Dr. Ron Rothenberg

A local anti-aging institute has become the first to offer extraction and storage of adult stem cells for future medical uses in the region — and likely one of the first in the country.

The California Healthspan Institute in Encinitas charges $6,000 to extract one’s adult stem cells, and $400 per year to store them, said Dr. Ron Rothenberg, who oversees the institute and also works in the emergency room at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas.

Research is being done on the use of stem cells for treatments ranging from damaged heart tissue to prematurely aged skin to neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Some say the future promise of these cells is worth the cost of extracting and storing one’s cells.

But others have their doubts. Director of the Stem Cell Research Program at UC San Diego, Dr. Larry Goldstein said it’s too early to say if adult stem cells could be beneficial beyond blood cancers, and a “short list” of other uses.

“If you are trying to diminish your risk of dying, you may be better off changing your tires on your car,” Goldstein said.

Rothenberg began offering the service within the last couple of months, and so far eight people have undergone the procedure, including Rothenberg.

Rothenberg describes storing one’s stem cells as “bio-insurance,” since hospitals already can use these for patients who have blood cancers such as leukemia lymphoma or multiple myeloma; radiation exposure; or burns.

“There’s lots of ways people can spend their money — cruises, jewelry and so forth,” Rothenberg said. “But what’s more important?”

Don’t Wait For Cancer

Dr. Robin Smith, chief executive officer of New York-based NeoStem Inc., says one shouldn’t wait until he or she has cancer to extract the cells, because chemotherapy can too damage bone to obtain sufficient numbers of stem cells.

Rothenberg’s institute is the first to use NeoStem’s method of collection and storage. The second site is soon to open in Las Vegas, she said.

Cells extracted in Encinitas are stored at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.

Smith said NeoStem and its technology spun out of Arcadia-based StemCyte Inc., which today focuses on transplants and therapies using umbilical cord blood stem cells.