LIFESTYLE NEWS - Today, most biologists agree that stem cells are defined by two key characteristics:
Self renewal - Stem cells are capable of dividing and renewing themselves over long periods of time.
Differentiation -When stem cells divide, each new cell has the potential to either remain a stem cell or to differentiate into a specialized cell.
Many debilitating or fatal medical conditions are due to abnormalities in these processes. Whether these anomalies arise from congenital disorders, acquired diseases or trauma, we believe that a better understanding of stem cell biology will ultimately yield better medical intervention.
Since its first successful use in 1968, bone marrow transplantation has been applied to a variety of indications ranging from leukaemia to lymphoma to immune deficiency disorders, as well as to treat damage resulting from radiation treatment or chemotherapy.
Patients appear to benefit from the infusion of blood stem cells found in the bone marrow, and today umbilical cord blood, rich in blood stem cells, is being used experimentally as an alternative to bone marrow transplantation.
According to the US National Institutes of Health for stem cells to be made useful for transplant purposes, they must be reproducibly made to:
- Proliferate extensively and generate sufficient quantities of tissue
- Differentiate into the desired cell type(s)
- Survive in the recipient after transplant
- Integrate into the surrounding tissue after transplant
- Avoid harming the recipient in any way
- Function appropriately for the duration of the recipient's life
- Data from our pioneering clinical trials have shown the safety of stem cell transplantation, as well as preliminary signs of efficacy.
Clinical studies are now being run with the goal of demonstrating the potential these cells have to treat spinal cord injury (SCI) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Only continued research and time will tell whether the sixth item on the list above comes to fruition, thereby fulfilling our mission to realize the potential of stem cells to transform medicine.
Source: StemCells, Inc.
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