Stem cell therapy

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Before I talk about stem cell therapy, it is important to know what a stem cell is:
What a stem cell is not, is a tissue cell like skin -, pancreas -, liver -, heart cells, ect. It is a blank, or a master, cell that has got the potential of becoming any cell in the body. Stem cells are immortal and primitive. Immortal meaning: It multiplies endlessly and will continue to multiply throughout your life unlike any other cell in the body. Primitive meaning: They start off as nothing but can differentiate into any type of cell.

There are two places where you will find stem cells: You will find them in the early 8 to 10 day old embryo; also called the Blastula. It is possible to extract the inner cell mass(100-200 cells) and grow them in a test tube. Not all of these cells are stem cells, but there is a test to determine whether a tissue cell is indeed a stem cell by growing it in a test tube and then injecting it underneath the skin. When this forms a teratomas (a tumour that contains one or more tissues normally found in organs such as the brain, thyroid, liver and lung, it is a stem cell. These embryonic stem cells proliferate (To grow or multiply by rapidly producing new tissue, parts, cells, or offspring) easily outside the body.

The second place is in the bone marrow and called adult stem cells. There are definite differences in the two types of stem cells: The stem cells harvested from the Blastula was thought to be the one that has got the potential in healing the body - repairing damaged organs and other body tissue like muscles, bone, skin, etc. The adult stem cell in contrast was said to only have the potential in becoming primarily a blood cell or a joint... We can say that they were thought of as being inferior to what was believed of the embryonic stem cell. The reason for this was the fact that adult stem cells did not form teratomas when injected under the skin and they do not proliferate easily outside the body.

Harvesting these stem cells from the Blastula questioned the ethics of the practice and therefore stem cell research was brought to a halt. Now a days, doctors will recommend you saving the umbilical cord of your new born baby from where they can harvest roughly 500 000 stem cells to inject you with, should you or one of your household members become seriously ill. These umbilical cords are stored in special freezers to preserve it and is quite costly.

Let us say that you have a damaged organ, they will then inject you with the stem cells, from the umbilical cord, at the problem area. These stem cells will attach themselves to the damaged organ and become a cell of that organ - In essence repairing the organ. There are even medical institutions where they now can grow organs for you. Should you ever be in need of an organ, you already have a spare part!

Tissue stem cells are not always that safe to use: Your body can reject these stem cells and therefore it is important for stem cells to contain your DNA. Some studies also suggest that cancer can stem from stem cells and that they can promote the growth of cancer.

We have mentioned before that adult stem cells do not proliferate easily outside the body and do not form teratomas. There was no proof that adult stem cells could perform the same function as embryonic stem cells until the year 2008.Three doctors,Osamu Shimomura; Martin Chalfie and Roger Y. Tsien, were awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP. This protien, from a jellyfish, will glow green under UV light. With this discovery, scientists could inject adult stem cells with this protein and determine exactly what happens to them. It turns out that the adult stem cell does proliferate inside the body and only becomes a cell of that particular tissue it attaches itself to. This means that they can become any cell in the body. If there is an area in the body with a problem, that area releases chemicals called G-CSF(Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor) It migrates to the bone marrow and triggers the release of stem cells from the bone marrow. When the adult stem cells are released, they do not know where to go and so they go everywhere throughout the body. When they reach the part of the body that is releasing a specific compound, called SDF-1(Stromal Derived Factor-1) and the stem cell touches this compound, it will migrate in that tissue and slowly become cells of that tissue; replacing the tissue that is having the problem; bringing back optimal function of that tissue. It is important to note that your body renews itself constantly. Your brain might renew every 20 to 30 years, where other organs might only take a few years to renew. Your body prioritizes where these stem cells should go and because of circumstances, age, lifestyle, ect., your body might not release as many stem cells as it should. Conditions can also exist that hinders the stem cells to reach a damaged part in the body and then it returns to the bone marrow or becomes a red blood cell.

Because of this breakthrough, there is a product that can be taken orally that releases roughly 3.5 million extra stem cells from the bone marrow. This is roughly 25% more than what your body normally release. It is also proven that more stem cells in your blood stream, equates to greater health. Seeing that the release of adult stem cells is a normal function of your body and that it only increases the release of your own stem cells, makes it a very safe product to use and very beneficial.http://forums-cancer.blogspot.com/2010/03/lung-cancerso-much-advice-so-little.html