Stem Cells Cloning
The ability to clone a particular cell, tissue, organ or even an entire body has a tremendous potential in the medical world in terms of what it can mean in terms of the development of a treatment or cure for any number of diseases and other ailments that individuals face around the world. Nevertheless while this may have a number of positive benefits attributed to it there are also a large number of ethical concerns related to cloning using stem cells that are preventing it from becoming a mainstream treatment option.
The primary reason for the ethical concerns related to stem cell cloning lies in the process of how the cloning occurs. As cells are driven by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) encoded within the central nucleus of the cell this means that, for a cell to divide and develop into an intended biological structure, an original cell must have its DNA removed and replaced with the target DNA – in computer terms, removing the entire hard disk and replacing it with a new one so you can start fresh. This forces the cell to replicate and follow the target DNA structure rather than its initially intended replication chain.
In order to ensure that the cell has the greatest replication ability as well the cell must be harvested and modified in as early of the cell’s replication stage as possible. For this reason newly developing embryonic cells are the most viable as they contain the potential to be “omnipotent” or develop into any cellular structure, while more differentiated cells (such as those taken from umbilical cord fluids) are already partially differentiated and therefore cannot be used to fully clone anything from an organ to an entire creature.
Because of the underlying benefit – and indeed necessity in most cases – of utilizing embryonic stem cells for treatment purposes little work has been done into this particular venue as any experiments or treatments using such cells would effectively be terminating any developing life. Nevertheless research is still being done on more differentiated “adult stem cells” that can be harvested from fully grown individuals with little to no harm to the person in order to generate treatments and recent advancements in this regard have proven highly promising in many regenerative treatments that can be used for a number of purposes. Still, full tissue or organ cloning using adult stem cells is proving difficult due to the differentiation needs and may prove a medical impossibility after all.
Stem Cells Limb Repair
Extensive limb damage to the point where amputation was the only solution has long been a problem for many medical professionals throughout the world, with crushed limbs in particular posing the greatest risk due to the fact that the bone can easily be damaged well beyond its own natural ability to repair itself.
Such was the case in England up until recently, where a new technique creating a “stem cell glue” has enabled a patient with a crushed leg to not only save his leg from amputation but be well on the way to making a full recovery, with a 100% return in leg functionality expected a mere 18 months after the initial treatment commenced.
The “glue” comes as a combination of a medical paste known as Cartifill and stem cells harvested from bone marrow extracted from the patient’s own hip. By combining the two substances and then applying it to the bone fragments within the damaged leg (having a total of 5 breaks and one compound fracture near the ankle after a boulder fell on the leg in a rock climbing accident) the fragments were then readjusted within the leg and held in place for 6 months with an external metal clamp in order to allow them to take hold. 6 months after the paste was applied and the cage removed the patient was able to support his entire body weight on the damaged leg, and is expected to be able to run on it one year after treatment once the bone has finished mending itself.
The paste Cartifill was originally designed by South Korean professor Seok Jung Kim and was intended at first to be a part of a cartilage replacement procedure wherein adult stem cells are mixed with the paste and then used to induce regeneration of damaged cartilage, particularly in knees. Thus far the paste has shown a number of successes in treating these cases as well, with roughly 80% of all patients undergoing Certifill stem cell treatment for knee repair reporting successful recoveries.
Further studies are currently being conducted in the UK with Professor Kim working to support other uses of the Cartifill solution assist with limb damage, potentially even assisting with the re-attaching of severed limbs by providing much needed support in reconnecting damaged muscle, bone and nerve tissue that may be damaged during the severing process. Current treatments utilizing this stem cell method are also relatively inexpensive, costing a few hundred Pounds at most, making it a highly affordable medical solution for many injured individuals.
Stem Cells Neuropathy
Neuropathy is an unfortunately relatively common issue that many people around the world face as a result of a number of different factors ranging from trauma to disease side effects. Regardless of the specific cause, however, the result is the same – a failing of proper neurological processes that can cause numbness, lack of responsiveness and for some people even complete paralysis.
Thankfully research is being done into a number of different processes that can help combat this ailment and bring about an effective treatment – or even complete cure – for many people that have experienced this symptom in the past or are suffering from it now. Each of these focuses on treating the direct cause of the neuropathy, not the symptom itself, and for many individuals preliminary research has already shown great progress.
One of the most common forms of neuropathy for many people, direct brain trauma (even minute) is being explored by stem cell researchers around the world as a prime candidate for initial test treatments as well progressive treatments for those having already been afflicted. Focusing on utilizing adult stem cells found within bone marrow (commonly extracted from the hip of a patient) and programming them to target specific neural pathways in the brain, initial reports have shown surprisingly optimistic results for many people by working to rebuilt neural pathways and prevent excessive damage from cascading into other regions – particularly if the treatments can be applied soon after the trauma is received.
