26 || health & wellness | SCIENCE AND MEDICINE by Nellie Vingardt
SOLO FOR CELL WITH ORCHESTRA
Stem cells are the progenitors of all the body’ s cells. They are capable of differentiating to generate our blood components, muscle, cartilage, bone, and fat cells, and neurons; they also replace cells that have been sidelined due to age, disease or trauma.
Scientists have learned how to extract stem cells from blood. The most suitable blood for that purpose turned out to be umbilical cord blood that is collected after the baby is born and the cord is cut: it’ s used to treat more than eighty-five maladies, including leukemia and immune disorders. The biomaterial preserved after babies are born will be usable not only for the children themselves, but for their biological siblings. However, a decision to keep a child’ s stem cells must be made before the birth, since cord blood can be collected only immediately after; there won’ t be another chance. Separated stem cells are frozen and sent for storage at a cord blood bank, where they are cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen. Not for free, naturally. However, once it’ s paid, you have lifetime bioinsurance— a policy you can use if you become seriously ill.
At the immunity level
The possibilities of cell therapy don’ t end there. Stem cells are used to treat lymphoma, to restore blood formation after knock-out doses of chemotherapy, and to treat patients with serious damage to spinal medulla.
And there’ s a vaccine for prostate cancer that is made by extracting immune cells from the patient’ s blood, activating them against prostate cancer cells, and then returning them to the patient intravenously several times, inducing an immune reaction to the tumor. This vaccine has been registered successfully at the FDA and is already being used.
To deliver it to the heart
Cell therapy is used in treating myocardial infarction— heart attack— and its consequences. Stem cells are capable of becoming new myocardial cells and participating in the formation of new blood vessels. To deliver cells to their destination, they may be introduced into the arteries feeding the heart, injected directly into the myocardium, or infused by catheter through the femoral artery.
One of the newest developments by cardiac surgeons involves both laser surgery and stem cells, performed on people with severe ischaemic heart disease when neither stenting nor сoronary artery bypass surgery helps.
ALPEON. COM