Medical science has known for decades that stem cells can be found in almost all human tissues and organs and that they are critical participants in the process of how human bodies repair themselves and stay healthy. Stem cell research has been under development for 100+ years.
The development of cell theory in the mid-1800s by Rudolf Virchow, Rudolf Remak, and Theodor Schwann, and the realization that all cells are derived from other cells through cell division, was an important conceptual prerequisite for stem cell research as well as for all cell biology.
However, a new chapter was opened when scientists discovered that stem cells can be found in human embryos. Not only were hESCs discovered to be pluripotent, but hESCs were the rosetta stone in unraveling the complexities that were the foundation of pluripotency. However, ESCs became an ethical landmine as they were harvested from human embryos.
In 2006, everything changed, when the first generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) where revealed, that appeared to be similar to hESCs but without the ethical human embryo debate. This breakthrough became even more important when laboratory experiments proved that stem cells could be grown in a laboratory, and could potentially be used to develop treatments for different medical conditions.
From that moment on, stem cell research has developed into a fully-fledged area of research, one that has provided humanity with some of the most hopeful answers to questions related to illness. This new promising field of medicine is called Regenerative Medicine.
On the one end of the spectrum, human skin cells and the cells that line the intestines as well as vaginal lining replace themselves in a matter of days, whereas heart muscle cells barely replace themselves at all, and brain nerves seem never to divide and replace themselves.
Sufficed it to say, the ability of an organ to replace damaged, diseased or aging cells is key to that organ’s ability to function, and ultimately to humans’ health and longevity.
In addition to the fact that the cells of our various organs can become diseased or damaged in some way, all cells naturally age to the point of losing their ability to function as well as their ability to duplicate themselves through the process of cellular division (cells at this stage are referred to as “senescent”).
In humans, the ability of cells to divide and replace themselves slows down with age and ceases on average around the 50th cell division. (This is called the Hayflick limit)
However, stem cells appear to be able to divide and duplicate themselves for many generations more than the specialized cells that comprise all adult organs and tissues.
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can self-renew and specialize into a range of cell types, resulting in the formation of tissues and organs.
There are two types of stem cells based on their growth stages:
Stem cells are classified into five types based on their development potential:
Additionally, as stem cells also have the ability to transform into the exact same cells as the organ in which they reside, stem cells seem to be an unstoppable manufacturing reservoir that works 24/7 to make sure our body never runs out of the healthy cells and tissues it needs.
This is particularly important in organs where the native cells do not have much capacity to divide and replace themselves on their own.
Consider for example human heart muscle, which when damaged by a heart attack usually die and turn into scar tissue.
Imagine the incredible impact that Regenerative Medicine would have on the world if we could use stem cells to regenerate new healthy heart muscle tissue to replace the muscle cells that were damaged or died due to a heart attack!
Imagine if that same stem cell treatment could also regenerate a damaged or severed spinal cord!
Many hospitals, universities, and research institutions are now focusing on stem cell research. The rationale for this new focus is simple. What if instead of treating damaged or diseased organs or tissues, we could simply replace them with new healthy tissue?!
Given the large volume of basic stem cell research, how quickly is this information being translated into clinical applications in various organ systems? On several fronts, progress is being made, but the level of clinical translation varies by organ system.
Allo-HSCT from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or cord blood is well established and is now routinely used in clinic to treat hematological malignancies or congenital immunodeficiencies such as -thalassemia, Fanconi anemia, sickle cell anemia, acute and chronic leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and Hodgkin’s disease.
In contrast to skin transplantation and allo-HSCT, which have well-established therapies in the clinic, cell replacement therapies for brain illnesses are still in the early stages. Parkinson’s disease (PD) has long been a promising target for stem cell therapy.
Imagine the implications… Instead of managing a patient’s disease, we could actually return the patient to a healthy state!
That is exactly the goal of stem cell research: Developing the science of working with stem cells, studying their use, and devising ways to treat different diseases by replacing damaged, aging or dysfunctional tissue with healthy new tissue.
Imagine if there were no more chronic diseases… If all illnesses were a temporary condition!
Consider diabetes as an example: In diabetes the specialized cells in the pancreas (Langerhans cells) that create insulin have stopped working. Consequently the patient must inject themselves with insulin on a regular basis.
Imagine on the other hand, if we could simply replace the dysfunctional Langerhans cells with new ones that function properly. For the first time in history, a patient could actually be healed from diabetes, and diabetes would be eliminated!
Recent advances in stem cell research provide novel therapeutic alternatives for patients who are resistant to conventional treatment tactics by supplying patient-tailored pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) that can develop into several types of cells. PSCs have two distinguishing features: self-renewability and pluripotency, which allow them to give rise to nearly any cell type.
