Stem Cell Therapy

Stem cell therapy is often referred to as the ‘future of medicine’, with complex medical jargon making many believe that such treatments are still only theoretical.  However, several stem cell therapies are already routinely used to treat diseases such as leukaemia, other types of cancer, and blood disorders.  Adult stem cell transplants have actually been used to treat leukaemia through bone marrow stem cell transplant for more than forty years, with significant developments in stem cell harvesting, culturing, and storage techniques having taken place during this time.  As stem cell technologies have progressed, the need for actual bone marrow harvesting has reduced.  A variety of pharmaceuticals have been developed which encourage bone marrow stem cells to enter systemic circulation; patients may then use stem cells sourced from their own blood through a process called apheresis to repopulate their bone marrow after chemotherapy.

The easier access to stem cells afforded by peripheral blood stem cell harvesting has also been aided by the discovery of stem cells in umbilical cord blood, the skin, adipose (fat) tissue, and other stem cell niches in the body.  Stem cell therapy using cord blood transplant is also likely to increase as more parents donate cord blood to national blood banks and as scientists have developed ways of increasing the yield of stem cells from cord blood previously thought insufficient to treat fully grown adults.  People from minority racial and ethnic groups are being particularly encouraged to donate cord blood as this source of stem cells can be used for a wider number of people due to lower risks of immune system rejection compared to adult bone marrow.  A $48 million funding initiative by the Canadian government to create a national stem cell bank for use in transplants is also likely to increase the number of people receiving stem cell therapy as a routine procedure for certain types of cancer and blood disorders as well as provide valuable material for stem cell research when donated blood is unsuitable for transplant itself.

Stem cell therapy may not be direct infusion of stem cells themselves into a patient’s blood or organs, but could involve the use of treatments which influence the activity of those stem cells already present in their body in order to encourage regeneration.  Stem cells may also be used to grow new tissue in the laboratory in order to be transplanted into the patient from whom the stem cells originally came, thus removing the risk of graft versus host disease and eliminating the need to wait for a donor to be available.  Such techniques already exist, with pancreatic cells having been created, along with dopaminergic cells, and liver cells, for example, although all of these require considerably more research prior to being used to generate new organs or tissue for those with diabetes, Parkinson’s Disease, or liver disease.