Stem cells; the future of medicine

 You may have heard about stem cells. People are saying they are the future of medical research, but you may be asking yourself "What are stem cells and what can they be used for?". Cells are the smallest units or building blocks that make up living things.  All cells in a human body contain identical genetic information but different types of cells carry out different functions. This is due to differentiation. Stem cells are cells that have the ability to specialize into any type of cell. Stem cells are found mostly in bone marrow but can also be found in umbilical cords, amniotic fluid and organs such as the skin, heart and liver. Stem cells are cells that have not yet differentiated. Because of this, through the artificial introduction of different transcription factors stem cells can be differentiated into any type of cell. This is what makes them special. You can learn more about stem cells here. 

The different differentiation potentials of a stem cell

Stem cells' ability to differentiate allows them to specialize into any type of cell. This differentiation ability can be used to treat illnesses such as lymphoma, leukemia and aplastic anemia. Bone marrow is tissue found inside bones that is responsible for creating blood cells. There are two types of bone marrow/ stem cell transplants, autologous and allogenic. Autologous transplants are when patients receive a donation of their own stem cells that were harvested before chemotherapy. Allogenic transplants are when patients receive a donation from a donor. Bone marrow transplants are used to treat patients who lack healthy bone marrow and therefore cannot produce healthy blood cells. You can learn more about this here. 

Stem cells role in bone marrow transplants

Stem cells are also being developed for use in regenerative therapy. Their ability to differentiate into different cells allows them to be used to replace damaged cells in organs. Mesenchymal stem cells are at the center of this research due to their ability to differentiate into specialized cells found in different organs such as the heart, the liver, the eye and more. Mesenchymal stem cells are stem cells that are found in bone marrow, amniotic fluid, and fat tissue that can differentiate into many different types of cells.  Mesenchymal stem cells are also favorable because they are immunoprivileged which means they are able to be transplanted with little to no risk of rejection. Stem cells are harvested either by a procedure where a needle is used to collect stem cells from the bone marrow or by giving a donor medication to increase stem cell production then drawing blood and separating the stem cells. Then the stem cells are transplanted to the organ where they will differentiate into new working cells to replace damaged ones. you can read more about how transplants are carried out here and the role of stem cells in regeneration here.

The different uses for mesenchymal stem cells

There has also been a lot of controversy about the use of stem cells in research due to the fact that one source of stem cells is embryos. However most stem cells used in treatment and research are not embryonic stem cells and the ones that are are mostly from embryos leftover from IVF treatments that would have been destroyed otherwise where the donors have given informed consent for their embryos to be used. You can read more about the ethical concerns about embryonic stem cells here. Furthermore, the scientific developments that have come from fetal tissue, which is different from embryonic stem cells, are immense. They include the development of certain vaccines and treatments for maternal hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes.