulating your own bone marrow obviously does not offer as much control and profit as procedures that require sophisticated laboratories and scientific expertise.

HnV: As we age, what happens to the number and quality of stem cells that circulate in our body? And why are stem cells so important to our health?

C. Drapeau: No studies have yet been done specifically to answer this question. However, hundreds of thousands of people have undergone chemotherapy and radiation therapy over the last two decades. Before undergoing such therapy, which kills all the stem cells in the body, doctors harvest stem cells from the patients. These stem cells are later injected in the patient to repopulate the bone marrow.
Before harvesting stem cells, patients are injected with compounds known to stimulate stem cell release from the bone marrow. It has been observed that older people release fewer stem cells than younger people. There seems to be a clear inverse correlation with age. Whether this comes from a reduced ability to make stem cells or to release them is not well documented.

However, we know that the bone marrow slowly turns from red marrow (stem cell producing) to yellow marrow or fatty marrow (which does not produce stem cells) as we age. This can easily explain why fewer stem cells are released as we age. This being said, everything seems to indicate that regardless of age, more stem cells in the blood seem to lead to greater health. Regarding the quality of stem cells, when older animals were irradiated and injected with stem cells coming from either young or old animals, the mice that received stem cells from the young animals recovered faster. Stem cells from younger animals seem to be more effective. But here again, little has been done to answer this question. Stem cells are important for health for the simple reason that they constitute the natural healing system of the body.

HnV: What can we do to help our body maintain healthy stem cell physiology? What foods can a person eat to increase their stem cell health? What food supplements can a person take to support the release of stem cells from the bone marrow into the bloodstream?

C. Drapeau: Melatonin has been shown to support the proliferation of neural stem cells. So good sleep could help the brain recover faster and better. Running a marathon was shown to stimulate the release of stem cells from the bone marrow. I don’t know if this applies to running just a few miles. Stress hormones (cortisol) decrease the ability of stem cells to proliferate as neurons. So far, no food has been studied for its effect on stem cells. There is enough data to suggest that any antioxidant and anti-inflammatory food could help overall stem cell physiology.

Full spectrum nutrition – all vitamins and minerals – is obviously expected to help the process of proliferation and the good health of stem cells. So far the only supplement or natural compound shown to support the release of stem cells from the bone marrow is a stem cell enhancer.

HnV: What is the natural process that allows stem cells to travel to areas of the body where they are most needed?

C. Drapeau: When an organ is injured, it releases a compound called Stromal-Derived Factor-1 (SDF-1). SDF-1 binds exclusively to the receptor CXCR4, which leads to the expression of adhesion molecules and the migration of stem cells out of the blood into tissues, to the site of injury. When stem cells travel in the blood, as they go through the post-capillary venules, the sites where cellular migration takes place, they detect the presence of SDF-1, which triggers their migration.

HnV: What is the connection between stem cell circulation and improved health?

C. Drapeau: Various studies have collectively shown that the higher the number of stem cells in the blood, the greater the overall health. This was specifically shown in cardiovascular health in a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine (Sept. 8, 2005). There are different hypotheses as to the actual effect on health. More stem cells may simply mean more stem cells for migration, and hence a greater potential to repair. More stem cells also may mean that a very small injury will trigger the restoration of blood circulation and prevent bigger events.

HnV: One of the best-researched areas with respect to stem cells is heart health. The New England Journal of Medicine stated that the supply of stem cells in the body is an excellent determining factor for cardiovascular health. One recent paper claimed that the level of stem cells in the blood was a better predictor of heart attack than the cholesterol level. This is a major finding – and provides a foundation for the suggestion that stem cells normally contribute to the ongoing repairs needed for a healthy heart. What part can AFA and other stem cell enhancers play in heart health?

C. Drapeau: Simply having more stem cells in the blood seems to be a very important factor in this whole process. So by putting more stem cells in the blood, AFA increases heart health and overall health.

HnV: Every week there are new claims being made about embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. How do you know what to believe?

C. Drapeau: The field of stem cell research is one of the most prolific fields in science. So there is no question that no one can follow all the literature, which makes it more difficult to have a consensus and easier for certain groups that may be politically or financially oriented to manipulate the situation. Most of the news and reported progress pertain to embryonic stem cells (ESC), though most of the real breakthroughs pertain to adult stem cells (ASC). There are a few reasons for this discrepancy, some intentional and others just the fruit of historical bias.

