StemCell Pharma, Inc.
SCPI previously uncovered evidence that the RP, considered solely a genetic disease, is in reality two diseases in one, where the initial retina damages, due to genetics, are rather mild (night blindness), while the most damage is perpetrated by a super-imposed auto-immune disease identified through the presence of anti-retinal antibodies and the powerful immuno-suppressive hormone, CORTISOL. This super-imposed auto-immune component can be treated, with the potential of partial eyesight recovery.
The presence of the anti-retinal antibodies has been found by a number of eye researchers (see suggested reading) and CORTISOL in the retina has been identified by a team from the National Eye Institute (NEI), the foremost authority in the field of eye diseases. CORTISOL is usually manufactured solely by the adrenal cortex on the top of the kidneys; however, tiny amounts of cortisol can be manufactured in areas outside the adrenals (the ectopic cortisol). One of the ectopic cortisol areas is in the …retina.
As such, a comprehensive approach to treating RP’s should be directed both to its cause, or major cause, by using cortisol modulators and immuno-modulators and stem cells to repair the damages induced by the cause.
Complementary treatments included in the SCPI’s RP program are intended to open the retinal arteries (vasodilator therapy) in order to facilitate easier access of the stem cells, and ozone i.v. to bring the much needed oxygen to areas previously deprived.
SUGGESTED READING: ANTIRETINAL ANTIBODIES, Tirkill et al: Antibody Indications of Secondary and Super-Imposed Retinal Hypersensitivity in Retinitis Pigmentosa (11 related references), American Journal of Ophthalmology 08/15/1991. “This article indicates not only the damages of the retina induced by these antibodies, but also suggests the use of immuno-modulating compounds to counteract their destructive effect on the retina. (NOTE: Our approach in treating RP includes the use of immuno-modulators.)
CORTISOL AND RP: Evrioki, A.B. et al: Chorio-Retinopathy in Endogenous Hypercortisolism, Archives of Ophthalmology, Sept. 1993
This article published by a team from the National Eye Institute (NEI), Bethesda, Maryland, the supreme forum in the United States in the field of eye diseases, seems to endorse the concept of the destructive role of cortisol in conditions afflicting the retina.
CORTISOL AND DIABETIC RETINOPATHY, Cortisol in Diabetic Retinopathy, Bhatia, RPS and Singh, P.H. in the Annals of Ophthalmology, Vol.15, Number 2, February 1983, in which the authors put the blame squarely on cortisol as the major cause to the damages of the diabetic retina.
The above article can be found in A. T. Sapse’s paper Stress: Cortisol, Interferon and “Stress Diseases”, I Cortisol as the Cause of “Stress Diseases,” Medical Hypothesis, 13: 31-44, 1984 Glasgow, UK.
*RETINITIS PIGMENTOSA IS A GROUP OF EYE DISEASES INCLUDING RP, USHER SYNDROME, LEBER’S CONGENITAL AMAUROSIS (LCA), STARGARDT’S DISEASE, ALSO KNOWN AS FUNDUS FLAVIMACULATUS, OR INHERITED JUVENILE MACULAR DEGENERATION AND MANY OTHERS.