Universal benefits of stem cell therapy

How stem cells increase immunity and reduce chronic inflammation, both keys to us living healthier, longer lives

In some ways, today’s healthcare system doesn’t live up to its name because it’s really more of a “sick care” system we use when we get sick. Staying healthy? That doesn’t seem like part of the “system” at all – but not getting sick in the first place ranks as one of the best ways to stay healthy.

Yes, in many cases, our lifestyle choices make a big difference in staying healthy, but we’re seeing more and more patients turning to stem cell therapy as a way to not just treat a sickness or injury, but enhance overall health and wellness thanks to overall systemic benefits that stem cells can provide.

At BioXcellerator, we treat patients for a wide range of diseases and injuries – from brain injuries, deterioration of the discs in the spine, autoimmune diseases, and many others. But what’s interesting about stem cell therapy – almost uncanny in a way – is that regardless of what a patient is being treated for, one common theme frequently resounds. Patients report they, well, just “feel better.”

Our medical team often hears from a wide variety of patients – young and old alike – that they have more energy, more vitality, more endurance and a boost in overall sense of wellness. That’s not just immediately after treatment, but in the following weeks and even many months later. I guess you could say that in the same way some people come down with a “vague illness,” many of our patients enjoy a “vague wellness.”

Actually, it’s not vague at all. It’s not imaginary. It’s based on science. And as research continues, we’re learning more about the systemic benefits of stem cell therapy and how stem cells help control two natural biological processes that are essential to our survival, but can also turn against us and lead to disease and premature aging. These include immunity and inflammation.

Universal benefits of stem cell therapy:

Provides supply of healthy cells so the body can heal itself
Reduces inflammation throughout the body
Modulates the immune system
Modulates the release of cytokines – this has the potential to reduce symptoms of TBI, CTE, COVID, and “brain fog”
Stimulates the regeneration of damaged, tissues, neurons, and cells
Revitalizes skin and other organs
May slow the onset or reduce symptoms of autoimmune and degenerative diseases
Potential to slow the effects of aging

Most current medical treatments involve surgery or medication. But we’re not born with scalpels so we can cut into ourselves. Nor are we born with a supply of artificial chemicals such as pharmaceuticals to ingest when we need to feel well.

We are, however, born with stem cells. As our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Karolynn Halpert often explains, “the body knows how to heal itself.” She’s right, of course, pointing out that we are born with stem cells that can become any type of cell the body needs. After stem cell therapy, a fresh infusion of new healthy stem cells gives the body more cells it naturally uses to heal a wide range of disorders.

For example, when we treat a patient for a serious traumatic brain injury, those stem cells quickly become new cells to regenerate brain tissue and reduce neuroinflammation. In degenerative disc disease in the spine, those stem cells quickly become new cells to regenerate and heal that diseased disc tissue.

Your body doesn’t know why it’s seeing new stem cells available. So it also uses those cells to help restore balance across two intricate biological signaling systems that are essential to wellness, but ironically, can also threaten our health.

If you think about immunity, for example, that seems good, but there are many cases when our body’s immune response can turn against us.
On the other hand, while inflammation seems unpleasant – and it is – we need inflammation as a natural signaling system – just not too much of it – because chronic inflammation can turn into serious health issues.

These two biological processes are interrelated and can get out of balance when an overactive immune response triggers excess inflammation.

Let’s look at how these two processes work and why too much of a good thing can turn bad.

Your immune response: Fighting a battle every day, but who’s the enemy?

We’re not aware of it of course, but there’s an army of immune system cells inside of each of us that battle against dangerous and threatening enemies every day. Some immune cells are like “scouts,” patrolling the body for various pathogens such as viruses that we’re constantly exposed to. When they detect the presence of enemy pathogens, they signal other types of immune cells -- “fighting” cells -- that may actually have “experience” fighting the same battle before.

In some ways, immunity means that we’re free from being threatened by a specific pathogen. This is because if we come down with a viral disease, such as rubella for example, after our immune cells fight those viruses, they “remember” how they won and can quickly neutralize that threat when they see that virus again. That specific virus may return day after day, but we don’t get sick from it once we’re immune to it.

In some cases, our immune cells may encounter a weakened virus and fight it off in a way that doesn’t make us feel ill at all. That’s how vaccination works. Because we’re inoculated against a specific virus, say measles, we gain immunity so we don’t ever suffer that disease.

