Stem Cells
- Stem cells are the building blocks of our blood and immune systems.
- They form the white cells (white blood corpuscles) that fight infection, red cells (red blood corpuscles) that carry oxygen and platelets that promote healing.
- Stem cells are present in our bone marrow and they generate new cells throughout our lives.
- Other than bone marrow, the blood in the umbilical cord also has stem cells (and this is why the reference to India’s childbirth).
- It can be also used as a source of cells for transplants quite like the bone marrow stem cells.
- The major advantage is that umbilical cord blood stem cells are easier to gather than stem cells from the bone marrow.
- They have the unique ability to regenerate/reproduce into over 200 types of tissues. Above all, such stem cells, collected from the umbilical cord of your child, can be frozen and kept in a bank, which can be used later.
- There are two types of stem cells in mammals
- Embryonic stem cells
- Adult stem cells
- Embryonic stem cells
- Stem cells are mainly found in blood from the umbilical cord and the bone marrow
- Due to their self-renewing nature, stem cells are very important for treatment of diseases
Importance of stem cells
- For a cell to be characterised as a stem cell, it must exhibit the following properties
- Self renewal: the ability to go through numerous cycles of cell division while maintaining the undifferentiated state
- Potency: the capacity to differentiate into specialised cell types
- Self renewal: the ability to go through numerous cycles of cell division while maintaining the undifferentiated state
- In developing embryos, stem cells can differentiate into all of the specialised embryonic tissues
- In adult organisms, stem cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialised cells
- Stem cells also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs such as blood, skin or tissues
- Stem cells can be grown and transformed into specialised cells of various tissues such as muscles and nerves using cell culture
- Stem cell treatment holds the potential of transforming human medicine, wherein stem cells introduce new cells into damaged tissue in order to treat a disease or injury
- The ability of stem cells to self renew and differentiate offers the potential to replace diseased and damaged tissue without the risk of rejection or side effects
- What is special about stem cells compared to other cells in the body (the somatic cells)?
Somatic cells have become specialized for the jobs they have to perform to keep the “body machine” working properly. Stem cells have the ability to become a variety of cell types in a lineage with embryonic stem cells being able to become all cell types. New methods have led to re-programming of cells to be “stem-like” in their behavior, biomarkers, and their ability to become other cell types.
How are Stem Cells stored?
Stem cells, which hold the promise of new cell-based therapies to treat critical medical conditions, have to be effectively stored until it’s time to use them. The method is called cryopreservation: it freezes stem cells at temperatures below -150 o C, by immersing them in nitrogen vapour. But if the cells are to survive this process, they need to be frozen using a protective compound called a cryoprotectant, which is found to be toxic and can cause serious side-effects when administered. Research is on to find alternative, non-toxic compounds as protective agents of a technology which could rid the world of many diseases. In the past few years, it has become a norm to harvest the umbilical cord blood just after birth, as a guarantee of health for the child.
Current stem cell treatments
- Currently, stem cell treatment is available to treat the side effects of chemotherapy on cancer patients, such as leukaemia or lymphoma
- During chemotherapy most growing cells are killed by cytotoxic agents
- These agents kill not only the leukaemia cells but also healthy haematopoietic stem cells in adjacent bone marrows.
- Using stem cell therapy, healthy bone marrow stem cells are used to reintroduce healthy stem cells to replace those lost in the treatment
- In Jan 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave clearance to Geron Corporation for the first clinical trials of an embryonic stem cell therapy on humans. The trial will evaluate the efficacy of the drug GRNOPC1 on patients with spinal cord injury
Public stem cell bank
In Europe and in the United States many private stem cell banks like LifeCell operate as dual banks; that is as a private bank where individuals keep their stem cells by paying an amount, and also a public stem cell bank from where anybody can buy stem cells if they can.
LifeCell is India’s first such private stem cell bank, where you can store the umbilical cord of your child for a fee, for future use. They are planning for the first time in the country to have a public stem cell bank also.
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Important milestones in stem cell research
- 1963: Ernest McCullogh (Canada) and James Till (Canada) illustrate the presence of self renewing cells in the bone marrow
- 1968: Bone marrow transplant between two siblings successfully treats Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID)
- 1978: haematopoietic stem cells discovered in human blood
- 1998: James Thomson (USA) derives the first human embryonic stem cell line
- 2001: Scientists at Advanced Cell Technology (USA) clone first early human embryos for the purpose of generating embryonic stem cells
- 2006: Scientists at Newcastle University (England) create first every artificial liver cells using umbilical cord blood cells
- 2008: Robert Lanza and colleagues at ACT create first human embryonic stem cells without destruction of the embryo
India is one of the most advanced nations in the world in terms of their aggressive research and implementation of stem cell therapy. The Indian parliament is debating their laws, but stem cell therapy is currently minimally regulated and is legal. There are numerous diseases that are treated with stem cell therapy in India, ranging from heart disease to cancer and spinal cord injuries.
Overview of stemcell treatments in India
Is stemcell therapy legal in India?
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, all stem cell therapy in India is considered to be experimental, with the exception of bone marrow transplants. However, the guidelines that were put into place in 2007 are largely non-enforceable. Regardless, stem cell therapy is legalized in India.
Umbilical cord and adult stem cell treatment are considered permissible.
Embryonic stem cell therapy and research is restricted.
Diseases being treated with stemcell therapy in India
The following is a partial list of diseases treated with stem cell therapy in India:
- Spinal Cord Injury
- Vitiligo
- End Stage Liver Disease
- Critical Limb Ischemia
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Psoriasis
- Avascular Necrosis
- Motor Neuron Disease (MND)
- Alzheimer's
- Cancer
- Arthritis
- Cerebral Palsy (CP)
- Diabetes
- Autism
- Orthopedic degenerative disorders
Success rates of stemcell treatment in India
There is about a 60% to 80% overall success rate in the use of stem cell therapy in both India and around the world. However, success rates vary depending on the disease being treated, the institute conducting the procedures, and the condition of the patient.
In order to receive complete information you will have to contact the medical institutes and ask specific questions concerning the patient's condition.
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