Over the last few years there have been many reports of advances in medical science using stem cells.
The Potential of Stem Cell Research
Stem cells are a potentially supply of replacement cells and tissues for use in stem cell treatments and cures for human diseases. Stem cells can also be used to explore the causes of diseases. Potential benefits of stem cell research include:
- The study of human embryonic stem cells could provide many clues about what occurs during early human development, advancing our understanding of how birth defects develop, as well as cancers.
- Human stem cells could be used as “trial subjects” for new pharmaceuticals (thus reducing the need for experimental animals).
- Generation of cells and tissues for stem cell treatments and cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis, and for debilitating injuries (such as spinal cord injury).
So how much headway has actually been made as far as developing stem cell treatments and cures? Here are a few examples of how stem cells are being used in the development of medical treatments.
Stem Cell Transplant for Spinal Cord Injury
One of the most recent advances in stem cell research for the treatment of spinal cord injury was announced in 2006, when researchers at Johns Hopkins reported that they had been able to restore muscle function to paralyzed rats following a stem cell transplant.
In this experiment, paralyzed rats were treated with a transplant of stem cells, along with a hormone cocktail to help the cells survive and ‘find their way’ around. Eleven of fifteen rats recovered at least partial function of their previously paralyzed limbs. More importantly the researchers were able to show that the transplanted stem cells had actually promoted the growth of new nerve tissue.
Growing Organs using Stem Cells
In 2008, a group of researchers based at Genetech, Inc. in California announced they had been able to grow mouse prostate glands using adult mouse stem cells – an important advancement which may eventually lead to the ability to regenerate a patient’s organs from their own stem cells.
To grow new prostates, the team harvested stem cells from adult mouse prostate glands. They then fed the cells with a combination of growth factors and hormones designed to coax them into dividing and developing into an entirely new organ.
Out of 97 single-cell transplants, 14 new prostates were generated. This is thought to be the first instance of generating a prostate gland from a single adult stem cell.
References and Further Reading
Carmen J, Dike S, Shats I, Rubin LL, Drummond J, Krishnan C, Hoke A, Maragakis N, Shefner J, Rothstein JD, Kerr DA. Recovery from paralysis in adult rats using embryonic stem cells. Annals of Neurology. 2006 Jul;60 (1):32-44
Leong, K.G., Wang, B., Johnson, L., and Gao, W. Generation of a prostate from a single adult stem cell. Nature 456, 804-808 (11 December 2008).
Stem Cell Basics at the National Institute of Health