Grandchild's Stem Cells May Help First Lady Walk Again

The Straits Times (Singapore)

(c) 2002 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

By Lawrence Chung

July 01, 2002

Doctors say stem cells from newborn's umbilical cord blood may help Madam Wu, paralysed waist down for past 17 years

TAIPEI - The upcoming birth of Taiwan First Lady Wu Shu-chen's first grandchild may bring more than a bundle of joy to the presidential family. Doctors said that stem cells from the newborn's umbilical cord blood may help Madam Wu, paralysed from the waist down for the past 17 years, to walk again.

They have suggested that presidential daughter Chen Hsin-yu save the umbilical cord blood after she gives birth in October.

'Through cultivation of stem cells extracted from the cord blood, patients with spinal injuries have a great chance of having their damaged nervous system repaired, helping them to rise on their feet again,' said spinal expert Chiang Yung-hsiao of the Tri-Service General Hospital.

He explained that stem cells are the building blocks of a person's immune system that help to fight disease and can help regenerate damaged cells.

'They are progenitor cells from which all other cells develop and can help cure patients suffering from leukaemia, certain anaemias, Parkinson's disease, stroke and paralysis,' he said.

Stem cells are found in abundance in the blood of umbilical cords, embryos, spinal cords and brains.

The cells from the cord blood of Ms Chen's baby will be an ideal source for Madam Wu's stem-cell therapy because the chances of rejection is low among blood relatives, Dr Chiang said.

But such a therapy is still at an experimental stage and approval is needed to conduct a test on humans, he added.

Experts also said that it would be a long time before stem-cell therapy on serious spinal injury could became successful.

Mr Chris Tsai, chief executive officer of BioNet Corp, the first and largest baby blood bank in Taiwan, said although stem-cell therapy on blood diseases like leukaemia is rather mature, therapy on nerve problems is still in an experimental stage.

'In the case of the First Lady, it is more complicated as she not only needs to have her nerve cells re-grown, but also bone marrow cells too,' he added.

Madam Wu has been confined to a wheelchair since she was paralysed from the waist down following a car accident in 1985.

A vehicle knocked her down while she and her husband - now President Chen Shui-bian - were thanking voters for supporting him in his unsuccessful bid for the post of magistrate of Tainan County in southern Taiwan.

News reports here said her family doctors have said they do not recommend trying the new treatment without examining the potential risks first.

Mr Tsai, however, said Madam Wu's case was not hopeless and the stem-cell therapy was one way to cure her even if it took time.

'But saving her grandchild's cord blood is important for future use,' he said.

He described cord blood as a kind of 'biological insurance' against future diseases and said the concept had become more popular in Taiwan.

Stem cells can be saved for more than 20 years at the cost of NT$130,000 (S$6,800) in deep-freeze storage in a baby-blood bank.

In Taiwan, there are four private banks saving cord blood from some 7,000 babies and the number is expected to increase with statistics showing that 63 per cent of pregnant women here are willing to save the blood.