Potential to Reverse Diseases
By directing stem cells to differentiate into specialized cell types, there is the exciting possibility to provide a renewable source of replacement cells for those suffering from diseases.
The potential to reverse diseases is also not a foreign one.
Heart Attack - For example, a patient who has suffered from a heart attack and sustained heart damage could have the damaged tissue replaced by healthy new muscle cells.
Parkinson's Disease - The destruction of brain cells in conditions such as Parkinson's disease can hopefully be reversed with the replacement of new, healthy and functioning brain cells.
Genetic Defects - Even more promising is the potential to address genetic defects that are present from birth by restoring function and health with the introduction of normal healthy cells that do not have these defects.
Burn Victims - Burn victims tend to endure an enormous amount of pain from their wounds as well as frustration from the challenges of healing. Instead of donor tissues being donated, stem cells could be used to produce new and healthy tissues. This is essentially similar to therapies already being used, such as bone marrow transplants, where stem cells create different specialized blood cells.
Scientists aim to locate and remove specific stem cells from a tissue and then trigger them to differentiate outside of the body before transplanting them back into the patient to replace damaged tissues. In burn victims, a very small piece of the skin can be progressively grown, allowing doctors to cover a burn that is often much larger than the original size of the skin piece.
Already in 2015, here are three “science fictions” that have become “science facts”…
1. When implanted into humans, stem cells are healing lost eyesight in Japan. [1]
2. Stem cells given to elderly mice are tripling their age-span, allowing “fast aging” mice that should only live for 21 days to live to an average of 71 days.[2] This is the equivalent of 80-year human living beyond 200 years.
3. Human athletes with partial or non-retracted ACL repairs can now avoid reconstructive surgery and instead regrow their own ligament.[3]
Footnotes:
[1] Riken.jp. ‘Pilot Clinical Study Into Ips Cell Therapy For Eye Disease Starts In Japan | RIKEN’. N.p., 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
[2] MyScienceAcademy,. ’27 Science Fictions That Became Science Facts In 2012′. N.p., 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
[3] Regenexx®,. ‘Stem Cells As A Knee ACL Ligament Tear Treatment – Promising Research On Stem Cells To Fix ACL Tears’. N.p., 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
Dr. Shahzad Anwar