Thursday, October 23, 2014

First Human Trials of Stem Cell Therapies


Stem cell treatments have been used with a plethora of diseases and conditions experimentally and in trial. Some of these include; diabetes, Alzheimer’s, osteoarthritis, and spinal cord injury repair. Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and can divide to produce more stem cells. In a recent article, a young woman paralyzed from a motor vehicle accident successfully underwent the first in-human experimental procedure. The hope is that the placed neural stem cells will bridge the gap created by the injury, replace severed nerve connections and restore motor/sensory function. UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center and the Sanford Cell Clinical Center (where the procedure took place) are the leading research institutes when it comes to stem cells. They have hopes for continued research and procedures with other disease such as Type 1 diabetes and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.



Zaina Banihani
 

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