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You may have heard of stem cell therapy already but for those of you who have not, this is a very exciting new frontier in medicine. Stem cells offer the hope of curing diseases like Type 1 diabetes, leukemia or parkinson’s. But this new type of therapy, also called “Regenerative Medicine” is not without its controversy. There are good arguments on both sides that we must consider.
So what are stem cells? They are cells that have not committed to becoming a certain type of tissue like heart, muscle, liver or bone. When you think about how a human is formed it starts with a sperm and an egg. One cell becomes two, which becomes four, which becomes eight and so on and so on. In the early stages of development we are nothing more than a ball of cells that haven’t started turning into anything specific yet. At this early stage any of these cells could go on to become any part of the body and this is what scientists are looking to use in regenerative medicine.
Stem cells don’t have to come from a human embryo but these are the cell lineages that cause the most controversy. It’s the same discussion we’ve been having for years now. At what point are we a human being? Are we a human as soon as the sperm fertilizes the egg or after we’re at the 100 cell stage or after we have a heartbeat or after we’re able to survive outside the womb or after we are born? Most scientists would argue that when implantation in the uterus hasn’t occurred at the ‘blastula’ stage or 100 cell stage then it’s impossible for these cells to go on to become a human and thus they should be acceptable for use in stem cell treatments. Different countries have different laws regarding what’s considered ethical use of embryonic stem cells. You will have to make up your own mind about this.
Besides embryonic stem cells, scientists are working on taking our adult cells and replacing the DNA with stem cell DNA thus creating a cell that has the ability to become any type of cell but with our own personal cell signature. This way there’s no worry of tissue rejection. Bone marrow and certain fat cells are other sources of stem cells. If you had a enough forethought to have your umbilical cord saved from birth it is an excellent source of stem cells.
So what can stem cells do for us? The simplest answer for now is that the FDA has only a few approved uses. Bone marrow transplants are used to help cure leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and to replace damaged tissue from chemotherapy. Skin grafts using stem cells and corneal grafts with stem cells are also widely accepted uses of stem cell therapy. There are also a lot of experimental uses that are sanctioned such as surgical wound healing. So the uses of stem cell therapy are expanding and in the future we may be able to replace failing organs such as the pancreas in Type 1 diabetes or the liver from cirrhosis or the kidneys in renal failure or the heart after a heart attack but for now all that is in the experimental phase.
There are all sorts of marketing for stem cell therapy that you need to be careful about. They promise things like healing arthritis or making diabetes better. Sometimes they inject stem cells to repair damaged arthritic joints. Other times they infuse the stem cells in an IV infusion. The problem here is that often these treatments are not FDA approved so you don’t know what you’re getting. They often aren’t even using human stem cells but instead pig or chicken stem cells. These treatments are never covered by insurance so you will be paying cash, usually between $2,000-$5,000 a treatment. People that investigate these therapies are looking for magical cures for their Alzheimer’s or diabetes and are being sold on the idea that all they need is an infusion of these stem cells and somehow they just go to work on the damaged tissue and repair it. That is not how stem cells work. They need to be placed into the damaged tissue in a way that promotes cell signaling for them to grow and replace those damaged cells.
The future is bright for stem cell therapy. This field of medicine has a lot of potential benefits but as of now this practice is in its infancy. If you are considering stem cell therapy be sure to ask whether the treatment is FDA approved or is in an approved experimental trial. So get yourself educated before making the decision to undergo a stem cell treatment. Realize, though, that in the near future there is absolutely going to be life-changing cures coming from stem cell treatments and I for one can’t wait to see it.
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Dr. John Turner is a family medicine and emergency medicine doctor with 25 years of experience. He is also the owner of My Primary Care Clinic and My Emergency Room 24/7 here in Hays County. Dr. Turner may be reached at 512-667-6087.