This is exactly why the medical community has focused so much attention on developing and improving vaccines for COVID. Indeed, the global pandemic shows us how we need immunity to survive. Those who don’t have a well-functioning immune system don’t stay healthy very long.

Unfortunately, immunity can backfire. In some cases our immune systems which are designed to attack foreign microbes actually attacks our own tissues, essentially killing our own cells. Normally, the immune system can distinguish between our own cells and a foreign cell, but there are autoimmune diseases that result in antibody response to our own cells.

One example is rheumatoid arthritis. This disorder is caused by an immune response that isn’t properly modulated and triggers pain. What causes that pain? Inflammation, a response that’s influenced by the immune system. It’s another biological process that we need to survive, but too much of it can cause serious disease and premature aging.

Inflammation: When too much of a good thing goes bad.

One way stem cells can provide systemic benefits to overall health is that because they contain powerful anti-inflammatory properties that help the body control inflammatory response, which can cause damage in many organs.

When most people hear the word “inflammation,” they think about swollen skin, joints, pain, and evidence of damage we can see on the outside of our bodies. But inflammation goes deeper than that. It can erupt throughout your body – even inside your brain – without pain at all.

But the damage to your organs and tissues can be severe. Excess inflammation or chronic inflammation is a hallmark of most major diseases, cancer, cardiac disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and even mental disorders such as depression.

We need inflammation because it’s the body’s natural signaling system that something’s wrong, but if it becomes chronic it can actually trigger disease.

You see, when your cells are in distress, they release chemicals that alert other cells in the body that help is needed to heal damaged cells. The problem with inflammation, however, is that if your body stays on high alert constantly, the result can be serious damage to the heart, brain, and other organs.

For example, when inflammation persists in your blood vessels, that can promote the buildup of dangerous plaque. That, in turn, triggers even more inflammation and even more potential for even more blockage of blood vessels. Left out of control for too long and excess inflammation can actually lead to stroke or cardiac arrest.

Scientists also know that ongoing inflammation in the brain may be a factor in the development of disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. It can also cause insulin resistance that over time leads to diabetes. And it’s inflammation that causes the pain from rheumatoid arthritis, which as I noted can be triggered by an overactive immune response.

Many millions of people suffer from chronic inflammation. But stem cells help regulate the body’s inflammatory response in a way that not only can help alleviate acute inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, but also reduce chronic inflammation.

There are other many disorders that are based on this relationship between an overactive immune response and the inflammation that results. These include multiple sclerosis, lupus, Crohn's disease, scleroderma, psoriasis, and many others.

All stem cells are not equal - umbilical cord-derived stem cells are the “gold standard”

The three most important factors that contribute to the effectiveness of stem cell therapy are potency, purity, and quantity of the cells – and how they are harvested and cultured.

There are many different types of stem cells. Some are adult stem cells that are harvested from adipose (fatty) tissue or from bone marrow. Unfortunately, adult stem cells are older cells so they are often not as potent. Research shows that mesenchymal stem cells (MSC’s) derived from umbilical cords are more effective and have more healing potential than cells from adipose tissue (fatty tissue) or bone marrow.

Treatment is further enhanced by how cells are processed. At BioXcellerator we use a proprietary protocol to identify highly potent cells with the best potential to stimulate healing. Then these cells are cultured and expanded into infusions with a high enough quantity of cells to maximize the potential for systemic health benefits throughout the body.

Treating autoimmune disorders with stem cells

Given the relationship between immune response and inflammation, traditional treatment of autoimmune disorders can often cause more damage. For example, many standard treatments include the use of steroid-based medications, which can cause side effects and damage other healthy tissue.

But stem cells can help shut down an overactive immune system without the need for possibly dangerous steroids in way that modulates the immune response so it fights against diseases that it should be fighting – not against our own bodies. That in turn, keeps inflammation under control.

So yes, you can get too much of a good thing. We need inflammation, but not on an ongoing and chronic basis. And as the recent COVID pandemic clearly showed, we all need immunity to defend our bodies from attack from foreign pathogens, as long as it doesn’t start attacking our own cells.

Many of our patients, regardless of the specific treatment they are receiving, report feeling more energy, vitality, improved cognitive ability and less pain in the weeks and months after stem cell treatment. And to a great extent, that’s because stem cells have powerful anti-inflammatory properties and immune modulating capacity that the body naturally uses because, yes, the body does indeed know how to heal itself – especially when it has access to plenty of high potency stem cells.