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Stem Cell 101
What Are Stem Cells?
Stem cells are the parent cells for all tissues and organs of the body. They exist mainly to maintain and repair cells in the areas where they are found. Stem cells are found in the blood, bone marrow, skin, muscle, and organs like the brain and liver. Scientists at the Stem Cell Institute work with different kinds of stem cells: animal and human, embryonic stem cells, and adult stem cells.
Umbilical Cord Blood and Placental Stem Cells
Blood-forming stem cells are present in umbilical cord blood and the placenta. At birth, these cells can be extracted from the discarded tissue and preserved for the benefit of children and adults who suffer from devastating bone marrow and blood diseases and some genetic conditions. There is no harm to the mother or child.
Embryonic Stem Cells
Embryonic stem cells are generated from fertilized, frozen eggs from in-vitro fertilization clinics; they are not derived from eggs fertilized in a woman’s body. Fully informed donors donate these embryos to research because they no longer desire additional children, do not wish to continue storage, or do not want to give them up for adoption. If not used for research, they would have to be discarded. The main advantages of using embryonic stem cells is that they can truly become all cell types of the body, and are therefore more versatile than adult stem cells. A disadvantage is that they are likely to be derived from embryos that are not a patient’s own, and so the patient’s body may reject them following transplantation.
Adult Stem Cells
Researchers at the University of Minnesota receive adult stem cells from people who donate bone marrow, cord blood, or tissue biopsies for research. A disadvantage of most adult stem cells is that they are pre-specialized, that is, blood stem cells make only blood, and muscle stem cells make only muscle.
Recently, an important new technique has made it possible to create multipotent adult stem cells, which can form cells of many kinds of tissue, starting from ordinary skin cells. These are called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). This technology is in use in Minnesota.
An important potential advantage of using adult stem cells to treat disease is that it may be possible to use patient’s own cells for treatment. Risks would be reduced because patients’ bodies do not reject their own cells.
Stem Cell Treatments
Some stem cell therapies already exist, mostly those involving bone marrow or cord blood transplantation for treatment of some cancers. Scientists at the Stem Cell Institute expect many more to be introduced in the coming years.
Some day, doctors expect to be able to use stem cells to treat those suffering from a wide range of genetic diseases, tissue injuries, and degenerative diseases including:
• Spinal cord injury
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Stroke
• Diabetes
• Liver disease
• Heart disease
• Poor circulation
• Hemophilia
• Muscular dystrophy
• Sickle cell disease
• Fanconi anemia
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