Initial treatments are already currently under way at hospitals in some locations globally, with particular interest on children head traumas suffered in Texas. The results have shown a treatment of adult semi-differentiated stem cells can restore necessary brain pathways that would otherwise cause long-term neurological damage (with neuropathy being only one possible outcome) and prevent further damage from swelling from occurring.
For neuropathy caused by other chronic diseases such as diabetes treatments are further being explored in this regard as well. In terms of diabetes, as one example, research is being done on utilizing adult stem cells to stimulate insulin production within the pancreas and thus allow for the progressive damage to be halted before it gets worse. Existing damage could then be focused on with additional stem cell focus in order to re-grow damaged synaptic responses.
While neuropathy is difficult to focus on in particular due to the varied nature of it causes one thing is certain: advances in stem cell development and application are proving beneficial in all areas, and for many sufferers looking for help a treatment may soon be available in a medical center near you if it is not available already.
Stem Cells Brain Cancer
Brain tumors have been a difficult ailment to cure for many years due to their tedious position within bodies and the high possibility of damage to be done to the surrounding tissue that could easily result in further damage or even death during the treatment process. Further, targeting the specific causes of the cancer for treatment have proven particularly difficult due to the limited ability to effectively analyze the specific causes of the tumors in the past.
Recent studies, however, have shown some progress in the way that doctors have been able to identify and subsequently develop treatments to hopefully treat and even cure many tumor developments. Through the process of tracking specific stem cells and their growth patterns it has been determined that brain tumors are actually the result of malfunctioning stem cells located near blood vessels within the brain to utilize the body’s resources to multiply exponentially and damage surrounding cells – a process that previously hadn’t been considered as a possibility due to the fact that doctors believed tumors to consist of one particular cell line rather than a collection of different cells.
This targeting of specific stem cells has allowed doctors to develop treatments to hone in on the blood stem cells carrying the cancer in order to kill tumor development at its source. Current treatment phases have even begun moving out of laboratory testing and have begun to be done on human beings, with children suffering from brain cancer as a primary focus group due to their inherent higher cellular regenerative abilities.
Should this process prove successful it could potentially mean a number of different treatments could also be looked at for other cancerous developments as well. Blood and bone marrow cancers, for instance, could have specific malfunctioning stem cells emanating in the blood targeted both chemically by medicines and through other treatment methods to effectively eliminate trouble spots before they can masticate to surrounding tissue and thus inflict damage that most conventional cancer treatments will be unable to target.
Should any damage be done to the brain as well from developing cancers before they are treated other uses of stem cells from healthy parts of the body (such as unaffected bone marrow) are also being explored for use as regenerative sources for brain tissue, thus potentially allowing a restoration of damaged locations that was previously considered impossible even up to just a few years prior to now.
Stem Cells Umbilical Blood
As many people have heard by now a child’s umbilical cord can contain a large quantity of multipotent stem cells capable of being cultivated into a number of different tissues. These cells, though partially differentiated to the developing child and thus losing their totipotent or pluripotent characteristics, still have the potential to be used in both effective treatment for the child as it develops to generate treatments or cures to ailments with virtually no risk of rejection. Additionally due to the genetic similarity between a child and its family members mean that the blood could potentially even be used to assist with the medical treatment of close family members should they need assistance as well.
Because of the versatility of the stem cells umbilical cord contains many doctors are beginning to recommend parents actually collect and store the umbilical cord from birth in order to be used later on down the line. Private blood collection and storage can actually be purchased by expecting families today for anywhere from $1000 to $2000 initially with a yearly maintenance fee of around $100 to ensure the blood retains its usefulness. Alternatively families may also store their child’s umbilical cord blood in a public blood bank for free, however chances are that over the years the blood may be used by some other patient that could use the blood for a treatment of their own and therefore not allow for the blood to be available should you need it.
As treatments continue to improve over the years and become more and more diverse and effective it is expected that the potential for umbilical cord blood to grow exponentially over time. Given that storage methods can generally maintain blood viability for decades this is generating a growing public awareness and focus on the potential benefits storage can bring about, especially knowing that there is roughly a 1 in 2,700 chance that the child will need a treatment from their own umbilical cord blood sometime in their life based on global health care statistics, with a proportionally higher chance that other family members may require it as well.
Should parents be expecting and wish to preserve their child’s umbilical cord blood be sure to ask your attending health care professional for options available to you in your area. Many doctors are beginning to offer this option without prompting, however if yours does not do not feel afraid to approach them with the request in order to explore all options available to you.