When stem cells were first studied, ESC were easier to grow and manipulate. So they became the reference. Using ESC, the characteristics to identify stem cells in general were developed. One of the main characteristics was the ability of injected ESC to develop into a teratoma – a lump including bits and pieces of all tissues, i.e., a tooth, some hair, a ball of beating cells, etc. It proved that the injected cells were pluripotent. ASC, when injected into the skin, simply become skin cells. And without the use of fluorescent markers, the skin cells cannot be distinguished from other skin cells, so practically speaking they may as well have died and done nothing. They are also difficult to grow in a Petri dish. So ASC were historically considered lesser stem cells. Now we know that they become cells of other tissues in a significant way, without the disorganization – teratoma – seen with ESC. But the historical bias lingers.

There is much more money involved in ESC. Federal funding on ESC was cut, permitting the use of only a few existing ESC lines. These lines are owned by pharmaceutical companies who know how to pull the strings of the media. So ESC is portrayed as much more valuable in order to maintain the political focus there. ESC is at the centre of one of the biggest ethical dilemmas of our time, aside from the war in Iraq. Blending money, ethical dilemma and political turf makes a great recipe for media coverage.

Interesting work on ASC is published but it remains largely unreported in the news. We are so far too small to attract attention, though scientists in the field of ESC oftentimes dismiss our data without even looking at it. There is a real divide between ESC and ASC scientists.

HnV: Stem cells can typically be broken into four types: Embryonic stem cells – stem cells taken from human embryos; Fetal stem cells – stem cells taken from aborted fetal tissue; Umbilical stem cells – stem cells take from umbilical cords; Adult stem cells – stem cells taken from adult tissue. Adult stem cells are most abundantly found in bone marrow. These stem cells circulate and function to replace dysfunctional cells, thus fulfilling the natural process of maintaining optimal health. Why is there so much controversy over what stem cells are used? Can you explain why you think it is better or preferable to release stem cells already present in the body to activate the body’s own innate healing ability rather than to use outside stem cell sources?

C. Drapeau: I think that a lot of this controversy comes from the various angles from which we look at the problem. Scientists must clearly identify their stem cell source. There is obviously the main difference between ESC and ASC. We can pretty much put aside fetal stem cells because they will never really be used – too many ethical issues – and umbilical stem cells are essentially adult stem cells.

This being said, I personally believe that there is not that much difference between the various sources of adult stem cells. I think that a lot of the difference comes from looking at a moving target at different points in development. Like taking pictures of a growing individual over the years and giving this person different names and implying that the person is a different entity at different stages of their life. There are stem cells in virtually all tissues, yet I believe that there is an unexpected level of plasticity that allows much movement between these pools of stem cells.

Some of the controversy is also inherent to any fast growing field. Scientists making similar observations give different names to the same thing, leading at times to much confusion. Using your own stem cells is simply easier and safer, and not invasive at all. It does not require any hospital involvement; it is the way of tapping into this potential.

It may not be effective for everything, but for probably 80% of the population suffering from the simple consequences of aging and wear and tear, releasing your own stem cells suffices.
Using stem cells from someone else or another organism exposes you to possible rejection. Injection of your own stem cells exposes you to infection.

HnV: It has always been thought that adult stem cells were limited in their ability to give rise to other cells. This is why so much focus has been on embryonic and cord blood stem cell research, since these cells are known to be able to differentiate into any tissue in the body. As it turned out, the adult stem cell observations were based on in vitro (Petri dish) experiments, but we now know that in vivo (in the body), the environment is different, and that adult stem cells have the ability to become any cell or tissue. This proves that the power to heal already exists within us. I have been told we will also see some exciting new pharmaceutical products, which promise to do some of the same tricks without having to remove a single stem cell from the body. These drugs may for example activate bone marrow cells and encourage them to migrate to parts of the body where repairs are needed. What are your thoughts/feelings on this – helping the body heal itself using natural compounds as opposed to synthetic drugs?

C. Drapeau: It is obviously the approach that we are developing, i.e., the endogenous release of stem cells from the bone marrow. In the pharmaceutical industry, products are already being developed and tested for this purpose.

HnV: Why did you become involved in the study of nutrition, naturopathy and various natural therapies as opposed to pharmaceutical drugs?

C. Drapeau: The understanding that the body is a biological entity that will heal or improve much better if provided with natural products or approaches. A close investigation of the use of many drugs reveals that their apparent benefits are often overshadowed by insidious and serious health problems. I believe that there are no better ways to regain and maintain optimal health than to adopt sound life habits and lifestyle, and to apply general rules of healthy living. That’s what attracted me early on to better understand what nature had to offer to help the body reach optimal health. As for my work on AFA, as a neurophysiologist, the main attraction was initially its effect on mental clarity.

HnV: What other scientific research are you involved with?

C. Drapeau: We are studying compounds having possible effects on other aspects of stem cell physiology. Now we know that stem cells constitute the natural healing system of the body, one of the best approaches to regain and maintain optimal health is to support this natural process.

David Keith is a professional freelance health journalist and holistic medicine columnist

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