Stem Cells Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is a common degenerative ailment that affects many people worldwide on a regular basis and has proven difficult to treat due to a number of factors involved with it. While standard treatments of cartilage transplants, microfracture surgery and autologus implantation (where the implanted material originates from the patient’s own body) have proven effective in treating a number of different arthritis cases for most patients those suffering from osteoarthritis generally do not have localized problems and therefore these treatments are unfeasible as a general comprehensive treatment.
Stem cell advancements have shown promise in generating new regenerative tissue for cartilage treatment, however depending on the specific type of cell as well as the method used for treatment the results can vary greatly. Embryotic stem cells, for instance, have proven quite effective in initial studies due to their “purity” and flexibility of use, however both ethical factors as well as official restrictions on their study and application has led them to be largely unviable for use as a treatment method. Further there is a prevailing threat that embryotic stem cells once introduced into a body may continue to grow unchecked, leading to possible cancer development. While this is not proven the potential is still present and therefore a viable concern for medical practitioners.
Mesenchymal stem cells are another option that are gathered from donors and have a degree of flexibility as well, though in addition to the prevailing concerns of unchecked cell growth once the stem cells have been activated there is also a concern that the cells may be rejected by the new host and therefore render treatment useless. Autologus stem cells, finally, have proven to be the most effective in terms of acceptance by a host as they originate from the patient themselves, however the actual flexibility of these cells is generally limited and older individuals (those most commonly affected with osteoarthritis) tend to have less viable sources of autologus stem cells for usage.
Nevertheless tests of mesenchymal stem cells on test animals suffering from cases of developing osteoarthritis have proven successful in a number of cases throughout the world, with Australian researchers indicating strong developments in both cartilage strength and thickness once treatment was administered. Other researchers have shown promise in utilizing stem cells located at the back of the knee to successfully generate bone, cartilage and fat cells for treatment purposes, however regulations limiting study and development have left these as potentially unsuitable for human use due to limitations on growth manipulation as well as current technology limiting the ability for researchers to successfully cultivate large quantities of stem cells in labs for further use.
Regardless reports are slowly gathering over the years of both progressively successful treatments and developments in addressing cartilage lesions that have developed as a result of osteoarthritis in elderly adults, particularly in regards to autologus stem cell manipulation. This is the primary focus for researchers in the future as well as autologus stem cell usage is typically free of both the ethical stigma as well as high governmental limitations found in other forms of stem cell research thanks to autologus cells being able to be harvested and then re-implanted into a patient with limited risk and no effect upon other individuals.
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