Stem Cell Lines
Much discussion can be found in the medical profession regarding stem cells and what are known as “stem cell lines”. What these lines consist of specifically are a genetic group of cells that have differentiated into various different tissues from one single group of initial stem cells. For harvesting purposes various different stem cells lines can come from virtually any tissue, and in many cases research into various lines is the primary focus for many researchers looking into any number of stem cell applications ranging from small tissue growths to even cloning entire organs or bodies.
Alternative sources for various stem cell lines are also being explored in order to try and fully realize the potential for stem cell development via adult stem cells as well. This includes the study of various tissues (including skin cells) and umbilical cord blood – a particular source of interest for many researchers as umbilical cord blood has proven to be a valuable source for potent stem cells.
The downside in terms of stem cell research on adult stem cell lines lies in the fact that cells harvested from even umbilical cord tend to have at least even partial differentiation towards a specific cellular structure or host. This means that any cells successfully obtained via an adult stem cell harvesting method will have the potential of being rejected by a host that may receive a cell line derived from some other individual. This is why in the past both totipotent and pluripotent stem cells harvested from embryonic tissue has been of much more interest to researchers given its ability to help more people and be accepted universally, however the ethical difficulties faced when utilizing this type of tissue are a strong barrier in its development.
Nevertheless the multipotent cells found in adult stem cells can, and have been, highly effective treatment methods for many people given the fact that even though they are partially differentiated already they still have the inherent nature to assist with the regenerative processes needed in the body. Additionally other methods such as iPS cells (short for induced pluripotent stem cells) where the genetic structure of a somatic cell that does not have the natural stem cell’s ability for repair is re-programmed into becoming a stem cell for treatment and repair purposes. These forms of stem cell lines have proven particularly effective for treatment of individuals that are the initial hosts of the cells as even though they are only multipotent at best the fact they originate from the host virtually eliminates any risk of rejection.
Stem Cells Skin Cancer
While skin cancer has typically not been a major focus for stem cell research in terms of treatment methods and technology it is, nevertheless, a major focus for searching out stem cells in terms of their relationship to cancer and the development of tumors. Cancer is, in itself, an uncontrolled development of cellular growth that can cause various malfunctions throughout a body while stem cells by their very nature are the driving force behind cellular growth and tissue development.
Research has been particularly focused on skin cancer stem cells in the past primarily due to the fact that not only is skin cancer a highly prevalent development among many people it is also relatively easy to study (requiring little invasive action for the removal of cancerous spots for laboratory study). Despite its ready availability for study. however, successfully pinpointing specific cancerous skin cells for study and development of treatment methods has proven difficult.
The primary reason for skin cancer stem cells being elusive is due to the fact that tumors, created by the uncontrolled cellular reproduction cycle initiated by malfunctioning stem cells, tend to contain a large number of different cell groups as cancerous growth can create a cellular “chain reaction” effect in which a large number of cellular lines are negatively impacted. This results in many biopsy studies of cancerous tumors to yield little to no viable record in most cases due to the difficulty in actually isolating specific cancerous stem cell lines.
Thankfully advancements have been made last month by Oxford researches dedicated to the research and development of stem cell technology related to skin cancer, its causes and treatment thereof. Thus far they have been able to successfully identify a number of cellular lines traced back to initial stem cells by isolating the cellular lines in the early stages of development and tracking them through their progress as they develop into cancerous tumors in order to pinpoint key elements in tumor development.
Their breakthroughs in stem cell tracking and selective identification mean a number of different approaches can be taken in the future in regards to both harmful and beneficial stem cell therapies. By being able to successfully identify cancerous stem cell developments in developing cancer regions researchers will now be able to better identify specific causes of cancer and identify as well as treat the primary problem site without needing to conduct invasive actions on surrounding tissue.
Stem Cells Liver Disease
The human liver is a highly resilient organ with amazing regenerative abilities. Unfortunately for a number of reasons it can break down over time, and although there are a number of different treatments available for complete liver failure a transplant is the only option – and this can be a risky business at best. Although not even a full liver is necessary to be transplanted from one individual to another in order for treatment to be successful (given that even if 40% of the original liver is transplanted into a patient the liver’s natural generation ability will cause it to re-grow to roughly the original size) the chances of organ rejection are still high and a major concern for many people suffering from liver disease. Additionally the widespread epidemic of liver failure means that for every one successful liver transplant 10 people are left on the waiting list hoping to receive one of their own.
Because of the risk of organ rejection among other concerns (including simply finding a suitable donor quick enough to save the life of an individual) alternative treatments utilizing adult stem cell therapy has been explored. In fact, researchers in both London and Japan are currently exploring treatment methods utilizing adult stem cells for the treatment of chronic liver disease and liver fibrosis.
