Stem Cell Therapy – The Past, Present, and the Future
The Past…
It was a sort of miraculous discovery when scientists and researchers found in the mid 1800s that they could use some cells from both human and animal bodies to generate new cells – the discovery sowed the seed of an idea to treat diseases caused by the degeneration of certain cells by replacing them with new ones generated from the cells of other people. Stem cells can be recovered from a human embryo, from an adult umbilical cord, and from the adult bone marrow. The first successful bone marrow transplant from a donor to an unrelated recipient was performed in 1973. The first human embryonic stem cells were obtained in 1998.
The Technique…
Known as regenerative medicine, stem cell therapy is based on the idea that embryonic stem cells taken from an embryo that’s a few days old are able, in theory, to generate all the tissues of an adult human body, provided they’re given the right kind of stimulus. The cells we have as adults are also genetically programmed to regenerate organs and tissues, but a defensive mechanism in the adult body prevents this division or change from taking place, probably to stop random mutation into cancerous elements. This makes embryonic stem cells very valuable in the treatment of degenerative cell diseases.
The Present…
The most successful application of stem cell therapy so far is in the way it has helped in bone marrow transplants between people who are not related to each other in any way. Adult stem cells have also shown promise in regenerating cells that are found in the liver.
The Future…
Researchers in Canada are close to unlocking the secrets of Type I diabetes – they’ve found that embryonic stem cells can be used to generate fully-functional human islet cells that help the pancreas secrete insulin and thus help people who are unlucky enough to be born with the disease. While islets have been transplanted from donors to recipients with Type I diabetes with some degree of success, there are not enough donors to help the millions of others who depend on their daily dose of insulin to keep them alive. Their only hope – stem cell therapy!
The Controversy..,
With U.S. law prohibiting the use of federal funds to promote research using cells from human embryos because of the strong pressure from people who are against abortion, there’s not much progress that can be made in this direction. The killing of a life (the embryo) to save another life is not something that’s acceptable to those who are more religious than scientific. Since adult cells do not work as well as embryonic cells, there’s a sort of Catch 22 situation here, which is why scientists have to rely on mice for their studies. And even if the experiments on the animals are successful, they may never know how the same tests will work on human beings unless they’re allowed access to an unlimited number of embryonic cells.
It’s an ethical dilemma, much like abortion and euthanasia. If left to me, I’d say it was a matter of personal choice – what happens when a mother chooses to kill her unborn if it means her 10-year-old gets to live? The questions are all out there, it’s just that we may never get the right answers in time to save lives.