Because of their distinct and unusual characteristics, PSCs have been proposed as prospective tools for disease modeling, drug development, and cell transplantation techniques. Over the last several decades, PSCs have given major improvements in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease leading to the development of novel therapeutic approaches for both motor and non-motor Parkinson’s disease symptoms.
In order for illness to become a temporary condition, research into the process in which stem cells are transformed from their undifferentiated state into differentiated cells with specific specialized functions must be better understood.
In order to achieve this, the process in which stem cells are transformed from their undifferentiated state into differentiated cells with specific specialized functions must be better understood. To be useful in therapy, stem cells must be transformed into the desired cell types as needed; otherwise, the entire regenerative medicine process is futile. Understanding and employing signaling pathways for differentiation is a critical component of successful regenerative medicine.
One of the most important goals of stem cell research would be to find a way to control and direct this process. Some laboratory studies have shown that some stem cells can be manipulated to create specific “differentiated” types of cells, but there is still a long way to go to fully understand this process, let alone to reliably control this process.
Currently, the Science of Regenerative Medicine has identified two different pathways of working with stem cells.
Stem cells have the potential to become one of medicine’s most significant components. Aside from playing an important role in the development of restorative medicine, their research tells a lot about the complicated events that occur during human development.
Improper differentiation or cell division is the root cause of many significant medical disorders, including birth abnormalities and cancer. Several stem cell therapies are currently available, including treatments for spinal cord injury, heart failure, retinal and macular degeneration, tendon ruptures, and type 1 diabetes. Stem cell research can help us understand stem cell physiology even more. This could lead to the discovery of novel treatments for diseases that are currently incurable.
According to the NIH and Cancer.org (see linked articles), established stem cell treatments include using stem cells to treat people who have severe burns or people who suffer from blood disorders such as leukemia.
More recent treatments that have been approved in numerous countries outside the U.S., include the use of stem cells to heal damaged and arthritic joints. (Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant had numerous stem cell treatments in Germany)
If in the future, as the science of Regenerative Medicine advances and we learn how to direct and control how stem cells differentiate, then they can use those cells to treat many other diseases.
Thus, stem cell research could help people suffering from heart disease, Parkinson’s, diabetes, strokes, and so on.
In addition to using healthy stem cells to treat diseases in afflicted patients, stem cells that contain the genes that carry generational diseases are very useful in the study of the carried disease.
By studying how the stem cells differentiate into mature specialized tissue and eventually manifest the genetic disease, we can develop an intimate and extremely detailed cellular understanding of the progression of the disease.
Furthermore, diseased tissue from adults afflicted with the disease is often difficult and expensive to obtain, and therefore comprises a barrier to extensive research. Damaged cells are typically hard to obtain and study.
The stem cells’ development from an undifferentiated cell into a differentiated one can also be studied. This might help scientists figure out what is it that determines some cells to replicate themselves and others to turn into specific types of cells.
Understanding cell division might help treat diseases such as cancer, since this disease is due to an abnormal division of cells.
For instance, a recent study uncovered part of how stem cells turn into brain cells. Still, the research continues in this field.
It is critical to guarantee that every area of study, especially when it involves individuals and topics that may be considered ethically problematic, is subject to adequate evaluation and oversight.
While some countries have applicable laws and rules governing how research and clinical applications are done, many jurisdictions around the world do not, or have legislation with significant gaps and ambiguities.
As we’ve already mentioned above, what sparked the stem cell research controversy was the use of human embryonic stem cells.
The fact is that in order to extract the embryonic stem cells, scientists have to destroy the embryo raising many ethical concerns. Many people consider the embryo a potential human being whose life is sacred and must not be reduced to a commodity, to be bought, sold or traded.
On the other hand, others insist the embryo is the property of the people who donated the sperm and egg, and they have the right to do with their embryonic tissue anything they want.
Fortunately, now that fetal and embryonic stem cells have been proven to be extremely difficult to work with, and clinically dangerous to use, the controversy has essentially dissolved of its own irrelevance.
Furthermore, we now know that placental stem cells, which do not interfere with the development of a human fetus, possess tremendous therapeutic potential.
After decades of stem cell research, stem cell therapy is proving to be a tremendous game changer in medicine and is currently seeing fast expansion and excitement. The capacities of stem cells are expanding with each trial.
Currently, stem cell therapy has the potential to treat untreatable neurodegenerative disorders. The use of a patient’s own cells is made possible through induced pluripotency. Tissue banks are becoming increasingly popular as a source of regenerative medicine in the fight against current and future diseases. We can now live longer lives than ever before thanks to stem cell therapy and its restorative effects.
Stem cell researchers now want to explore the principles of stem cell biology at an epigenetic level in order to encourage additional developments. Epigenetic research on pluripotency, cellular reprogramming, lineage fate decisions, and other related topics have already contributed to the field’s current definition.
Finally, the objective of regenerative medicine is to realize the lofty goal of developing safe and effective stem cell therapies that turn illness into a temporary condition.
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