This move towards liver repair and exploration of stem cell therapy to repair liver damage is partly due to the fact that there is a lack of any significant dialysis machine to assist with the liver’s functions (unlike dialysis for kidney failure), making the need for a treatment method other than an invasive transplant dire. Additionally studies have shown that liver disease is on the rise in many countries around the world, with highly-industrialized countries such as the UK and US among two of the homes of the fastest growing liver-disease demographic in the world.
The stem cells being used in the treatments underway in the UK and Japan are being extracted from the patient’s own bone marrow, effectively eliminating the risk of rejection from the patient as the cells will simply be modified native cells to the patient’s body. Adult stem cells extracted from bone marrow are proving highly flexible for use in many different areas of treatment, ranging anywhere from tissue repair (such as that being done in these cases in regards to liver damage) to even being utilized in the treatment of traumatic brain injury cases.
Stem Cells Knee Repair
Knee cartilage is a highly resilient tissue that is necessary to absorb high amounts of stress throughout our lives on a regular basis, needing the ability to withstand heavy loads and impacts that we subject our body to through any number of actions. Unfortunately it is also a non-regenerative tissue and if damaged or worn-down through years of hard usage or other complications such as disease or nutritional deficiency it can easily cause a wide number of problems and, in extreme situations, even cause immobility.
While a number of surgical options have been available for some time in order to assist with mending cartilage tissue damage there has been no way to actually repair any cartilage damage to its proper complete state. Further, while some of these surgical options can be done arthriscopically (by making small 1cm incisions in the areas surrounding the knee and inserting small instruments into the knee cavity to conduct repairs) more extreme damage requires highly invasive procedures that can take months to recover from and after which individuals may never fully recover to their pre-damaged level of use.
Recent developments in autologus stem cells, however, are proving promising in terms of being able to regenerate damaged cartilage tissue. Originating from a patient’s own body, autologus cells have virtually no risk of be rejected by the patient as they are simply modifications of cells already existing within their system. Further, there is no risk of any disease transmission through the use of autologus cells due to the fact that they do not come into contact with any outside source. Their nature also allows them to be more easily studied and implemented in treatment procedures due to the fact that they are harvested from and re-implanted in adult bodies and therefore are free of much of the negative stigma associated with other forms of stem cells.
Current focus for stem cell cartilage treatment is on the usage of autologus mesenchymal stem cells due to their promising results in animal studies. A clinic in Colorado has also reported numerous successes in the usage of autologus mesenchymal stem cells to regenerate knee tissue in many patients. Unfortunately due to the relatively new nature of the treatments as well as the limited ability to know of long-term effects of the stem cell treatments the FDA is engaged in an ongoing debate over their continued usage within the US and whether or not they are truly a viable, healthy method of treatment.
Stem Cells Brain Damage
Traumatic brain injury (commonly known as TBI) is a primary candidate for stem cell study and treatment due primarily to two factors. First, the current conventional treatment methods used in TBI cases focus primarily on pharmacological supplements to bring about balances in brain chemistry that may have been imbalanced due to trauma as well as rehabilitation treatments to allow an individual to better cope with lost functionality that may have come about due to the initial brain injury or, more likely, the subsequent swelling that results from the body’s natural defense mechanism to deal with traumas. While this has proven effective in coping with brain damage in the past it is inherently limited in its actual scope of application due to the fact that it does not ever treat the actual damage that exists. Secondly, TBI has proven as a prime candidate for stem cell research and development due to the fact that various stem cells were recently discovered in adult brains that, when activated, could effectively be used to repair damaged brain tissue and return lost functionality to otherwise unusable brain regions. Additionally some bone marrow stem cells have proven effective in generating the necessary cells to repair damage to areas that have recently suffered from some sort of trauma based on laboratory studies. In fact, if modified adult stem cells from bone marrow is injected into damaged regions of the brain within 48 hours of an injury occurring significant recovery of damaged tissue has been able to be observed in laboratory animal tests. Because of the high potential nature of adult stem cells in the treatment of traumatic brain injury tests are currently being planned on the first human subjects, with the intention of treating children suffering from TBI at first with bone marrow extracted from their pelvis. These stem cells will be activated to restore both neurological tissue and blood flow to damaged regions in order to stem off any cumulative damage that may result from otherwise untreatable areas. Due to the fact that TBI is currently the leading cause of death for individuals under the age of 45 within the United States as well as a highly debilitating condition with little to no current effective treatment in place these initial tests are being highly anticipated by a number of parties and could help pave the way for future breakthroughs in stem cell usage for brain trauma treatment in the coming years.