User:BrilliantGenius

Endometrial Regenerative Cells (ERCs) are a type of adult stem cell, recently discovered in menstrual blood. As the name implies, these cells are of endometrial original, and they have an unusually high potency and expandability, with a broad medical applicability.

ERCs represent one of the latest and most promising of stem cell discoveries. Although scientists in Japan published the first reports of stem cells found in menstrual blood, it was a U.S. team of scientists who developed these stem cells to their full capacity and coined the term "endometrial regenerative cells". Led by Dr. Neil Riordan, founding President and Chairman of Medistem, Inc., and Dr. Thomas Ichim, CEO, researchers at Medistem have developed a proprietary therapy from ERCs which is about to begin clinical trials for the treatment of critical limb ischemia, which is an advanced form of peripheral artery disease (PAD), as ERCs have been shown to be highly angiogenic. Along with Dr. Xiaolong Meng, who led the actual laboratory experimentation with ERCs, Drs. Ichim, Riordan and colleagues published a full elucidation of the properties of ERCs in the November 15th, 2007 issue of the Journal of Translational Medicine, in an article entitled, "Endometrial Regenerative Cells: A Novel Stem Cell Population". In March of 2008, the publication received the "Biomed Central Best Publication of 2007" Award, presented to Drs. Ichim and Meng at the Royal Society of Medicine in London. Biomed Central is a UK-based publication company which owns and publishes over 180 medical journals, and the Award represented the best publication from among all of these medical journals for 2007.

Medistem researchers have discovered that from 5 milliliters of menstrual blood it is possible to duplicate one septillion (10x 24) functional stem cells with normal karyotype (chromosomal) characteristics. Since the fully developed adult human body is estimated to contain approximately 100 trillion (10 x 14) cells, those stem cells that are isolated from 5 milliliters of menstrual blood are, at least in theory, equivalent to the number of cells in 10 billion people. Such extraordinary expandability is thus far unequalled by any other type of stem cell.

ERCs produce 100,000 times as many growth factors (such as cytokines) as stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood do. Growth factors are extremely important in the proper differentiation and control of stem cells, since without the right types of growth factors, in the right amounts, even embryonic stem cells will not differentiate properly.

ERCs have already been found to differentiate into heart, lung, liver, pancreas, fat, muscle, nerve, bone, and blood vessel tissue. One of the most extroardinary discoveries was the ability of ERCs to differentiate into cardiomyocytes, from which heart muscle is formed, which is one of the most highly specialized types of tissues since it is electrical as well as contractile in nature.

ERCs are perhaps among the most easily collectible of all types of stem cells. Additionally, even though just a very small amount is more than adequate for providing a life-long source of stem cells for therapeutic treatment, these stem cells can be collected numerous times throughout a woman's reproductive life, since a woman may have, on average, as many as 400 menstrual periods during her fertile years.

An increasing number of companies now offer the banking and storage of ERCs.

Many people believe that ERCs represent "the holy grail" of stem cells, since they are easily, safely and noninvasively collected, with no shortage of ERCs throughout the world, and their therapeutic applicability is virtually limitless. Additionally, ERCs enjoy the rare status of "universal donor" cells, meaning that they are "immune privileged" and can be administered allogeneically (without the need for autologous administration), in a similar manner to mesenchymal stem cells, without any risk of immune rejection.

Since embryos are not involved in any way in the isolation or derivation of these cells, ERCs are ethically noncontroversial.

Unlike embryonic stem cells, and unlike even the iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cells, ERCs do not cause the formation of teratomas.

(References & citations to be included...)

'''Well Tom, what do ya think??? What else should I add, or omit, or change???'''

These wikipedia page creation features are cool, & I'm still learning about them...

(And yes, I really am Angela - not exactly a "BrilliantGenius", but the username "BumblingIdiot" was already taken so I had no choice but to use "BrilliantGenius"...)