Know More about "Stem Cell Therapies"

Know More about Stem Cell Therapies

Stem cell therapies have still long way to go for commercialization, but scientists have made rapid progress in the last one year.

What Stem cells are

Stem cells are cells that can become any type of cell- liver, kidney or skin – in the embryos and some adult tissues, but scientists have now learned how to reprogrammed normal tissue cells into stem cells.

You could theoretically make any tissue from your own cells. But we do not know yet how to do it safely. Stem cells are beginning to be used in drug testing as well as in discovery and development of new drugs.

The Controversy

The controversy dates back to the time, before 2007, when stem cells had to be extracted from embryos. This argument is dying down slowly. Now clinics offering untested stem cell therapies are another source of controversy, especially in India.

The new excitement

The primary excitement stems from possibilities of pluripotent stem cells, those developed from adult non-embryonic cells. Tremendous progress has been made recently in labs that can be translated into safe therapies in the next 5 to 10 years.

How useful they are Regenerative medicine

The biggest advantages is that stem cells are able to make whole tissues or organs like liver, kidney, or the skin out of the patient’s own cells. They can then be used to replace diseased organ with no possibility of rejection.

Testing of drug toxicity

Companies are developing specific tissue cells like heart muscles and they can be used to test drugs for toxicity. Cardiac toxicity is very common among drugs and this method s proving to be very useful.

Discovering new drugs

Stem cells can be use to develop new drugs, like those that can make damaged organs heal. Scientists also create models of disease inside dish using stem cells and use them to investigate how best they can respond to drugs.

Recent advances

A number of companies now make human tissues from stem cells for commercial use. Pharma Companies are beginning to use them for toxicity testing and discovering drugs.

A large number of clinical trials are on at the moment for spiral cord injuries, retinal diseases, autism, neurological diseases and others. Clinical trials are planned for voice box damage, macular degeneration, treating fractures and other diseases. A few examples of very recent progress I research include a potential vaccine in the lab for cancer, making fertile mice from stem cells, discovery of stem cells in pancreas, and learning how stem cell genes are switched on and off.

The Indian Scenario

India has recently established a multidisciplinary research institute at Bangalore. It is called Stem. It is also collaborating with Christian Medical College, Vellore to translate research into therapies. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences has a dedicated Centre for Stem Cell research.

Clinical trials are in their early stages in India. AIIMS has started one for multiple-sclerosis a few months ago, and the Bangalore-based Private company Stempeutics has obtained regulatory approvals for several clinical trials.

Stem Cell Bank

There are several stem cell banks of India. They store for a fee stem cells derived from amniotic fluid and cord blood. Parents of children hope that these stem cells may be useful later in the child’s life in expected ways.