Can Recurrent Miscarriages Become “A Thing Of The Past?”
Miscarriages may be hard to fathom, until you or a loved one experiences one. I’m sure we all know at least one women in our lives that have experienced one and the trauma that comes with it. Recurrent miscarriages, defined as the consecutive loss of two or more pregnancies, may be even harder to grasp. Unfortunately, every 5 in 100 women experience recurrent miscarriages when trying to conceive a child. With 3,900,750 children being born yearly in the United States, this is an alarmingly high number.
Experiencing a recurrent miscarriage is very traumatic and many women suffer from mental health issues such as trauma, depression, PTSD, and anxiety after losing their baby and many have to go to therapy. These feelings often arrive the next time a mother is trying to have a child as she can still remember the trauma she endured and is worried about whether she will ever successfully carry a child. When the only treatment proposed for miscarriages is AFTER it has begun, involving certain medications to slow down the miscarriage, there doesn’t seem to be much of a benefit attached to them. Women’s health is such a neglected field and women deserve more.
As recurrent miscarriages continue to occur, one of the causes is anatomical issues with the pregnancy. This includes issues with placental growth, aging cells in the uterus or damaged uterine tissue lining, which are all tied back to a lack of stem cells in the uterus. These factors make it difficult for a healthy pregnancy to be carried out. Instead, the mothers are faced with blood loss and infections, leading to miscarriage.
But what if we could reverse these anatomical issues? What if it was possible to repair the lining of the womb to restore its conditions and allow a woman to have a healthy pregnancy? Is this “happily ever after” even possible?
Stem cells, being special human cells, are able to differentiate into various other cells the human body has. Through this, stem cells are also able to reverse negative effects on the body, healing them instead. They’re found in different areas, but may be injected and used in other parts of the human body. Using stem cells, damaged or aged calls in the uterus can be restored to their full potential and stem cell populations can be restored.
In order for the stem cell to “differentiate” into a more specialized cell, it depends on its surroundings, changing into the cell present in its environment. You can think of it like this: there are various “worker adult cells”, all with their specialized “careers.” A “young student cell”, not sure where it will go, is exposed to a new environment and finds it suitable; since it doesn’t have a specified position, it can truly go into anything. Once it becomes comfortable in its environment, this becomes its “career”, where the “young student cell” now differentiates and specializes into that position.
Past Stem Cell Insertions
Innovations Medical, a stem cell therapy company, has previously discussed using stem cells to help treat patients with internal cystitis. This is a chronic condition that affects the bladder, creating pressure and causing pain to the individual themselves.
Their strategy was to use a catheter, a flexible tube that can easily enter and exit your body, to insert the stem cells. In their case, they were also able to numb the area before selecting how to reinject the patient’s own stem cells into their body. The process allows doctors to precisely direct the stem cells where they want them to go, and slowly insert them with a thin tool.
The doctors had found astounding results, where more than 70% of patients had a positive response to this treatment. After 6 months, the previously collected pain scores had decreased by over 32%. The changes that the stem cells provided were found to be long lasting, meaning that the patients would not need to keep coming back for more injections; the stem cells would do the work on their own initially, slowly repairing the individual’s bladder over the course of 6 months.
Introducing MaternaVie
This is where we, MaternaVie, come in! We are proposing a preventative treatment option for recurrent miscarriages by introducing mesenchymal stem cells into the uterus. This will allow stem cell populations in the uterus to be replenished, thus revitalizing aging cells in the uterine lining. This will effectively prepare the womb for pregnancy, while also preventing anatomical issues to arise during the pregnancy. Our treatment is based on a study from the University of Warwick. They found that the lining of their patients’ wombs was aged and there was a lack of stem cells within the uterus before the pregnancy; the study concluded that in order to tackle issues and defects within the womb, they should be done before a pregnancy may occur.
Our treatment would take place after a mother goes through her first miscarriage and would be offered after an exam determining the mother has aging tissues. It would be administered around 3 months before a mother wants to try for her next child. Our treatment will save so many mothers from another traumatic experience.
Allogeneic v.s. Autologous approach?
MaternaVie will utilize the patient’s own stem cells to limit the danger of immunogenic reaction and eliminate the requirement for immunosuppressive medicines following the stem cell transplant. This would make the process more efficient since the patient would not have to worry about rejection because the stem cells are already a match and the bone derived MSCs are already in familiar environments so they can easily survive and proliferate when inserted into the uterus. Furthermore, this approach will take less time and resources, making it more cost effective and easier for the mother going through the treatment.
Why Bone-Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells?
Bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells are a type of adult stem cell with the capacity for self-renewal and differentiation within a broad tissue distribution. These stem cells are able to effectively rejuvenate stem cell populations and trigger growth in the uterus as they are one of the main stem cell groups found in this organ. they can also repair damaged and aged epithelial cells which as mentioned previously, are a cause of recurrent miscarriage. These cells are also ideal for our treatment as there is no chance of teratomas forming, which are a type of tumor, after the stem cells are inserted.
Every cycle, the uterine lining has to regenerate itself and this is entirely dependent on the amount of stem cells in the uterus. When there aren’t enough, this leads to aging and damaged epithelial and stromal cells in the uterus. Aging cells inside of the womb and this lack of stem cells make the uterus unable to prepare for pregnancy effectively as this stem cell shortage accelerates cellular aging in the womb. Introducing mesenchymal stem cells into the womb to replenish these older cells and revitalize the womb will allow a better chance for a successful pregnancy for those who suffer from recurrent miscarriages. These stem cells specifically help promote uterine tissue repair, decrease inflammation and stimulate the proliferation of stem cells.
Our Treatment: The Step-by-Step Process
- Obtain Mesenchymal stem cells from mother. An aspiration needle would be inserted into the pelvis to collect the bone marrow. The MSC’s will then be separated form the rest of the bone marrow in a lab.
- The stem cells would then be loaded into an intrauterine catheter (Like a catheter for the bladder, but is inserted into the vagina)
- Stem cells are then inserted just past the opening of the cervix to allow the stem cells to effectively spread around the uterus evenly, healing tissues and revitalizing stem cell populations.
- The outcome would stimulate uterine healing, allowing a women to go through a more successful pregnancy, preventing recurrent miscarriages.
Our treatment method has an estimated 75% success rate which will increase as our treatment enters 3 stages of mice trials.
Financial Incentive + Costs
We will be reducing a significant amount of recurrent miscarriages from occurring and helping so many families that struggled with having children in the past have a child, saving parents from the trauma of having a miscarriage for a second or third time. Furthermore, as a company we will ensure we make our treatment prices affordable for most as it will appeal to more and something everyone will be happy about purchasing. As technology further advances, this treatment will decrease in price overtime which will attract a more diverse list of people in various classes. As well, we plan to partner with clinics as this will result in more customer loyalty, build reputation and credibility and bring more resources. However, fertility issues are huge and proving it could work is important!
Our Vision
Here at MaternaVie, we want to revolutionize recurrent miscarriage treatments, allowing mothers to go through a successful pregnancy. With our treatment, we can help so many mothers avoid the trauma that is caused by losing a child, especially a second, third, or even fourth time. Imagine a world where mother can go into a pregnancy after a miscarriage without the fear of losing a second child- this is where MaternaVie comes in.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Kenneth Grise, Lamisa Mizan, and Gemma Dyer for meeting with us and for providing helpful advice and feedback.
Thanks for reading our article Can Recurrent Miscarriages Become “A Thing Of The Past?” and learning about how stem cells can be used in women’s health to prevent recurrent miscarriages!
Meet the team:
If you’re interested, feel free to check out our treatment in detail at these resources:
