The Life Plan (69 page)

Sickle-cell disease

Several methods are available for testing genetic predisposition or risk of future disease. This type of genetic testing can help identify mutations that could lead to genetic-associated disorders before any signs or symptoms appear, and can be performed at any life stage. Knowing what the future might hold is one important step you need to take to be able to make informed decisions about your healthcare.

For the results to be meaningful, more than one type of test may be necessary, and your family members may need to be tested. A genetic consultation can help determine what tests are needed and who should be tested as well as explain costs and what can be gleaned from the results.

There are over 1,200 genetic tests available, with even more on the way. Here is a sampling of the most popular types among researchers and forward-thinking doctors:

—Direct examination of DNA/RNA within the gene.

—Search for markers that are associated with a disease-causing gene.

—Analysis of metabolites and enzymes to look for errors of metabolism that can lead to disease.

—Evaluation of the number and shape of chromosomes for signs of abnormality.

Your primary physician, genetics specialist/counselor, or nurse practitioner can order the necessary testing. A sample of genetic material—blood, urine, saliva, stool, body tissue, bone, or hair—is taken and shipped to a laboratory. The genetic material then undergoes extractions. Cells are broken apart, and the genes are isolated and later manipulated and evaluated.

Your results may not present black-and-white answers. As with other medical tests, there is room for interpretation. Equally important is what you choose to do with the information, and how to structure the rest of your life based on the results of the testing.

If you are Afro-American, Asian, East Indian, French-Canadian, Greek, Italian, or Jewish, there are special genetic testing methods available. If you have a family history of birth defects, Alzheimer’s, autoimmune diseases, blindness, sickle-cell trait, Down syndrome, colon cancer, early onset cancer/emphysema/heart disease (under 35), mental retardation, muscular dystrophy, or hemophilia, you are also a candidate for genetic testing. And if you have a personal medical history of diabetes, cancer, degenerative diseases, hearing loss, blindness, mental illness, or seizures, you may be able to learn more about your future health through genetic testing.

Researchers are currently working with genes and learning how to correct disabling or fatal diseases triggered by a gene deficiency or gene abnormality. Studies are under way investigating whether gene therapy can treat heart disease, AIDS, or even cancer. Admittedly experimental, gene therapy holds promise for the future.

This type of therapy could happen in various ways:

Replacing a mutated gene with a healthy copy

Deactivating a mutated gene

Inserting a healthy gene to battle disease

Adult stem cells are taken from your bone marrow and peripheral blood. No embryo is destroyed in collecting adult stem cells. Even though these are taken from a single location, stem cells are powerful master cells that can morph into a number of specialized cell types. The bone marrow cells can regenerate almost anywhere in the body where they are placed. Then they work by renewing immune cells, tissues, organs, and our blood. In general, stem cell therapies are referred to as
regenerative medicine.

Stem cell therapies are on the cutting edge of medical breakthroughs, not only for their restorative properties fighting diseases, but for their general antiaging benefits. Currently, there are no therapies that have been approved for use by the FDA, although I believe that will change in the very near future. However, many American men currently travel to other countries around the world where these therapies are being developed.

There are several conditions being treated right now with adult stem cell therapy, including leukemias, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, coronary heart disease, radiation sickness, multiple sclerosis, lupus, autoimmune diseases, tissue repair/burns, type 1 diabetes and orthopedics, sickle cell, aplastic anemia, neurological disorders, and arthritis. Regenerative therapy also has a strong potential for treating spinal cord injuries, strokes, severe infectious diseases, Lou Gehrig’s disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, autoimmune neurological diseases, and amyloidosis (abnormal protein buildup in tissues). Research has presented significant findings from over 2,000 FDA-funded clinical trials.

One of the most promising areas of interest is stem cell research and heart disease. Heart attacks destroy heart tissue and drain the heart’s muscle cells. Scientists are learning how stem cells can be used to regenerate and activate new blood vessels. They are also finding that stem cells are showing clinical benefits for severe chronic heart disease (congestive heart failure).

In the United States, the conversation surrounding stem cells that is most likely to affect consumers is creating a storage or “banking” system. In terms of stem cells, this is more of a medical insurance policy for the future than a treatment protocol we can use today. It is widely thought that by collecting and banking adult stem cells, and then infusing them into the body every few years, we will be able to slow the aging process. Stem cell banking is completely legal in the United States.

Once stem cell therapies are approved in this country, you will be able to access public cell banks. However, because each of us is completely different, you will have only a 20 to 50 percent chance of finding a match within the public pool. Because I strongly believe that stem cell therapies are the next wave of breakthrough medicine, I am suggesting to my patients that they consider banking their own stem cells after completing a few months of the Life Plan, when they are most healthy. Although adult stem cells can be harvested even into your 80s, healthier, younger cells are always the richest. And even more to the point, stem cell health is negatively affected by poor lifestyle choices and illness.

If you are interested in pursuing this, as you follow the Life Plan over the next few months, increase your intake of foods that are high in antioxidants, such as blueberries, tomatoes, and green tea. These foods, as well as vitamin D3, are known to increase bone marrow growth by 83 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids, including the fish oil supplements you will be taking, have been shown to help repair adult stem cells. Finally, hormone therapy has been shown to enhance stem cell effects, according to research with testosterone and growth hormone replacement.

Once collected, the stem cells are treated at a processing laboratory, then made ready for permanent cryogenic storage—a process that ensures cell integrity. Cooled to far below freezing, the adult stem cells enter a subfrozen state before being stored in a tank filled with liquid nitrogen (–196° C) where they can be kept for years. Stem cells can’t be refrozen, so they are kept in a determined number of containers to be taken and thawed as needed.

Two major types of stem cells exist: adult and embryonic.

Adult stem cells are found naturally in the human body as well as in umbilical cord blood.

Live adult stem cells are produced in bone marrow and circulate throughout the bloodstream, tissues, and organs.