But stem cells have long been considered one of the great promises of regenerative medicine, with long-standing applications in leukemia and ongoing clinical trials in everything from age-related macular degeneration to multiple sclerosis to motor neuron disease. has been used, but is also very misunderstood.
Although there are very few evidence-based stem cell therapies officially approved by government authorities, there are many private clinics in countries such as Switzerland, China, Mexico, India, and the United States where experts are available. “Regulatory gray area”.
“These clinics may operate outside of regulatory oversight or scientific collaboration, and do not disclose the protocols or results of what they are doing to patients who pay for their services.” said Dr. Anna Couturier, Head of Research and Development Strategy. A non-profit academic consortium providing information on gene and cell therapy called EuroGCT.
Evidence of potential danger is not difficult to find. Just last year, reports surfaced in the United States of a patient who went blind after undergoing stem cell treatment for a degenerative eye disease at a private clinic in Florida. Also, some clinics claim to offer stem cell injection therapy that increases collagen and gives the face a more youthful appearance, but scientists are unsure whether this is safe or effective. It says there is little published evidence to support it.
“There are no approved applications for stem cells in the cosmetics industry, so all suppliers offering these direct-to-consumer interventions are operating in a gray area.” Stem Cell Biology and Regeneration says Darius Weidra, a professor of medicine. at the University of Reading.
So what can stem cells actually do and what are some common misconceptions?
There is no single “stem cell treatment”
Just as cancer and dementia are not single entities but collections of hundreds of different diseases, there are many different types of stem cells, and therefore their potential uses vary widely.
Stem cell medicine is most advanced with respect to adult stem cells, which can only be used to generate fresh cells in specific regions. For example, stem cells in the brain can only be used to generate new brain cells.
Professor John Frampton, a stem cell biologist at the University of Birmingham, explains that the most long-term use of adult stem cells is for patients with leukemia, where stem cell transplants are often used to replenish diseased cells in the bone marrow. are doing. From a matching donor.
“We aim to eliminate disease and replace the blood system with fresh stem cells,” he says. “This is tried, tested and proven to work.”
Over the past two decades, so-called pluripotent stem cells have generated considerable excitement and controversy. Pluripotent stem cells are harvested from human embryos or generated through sophisticated manipulation in the laboratory. These stem cells can grow into any type of cell in the body. However, although they have often been touted as potential miracle treatments, their safety and efficacy remain largely unproven, with tests in early-stage clinical trials.
It is not desirable to be injected into the body.
In an interview with Saga In the magazine, Cleese appears to describe undergoing the treatment as a form of ongoing anti-aging maintenance.
“These cells travel around the body and when they find a place that needs repair, they change into the cells you want them to repair, so they can become chondrocytes or liver cells,” he says.
It was not clear what type of stem cell treatment Ms Cleese was undergoing, but Professor Frampton said anyone receiving pluripotent stem cell injections was likely to be at risk. There is.
“If you put them in the wrong situation without the right prompts or cues, stem cells will do what they can, but in a very random way,” he says. “Because stem cells proliferate in large numbers and form clumps, tumors called teratomas can develop. Teratomas are scary clumps of all sorts of different tissue types gathered together within the tumor.”
May be used to target muscle degeneration and weakness
Stem cell therapy is credited with extending the careers of numerous athletes, from Rafael Nadal to Cristiano Ronaldo. Experts say there are a variety of potential stem cell treatments that could be applied to athletes and could one day help tackle some aspects of the aging process.
These treatments utilize adult stem cells, known as mesenchymal stem cells, which make skeletal components such as knee cartilage and the discs between vertebrae in the back. Professor Frampton described the treatment as a complex, multi-step process in which surgeons extract a patient’s own mesenchymal stem cells, which are then used to generate new ligament and cartilage cells in petri dishes in the laboratory. It is explained that.
“We need biomaterials and structures that allow these cells to function, to join together to form new cartilage, and to give them the right properties,” Professor Frampton explains. “Then we implant it back into the patient.”
Various clinical trials are currently underway in the UK investigating this same approach as a treatment for degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis. Other trials are investigating whether new drug treatments can help fight conditions such as age-related muscle atrophy by stimulating and activating muscle stem cells.
“As we age, adult stem cells become less able to perform their intended role,” Professor Frampton continues. “So there are drugs that can potentially reverse some of these deficiencies and allow them to continue doing what they’re supposed to do for a few more years.”
may be a substitute for the organization
Some of the most dramatic applications have been achieved by using pluripotent stem cells to replace lost tissue, for example in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), where patients gradually lose central vision. may be. This occurs due to deterioration of a thin layer of tissue at the back of the eye called the macula.
Professor Frampton added that some researchers are also investigating whether they can use pluripotent stem cells to generate new maculas in the lab and transplant them into AMD patients. “It’s currently in clinical trials and I’m pretty hopeful that it will be a treatment for at least some people with this disease,” he says.
But in the meantime, researchers advise staying well clear of private clinics that claim to offer unproven treatments. In addition to the cancer risk, patients undergoing unregulated stem cell therapy develop brain inflammation, life-threatening blood clots, infections and, in many cases, death.
“If the product is not sterile, it can cause inflammation and, in the worst case scenario, septic shock,” says Professor Widera. “Many patients are harmed by these gray zone clinics.”
