acell finger regeneration clinical trial started this week

Fascinating stuff. The reporter got things a little mixed up though in the article, as he reported about the dog's womb and human bladder that were both organs grown in traditional tissue engineering technology, as if it was A Cell that grew them, which is in-correct... because A Cell had nothing to do with growing those organs... The great thing about A-Cell, if it works, is that it will not require transplanting an organ, with all the technical problems that follow concerning microsurgery of blood vessels and nerves. Still, there is a long way to go before and if we know for sure that it works and is safe. After all, the nose is in the face and in close proximity to the eyes and brain. There is no room for risk taking there in terms of causing cancerous growths. Nevertheless, every advance is good news and I am particularly encouraged that the Pentagon has taken interest and charge of this project. War is a terrible thing, but most of the biggest leaps in science and technology have been historically made because of the challenges that were set by warfare and it's catastrophic results. Thank you TT for keeping us updated. Please keep on monitoring this important project for the sake of us all.

TE, Glad to hear that you are positive about this development. While I realize it is not going to happen tomorrow it's nice to feel like we have hope of regrowing our original turbinates some day. There have been some results to report from the trial. http://www.ktka.com/news/2008/jun/20/pixie_dust_gives_hope_tissue_regeneration/ "After about a week, this little knot started coming up right here." Everybody is curious about his Pixie Dust finger. "It's growing, yeah," Harris said. How long did they say it'll take? They don't know the answer to most questions, not even how it will look.

TT, This does sound encouraging, although it is quite apparent already now that there is a very big difference in the rate it effects aggressively severed limbs than someone who is just missing the tip of his finger. I agree however, that this is uncharted territory and that real growth might really occur. I hope and pray that this actually works, even partially. Again, I want to thank you for keeping track of this very important experiment and for updating us regularly.

Latest on this research. Regenerated 1/3 of an inch of this soldiers finger. Not incredible but not bad for their first try. They will be trying it on another patient tomorrow. Hopefully they will be able to learn how to make the treatment more effective. http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/071408kvueregrowtissue-cb.55e9162f.html

Nothing comes easy... Perhaps they will pull it off somehow. I think it will work better on a partially remaining finger than a completely amputated one. Thanks for the update. Looking forward to the next one.

TT, I have taken a closer look at the collection of videos that were posted about Acell on this forum since over a year ago and I have to say that my over all conclusion that emerges is that it's regeneration potential is much less straight forward and obvious than was implied by the tone of the early news excerpts. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7379864.stm (By the way, the expert that is interviewed on the BBC is right about the fact that we know that tips of fingers tend to regenerate spontaneously. It all depends how you define - "tip"... - I can tell you that as long as the bone is not amputated- much if not all will grow back. I had the entire nail with something like half a centimeter of the underlying flesh sliced off my thumb by a tank's door, when I was in the army. It all grew back on it's own in the weeks that followed.) I have to say that my doubts started with the guy who said he grew the tip of his finger back (who happens to be the brother of the scientist who patented Acell...). Besides the obvious danger of him having a clear incentive to exaggerate, I took a closer look today into his claim of the "terrible wound" and the "severed finger" and when I carefully enhanced the picture and looked at it from all angles I could immediately see that really all it was was the fleshy end bit of the tip of his finger. In fact if you look closely you'll see that some of his nail is still there. But when he is asked by the reporter to show him how deep it was - he shows way before the nail, giving the viewers the false impression as if the cut was at his third joint. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7379864.stm The truth, as it often sadly is, is probably very different and much less sensational. In fact - he probably didn't even lose any bone. If you look at where the index finger bone ends in comparison to the flesh of the finger's tip - you'll see for yourself. Further more, in all of the videos one needs to listen very carefully to what the doctors and scientists are saying - it's not expected to regenerate complete organs or limbs, or even most of them. This is definitely something worth following but when you say: it's nice to feel like we have hope of regrowing our original turbinates some day. I have to say that the emphasis should be on "some day" as in - not in the foreseeable future and probably not entire or even most of our turbinates. There is also serious doubt in my mind as to their claims that the completely severed finger of that soldier did grow a 1/3 of an inch back. The site of injury or the stub might have thickened a bit and looked healthier, but I doubt that there was real finger bone growth there, as this would have really been sensational and they would have for sure shown a picture of that or an X-Ray. So, the fact they didn't show any of it is very suspicious in my mind. I don't want to be the party pooper here, but we need to be much more careful and conduct a thorough investigation before jumping to any conclusions. Looking forward to more developments and news so we can continue to carefully evaluate the true potential of Acell and separate facts from fiction...

Good point Te about not jumping to conclusions..... but I do think there is great potential from this....here is what I see... I'm willing to bet there was no bone at all to start and the growth was more cosmetic....not idea for our situtation but still a remarkable achievement. What does this mean for us. Well i think 2 things...one....it did help the finger tip regenerate....if properly developed I've be willing to bet it will stimulate healing as long as a base is there which means it will finish off a bone that might exist but not say a whole bone or joint....but for those of use with partial turbinates it might show hope...and for those with no turbinates it shows hope too because.... If hypothetically one has a turbinate removed on one side but not the other...and it can regenerate from a part...perhaps they can remove a piece of one from one side...implant it with acell then complete its growth with acell to completion....voila a transplant.... granted the techonolgy needs to develope some more before this could be real but it does so potential for hope. just my 2 cents.

jdog, we need to keep a close and ever skeptical eye on everything. Also you must understand that the goal is significant turbinate regeneration (this means bone and all). Otherwise, there is no real advantage for Acell over the current option of implants. Your idea of growing one side to use in the other is impractical, even if regeneration was currently possible, simply because such transplantation is not really possible in the nose. It could be mashed up and used as an implant material filler, but then it would probably resorb and at best do what Alloderm strips achieve, into a partially reduced turb, only without all the morbidity... besides, resections are usually symmetrical on both sides. Further more, the goal for full functional turbinate restoration is not only to bulk up soft tissue, but first and formost to restore bone.

Skepticism is overrated. While I don't plan on attempting any radical new therapy for tissue regeneration, I think we all need a good dose of optimism. There is a reason why 50% of ENS patients are diagnosed with depression. ENS is painful and hopeless. We can go on believing what almost all the doctor's say and live hopeless that our pain will always be with us. I will live and hope for better days when I can breathe normally again. If it does not come true I will at least have my optimism. TE your thoughts are appreciated. Thanks for sharing.

TT, The point of my criticism is not to be a skeptic. On the contrary I know, not just believe, but know that ENS is totally solvable. Being optimistic is good, as long as it doesn't distort the facts. The facts have to be dealt with and confronted realistically if you want to find proper solutions. So, all I said was that although Acell remains an interesting development that warrants attention, it seems like it's success was presented in a manipulated way that distorted the facts and exaggerated them. I'm not a professional pessimist or a skeptic but refuse to be a professional optimist too. I want to view the facts as they are. And once again I say - it's very important to keep an eye out for developments like Acell and this forum section is meant precisely to that, but at the same time it's important to present the entire picture with all the results - the not so flattering ones too. More importantly, is there any more news from the army trial?

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