Staff Writer| Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

By Elizabeth Herbert

A-J Media

A 16-year-old Lubbockite with rheumatoid arthritis recently banked her wisdom teeth for their high concentration of stem cells in the hope of using them in a future procedure.

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells, meaning they can become almost any specialized cell; researchers have been studying these cells to learn more about using them to treat ailments such as rheumatoid arthritis.

The oral and facial surgeon who removed the patients teeth, Dr. Robert Ioppolo, said there was virtually no downside to storing the teeth and cells because the procedure, which is necessary for most, is the same for the patient regardless.

Instead of putting (wisdom teeth) in a baggie, we put them in a vial; we put them in a little freezer-type cryopreservation box and off they go to the processing center, he said, so its very straightforward from our perspective, and it just provides an additional service to patients that we didnt have access to a few years ago.

Once the teeth have been sent to process at the Stemodontics lab, Ioppolo said specialists open the teeth and extrapolate the nerve tissue to obtain the stem cells.

The cool thing is that the stem cell population inside of wisdom teeth, especially in somebody thats young and healthy, is at its peak as far as the amount of cells, so the quantity, and also the quality of those cells, he said, so this is kind of a one-time opportunity that folks have to bank the best stem cells that they possibly can from their wisdom teeth.

Rheumatoid arthritis typically impacts adults. The Centers for Disease Control states 7.1% of people aged 18-44 years old report being diagnosed with arthritis; younger groups are not listed on the main, arthritis-related page.

Jamie Fields, the patients mother, said her daughter has undergone knee surgeries and is on medications but has not seen strong improvements in the seven months she has been receiving treatment.

Doctors tried a technique called microfracture in which tiny holes are drilled into the knee to produce new tissue, but this results in fibrocartilage and is more like scar tissue and less like the cushiony cartilage that joints need to function properly, according to an article from the Stanford Medicine News Center.

Preserving her daughters wisdom teeth and stem cells will cost Fields $2,000, but she said her alternative is to grow cells from the cartilage taken from a previous surgery which would cost about $46,000 for the graft alone and does not account for an accompanying procedure.

When I hear about these stem cells, Im like, Well, what if this would work, she said. If thats the route we have to take, then why not try this first?

Aside from surgeries, Fields said her daughters doctor prescribed medications to help slow or stop the dying cartilage behind her knee. There are many options, but medicines tend to have side effects and Fields said she does not want her daughter to have to use multiple, strong pharmaceuticals long-term.

He has a list, and he started her at the bottom of the list on the medications, and then he said we would just go up from there, but that way we dont do anything too harsh thats not needed, she said.

Rheumatoid arthritis tends to worsen with age, and Fields said her daughter, who already has a history of broken bones and surgeries, is impacted by her rheumatoid arthritis to the extent that she cannot participate in gymnastics, cheerleading or other fun activities she has enjoyed.

Fields could keep working down the line of medications most 16 year olds cannot pronounce, or she said she could save her daughters stem cells and wait for orthopedists to create a procedure that would use her daughters cells to help rejuvenate damaged areas.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime (opportunity), Fields said. If we dont do this now, where is she gonna get them from later, of her own?

Michael Longaker, Deane P. and Louise Mitchell Professor for the Department of Surgery and Co-Director for the Institute of Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University, said using stem cells could help a number of issues due to the cells ability to change.

While we do some things really well, like cardiac bypass surgery or hip replacement et cetera, et cetera, itd be great if we could unlock the power of cells that can become other types of cells so that we could regenerate each of these things before they get to the point where they need a major operation, he said.

Stem cells can be found throughout the body, and removing wisdom teeth is a fairly routine procedure; the WebMD website states over 10 million wisdom teeth are removed annually.

Many of these teeth are disposed of, but Longaker pointed out that stem cells in wisdom teeth are unique to the individual and are great sources of stem cells.

In the soft part, the pulp, of those teeth are stem cells that - God forbid - that healthy, young patient whos having them removed, God forbid anything happens to them and they need something or they have a family history of disease - theyre all set and ready to go, he said.

Longakers teams research began with mice and found skeletal stem cells can be manipulated to become cartilage.

They used two major molecules, bone morphogenetic protein 2 and vascular endothelial growth factor, to help the cells start bone formation after microfracture yet stop the process halfway to create cartilage. Longaker said the next step in the research is to focus on larger animals; then human clinical trials can begin.

Stem cells from wisdom teeth would work best for things in the mouth such as bone and cartilage, but Longaker said the cells can be backed up, de-differentiated and guided in a dish to the point where the cell can become almost anything; once the cell is fully differentiated, or has changed into a specific type of cell the specialist intended, it can be implanted.

You take the stem cells from teeth and back them up, so to speak, so they can become almost any type of cell, and then you would guide them down the exit ramp, so to speak, to where you want them to go, he said.

It may be years before orthopedists use stem cells to improve arthritic conditions, but Longaker, who banked his own sons wisdom teeth, said advances happen regularly and that one never knows when their stem cells will be useful.

As a stem cell biologist, having someone already store stem cells that I could guide to become something else, God forbid they need it, that really makes sense to me, he said. I dont see a reason not to do it if a parent or patient wants to do it.

Although banking her daughters wisdom teeth will not yield immediate results, Fields said she believes god guided her on this path and that she has more to gain than to lose.

Our faith is really strong, and I believe that God has led us on this path to hopefully find something that we can do to help her because weve been on this path for so long and with no answers, she said.

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Banking wisdom: Teen saving stem cells in hopes of future treatment - LubbockOnline.com