Stem cell therapy's concept is deceptively simple: take
cells from a donor and put them into a patient to treat a disease or injury.
However, the reality falls far short of the dream.
Regenerative medicine makes use of cells, biomaterials, and
molecules to fix structures in the body that do not function properly due to
disease or injury.
What sets regenerative medicine apart from many traditional
drugs is that the latter mostly treat symptoms, whereas the former aims to
treat the root cause of a patient's condition by replacing lost cells or
organs, or by fixing a faulty gene.
The allure of regenerative medicine
promises to redefine medical treatment, putting stem cells and biocompatible
materials center stage in this revolution. Many breakthroughs have been
reported and hailed in scientific journals and the media over the years.
However, the number of regenerative medicine treatments
in medical use today is disappointingly low, and a panel of commissioners
criticizes this lack of progress in a reportTrusted Source published
last week in The Lancet.
In fact, according to Prof. Giulio Cossu - from the Division
of Cell and Matrix Biology & Regenerative Medicine at the University of
Manchester in the United Kingdom - and his fellow commissioners, only a handful
of breakthroughs have made it to patients, and private clinics are cashing in
on patients' desperate search for treatments by offering unproven therapies.
Why have so many promises of new therapies fallen short? And
what will it take for society to benefit from the immense potential that
regenerative medicine holds?
What is regenerative medicine?
The commissioners say in their report that regenerative
medicine "aims to replace or repair human cells, or regenerate tissue or
organs to restore normal function." The emphasis on "normal
function" sets this approach to medical treatments apart from many commonly
used drugs, which tend to treat symptoms but do not address the underlying
causes.
"Cell therapies and regenerative medicine, with their
potential to improve the health of patients, represent a structural shift in
healthcare by focusing on the underlying causes of disease by repairing,
replacing, or regenerating damaged cells in the body," the authors
explain.
For example, an individual with type 1
diabetes cannot produce insulin.
Instead, daily insulin injections are required to keep blood sugar levels in
check.
Regenerative medicine seeks
to solve this by regenerating the islets of Langerhans, which allow the
individual to make insulin. This would mean no more insulin injections and a
return to normal sugar metabolism.
While the treatment of type 1 diabetes in this way is not
yet a reality, there are some areas of regenerative medicine that are well
established in medical practice.
Early successes
The earliest form of cell therapy was the transfusion of
blood, which is commonplace in most clinical settings nowadays.
Next on the list was the transplantation of bone
marrow, giving patients with radiation damage or blood cancers a
chance to make new, healthy blood cells using the donor's bone marrow stem cells.
Cell therapy using a patient's own cells is also used in
cases of severe burn and scald injuries, when a patient does not have a
sufficient amount of undamaged skin for skin graft treatment.
Here, skin cells are isolated from a small biopsy and
expanded in a specialized laboratory. Millions of cells can be grown in a
relatively short time and transplanted onto the burn wound to speed up healing.
But despite these successes and the
fact that scientists around the world are furiously working on new therapies,
regenerative medicine treatments have not entered mainstream medical practice
in most areas of medicine.
According to the report in The Lancet, "the potential exists to
substantially reduce the burden of disease for some common conditions
(e.g., stroke, heart
disease, progressive neurological conditions, autoimmune diseases,
and trauma)."
And, "As well as increasing life expectancy,
regenerative medicine therapies could greatly improve the health-related
quality of life of many patients with chronic diseases."
So, what is holding back these developments?
From research to medical practice
An army of scientists from around the world is working
on new regenerative medicine solutions to common diseases and injuries.
In the past year alone, Medical
News Today reported
on a chip technology that can change one
cell type into another and heal entire organs, a new method of spray painting biomaterials onto
damaged hearts using minimally invasive surgery, and a growth factor that might
reverse osteoporosis.
Source: Medical News Today
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