The potential to heal diseases once considered incurable such as cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, stroke and severe head injuries by regenerating cells, is now within the grasp of scientists and medical experts, due to the emergence of regenerative medicine using adult stem cells.
Tissues such as heart muscle that were long thought to be non-renewable have now been shown to be regenerated through this therapy. By using adult stem cells, scientists have avoided the controversy that has stymied advanced embryonic stem cell research in the past. Adult stem cell therapy offers an unprecedented step forward in the history of medicine and the applications of this new form of regenerative medicine are potentially unlimited.
“Stem cell research and therapy is a promising advancement in medical science, and stem cells that are found in all multi-cellular organisms have a variety of significant medical applications,” said Dr Praveen Chandra, Cardiologist and Head, Cath lab, Medanta Medicity, Gurgaon.
According to Dr Praveen, stem cells are the ‘basic cells’ of our bodies, which can develop and differentiate in any type of cell. These cells migrate to injured areas within the body and get transplanted and transform themselves into new tissue cells that replace the damaged ones. Stem cells have the capacity to multiply and renew themselves almost indefinitely. Stem cell can form nerve cells, muscle cells and blood cells which cannot multiply themselves and have limited life spans. Stem cells are the foundation cells for every organ, tissue and cell of the body. Thus, first stem cells originate within the developing embryo. Stem cells from the bone marrow can develop into cardiac muscle, as well as liver, brain, nerve, fat and skin tissue. These cells are progenitor cells that lead to creation of new cells and are thus called as generative cells. Hematopoietic stem cells are found in the bone marrow and give rise to all the blood cell types.
Stem cell therapy is today being used to treat incurable diseases like cerebral palsy, brain hemorrhage and stroke, spinal cord injury and paraplegia, autism, Parkinson’s disease, motor neuron disease, muscular dystrophy, liver diseases, Huntington’s disease, chronic kidney diseases, optic neuritis, multiple sclerosis, cerebellar ataxia and Friedreich’s ataxia. Studies worldwide have shown encouraging results. The stem cell therapy done is from the patient’s own bone marrow and hence acceptability of the human body is more with no adverse effects.
The significance of stem cell therapy in modern medicine is that it offers hope in the treatment of incurable diseases such as spinal cord injuries, muscular disorders, leukemia and heart disease. The process of stem cell treatment is relatively simple. Stem cells are extracted from an embryo, an umbilical cord, blood or even bone marrow.
They are the replicated in a cell culture. These new cells are then transplanted to the problem area in the patient to help repair damaged tissue. While there are ethical issues around the use of embryonic and umbilical cord stem cells, there is no dilemma around the use of stem cells extracted from a person’s bone marrow, especially if the patient is also the donor. “Doctors and researchers around the world are hailing the successes of adult stem cell treatments, which are treating everything from heart disease and diabetes, to leukemia, blindness and Osteoarthritis,” said Dr Saurabh Chawla, MS Ortho, Primary Health Centre Civil Hospital, Jalandhar
“Adult stem cells, the kind harvested from adult bone marrow and other tissues can be injected into the body to help re-grow and repair organs, tissues and skin,” he added.
Unlike controversial embryonic stem cells which are harvested from aborted, human embryos, adult stem cells are extracted from living, adult humans. And based on years of experience using innovative therapy treatments, adult stem cells are proving to be highly successful in treating otherwise ‘incurable’ diseases. .In fact, the recent research shows, the BMSCs (bone marrow stem cells) get converted into embryonic cells in-situ. Then they repair the damaged tissue. So the researchers have questioned the resource wastage on the controversial, embryonic cell research. Adult stem cells are being used to treat people with leukemia, lymphoma, heart disease, multiple sclerosis and diabetes. The possibilities are endless with adult stem cells; say numerous doctors and medical experts.
Adult stem cells can literally turn into bones, blood vessels and tissues that are diseased or damaged, and they seem to adapt to whatever is needed by the body to heal a specific area. The autologous bone marrow stem cell is considered, the gold standard of stem cell research .As this has shown the maximum potential and has been used most extensively.
“That gives adult stem cells really a very interesting and potent quality that embryonic stem cells don’t have,” said Dr Chawla.