Every cell in the body “stems” from a particular “cell”. They can be classified into 3 broad categories, based on their ability to differentiate.
Totipotent Stem Cells:
These are found in early embryos and it is found that each cell can form a complete organism, like identical twins.
Pluripotent Stem Cells:
These are found in inner cell mass of blastocyst and can form any of the 200+ different cell types in the body.
Multipotent Stem Cells:
These are derived from fetal tissue, like Cord blood and Adult stem cells. These have had a track record of successes in cell-based therapies.
In November 1998, researchers first reported the isolation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells (hESCs). There were a lot of objections to this, where people argued that human life begins when an egg is fertilized and they consider an embryo to be a human being. Thus Stem Cell Therapy was termed as morally wrong.
Researchers though, stuck their ground, saying that in the natural reproductive process, the human egg is often fertilized but fails to implant itself in the uterus. While it may have the potential for human life, a fertilized egg cannot be considered to be a human being, until it has successfully implanted itself in the uterus.
Organ Transplant Research- Role of Stem Cells to restore vital Body Functions
Stem cells may hold the key to replacing cells lost in devastating diseases like Parkinson’s, Diabetes, Chronic heart disease, End-stage kidney failure, Liver failure and Cancer. Medical science has advanced to a stage where diseased organs can be replaced by healthy organs and make the body adapt to the new organ that is installed. Though this is a procedure that is life-saving, shortage of donors is a major drawback. The use of Stem Cells to generate replacement tissues to treat neurological diseases is a major focus of research. Several recent advances indicate the regenerative properties of adult and embryonic stem cells.
Treating Diabetes
Another major discovery for research on adult and embryonic stem cells is the development of pancreatic tissues which can be used to treat diabetes. Researchers have recently shown that human embryonic stem cells to directly differentiate into cells which produce insulin. The recipient of a stem cell transplant stands a very high risk of rejecting these tissues as foreign bodies. Modifications to either the cell or immune system or both will be a major requirement. Hence, with the exception of the current practice of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, a lot of basic research lies ahead before direct patient application of stem cell therapies is applied.
