Today we decided to tell you not just about another discovery, but about what exactly these stem cells are. Is their use really a very promising direction and how stem cells can help humanity in general?
What are stem cells?
Stem cells (or, as they are also called, progenitor cells) are the cells from which all organs and tissues of our body are formed. The cells themselves are formed at the stage of embryonic development and are able to maintain their numbers for some time. With age, due to the fact that all the necessary organs are formed, the supply of stem cells decreases. But this leads to a deterioration in regenerative abilities and, as a result, aging of the body. Where do stem cells come from? There are several sources of stem cells in the human body, namely: bone marrow, adipose tissue, peripheral blood (called hematopoietic stem cells, but they are also present in the bone marrow), as well as the blood of the umbilical cord of babies and the umbilical cord itself.
I would like to dwell on the last two points in more detail. Because today the collection of umbilical cord blood for the purpose of preservation is very popular so that in the future these stem cells could be used to treat a specific person. That is, they will not need to be created artificially (which we will talk about later), but it will be possible to use “your own” genetic material. However, there is very little data on the success of this approach and the industry is “young enough” to draw any conclusions about the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of such an approach. It is also worth noting that, contrary to popular belief, placental tissue does not belong to the sources of stem cells, since it is formed from the mother's body and contains the mother's adult cells.
Why stem cells are needed
The question may arise: what to do to people who "did not have time" to save their umbilical cord blood? In this case, the technology of reprogramming cells will come to the rescue. For her, as a rule, cells of the deep layers of the skin are taken and reprogrammed in a special way. Moreover, this process is very similar to conventional programming. A special language called Cello has been developed to work with cells. Only if conventional programming languages work with numerical data, Cello works with nucleic acids that are part of cellular DNA. Thus, you can set any parameters for nucleic acids and this will change the cell at the genetic level. Due to this, roughly speaking, skin cells undergo, as it were, "reverse development", not forming a new tissue, but on the contrary "going to the origins", becoming precursor cells.
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Stem cells can develop into any tissue in our organisms.
Speaking about the areas of application of stem cells, I would like to note that today they are used to treat a number of diseases of the blood and bone marrow. In particular, in the treatment of leukemia (blood cancer). Based on the fact that stem cells can form any tissue, scientists have found use for them in, for example, treating serious burns to create skin grafts, to restore nerve trunks after injuries and "build up" new vessels.
But that's not all. At the moment, developments are underway in the field of therapy for severe organic lesions of the nervous system. In particular, to create drugs for Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and so on. Moreover, there is already evidence that stem cells can be used to grow new organs. For example, the heart, liver, kidneys, parts of the lung, bones, muscles and tendons.
But one should not perceive stem cells as "a cure for all diseases", because the technology of their use is still poorly understood. In particular, some evidence suggests that inappropriate stem cell therapy can provoke a "failure" in their development and cause the formation of tumors. It is also still not clear how well artificially grown organs will take root and whether they will be suitable for transplantation at all. The doctors have yet to find out.
Vladimir Kuznetsov
