The world is experiencing change while the medical field is advancing day by day. Not only scientists, but also physicians are discovering treatments to diseases and shortcuts that are leaving the world in complete and utter shock. One rising topic is stem cell research and it’s therapies. Stem cells are an incredible discovery to the medical field because of their inexplicable capabilities. For all we know, in about ten years these microscopic “life savers” could be the cure for the world’s most fatal diseases. Right now these cells are being used as variables in experiments that involve repairing damaged tissue and organs. Experts are convinced that stem cells could potentially be injected into certain organs that have gone through severe trauma and return them to a condition of normality. Stem cells are shaping and defining ethics with miraculous abilities to be used in various therapies in the medical field. Stem cells have been utilized for years right before our eyes in a therapy known as bone marrow transplantation. Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) which is also known as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is used in the fields of hematology and oncology and concurs with hematopoietic stem cell insertion (“Bone Marrow Transplant”). In the case of immune and blood diseases such as leukemia, bone marrow becomes damaged and must be replaced. Bone marrow transplantation comes in to solve this problem by replacing the mangled bone marrow (Amagai). Stem cells have the latency to engender into normal white blood cells when isolated and in turrn be reverted to healthy bone marrow. These undifferentiated blood cells are not only being put to use in leukemia, but also are opening up hope in therapies for neuroblastoma... ... middle of paper ... ... allow me to think that one day these events might occur, they give me hope. Similar to the way they give scientists hope of opening up a new realm of possibilities one can only imagine. Works Cited Amagai, Satoshi. "BioInteractive." Stem-Cell-Based Therapies. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. "Bone Marrow Transplant." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. Nakamura, Masaya, and Hideyuki Okano. "Cell Transplantation Therapies for Spinal Cord Injury Focusing on Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells." Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, 11 Dec. 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. Lauren, Pecorino. "Stem Cells for Cell-Based Therapies." Actionbioscience. American Institute of Biological Sciences, Dec. 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. Panno, Joseph. Stem Cell Research: Medical Applications and Ethical Controversy. New York, NY: Facts On File, 2005. Print.
The cells unique nature has scientists intrigued to do research with the focus of finding a way that these cells can be used to replace patients’ injured or diseased tissues. Advancement is made to all the three types of stem cells namely embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells in addition to induced pluripotent cells. Embryonic cells are the building blocks of an embryo that is developing, and can develop into almost all body cell types. Somatic cells are found in the body tissues. They renew and regenerate in healthy bodies. The third type which is induced pluripotent is genetically modified embryo cells from skin cells.2 Research on these cells are geared towards saving humanity; a noble course.
Until recently there was virtually nothing doctors could do for the 500,000 Americans who have strokes each year, the 500,000 to 750,000 who experience severe head injury, or the 10,000 people who are paralyzed after spinal cord damage (3). However, that is about to change. Researchers now think it may be possible to replace destroyed brain cells with new ones to give victims of stroke and brain injury a chance to relearn how to control their body, form new thinking processes, and regain emotions. After demolishing the long-standing myth that brain cells cannot regenerate or proliferate, scientists are developing ways to stimulate cells to do just that. Although stroke, head injury, and paralysis are three of the most devastating things that can happen to anyone, scientists have recently learned that the damage they cause is not preordained. It takes place over minutes, hours, and days, giving them a precious opportunity to develop treatments to halt much of the damage. Most of the new remedies are not yet available, but an explosion of research in the last five to ten years has convinced scientists that some of them will work (8).
As the healthcare field continues to grow and evolve at an accelerated rate, new and advanced technologies are sprouting up everyday and becoming increasingly commonplace. A technology that has garnered both positive and negative attention is transplanting stem cells. Hematopoietic stem cells refer to the body's blood forming blood cells (American Cancer Society, 2013). Here is some background information on these types of stem cells. These cells are young and immature.
" An Overview of Stem Cell Research | The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity."
Scientists would be able to grow spinal cells from pluripotent stem cells. These cells could possibly repair spinal cord damage. Those afflicted by paralysis, such as Christopher Reeve, could possibly move again. Stem cells could also be used to grow nerve cells, possibly combating Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s. While it will be many years before scientists may actually be able to find a way to combat these diseases, there is a great promise in stem cells.
Stem cell research began in 1956 when Dr. E Donnall Thomas performed the first bone marrow transplant (“Adult stem cells are not more promising,” 2007). Since that time, research has evolved into obtaining cells from a variety of tissues. According to stem cell research professors, Ariff Bongso and Eng Hin Lee (2005), “Stem cells are unspecialized cells in the human body that are capable of becoming cells, each with new specialized functions” (p. 2). Stem cells are in various adult tissues, such as bone marrow, the liver, the epidermis layer of skin, the central nervous system, and eyes. They are also in other sources, such as fetuses, umbilical cords, placentas, embryos, and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are cells from adult tissues that have been reprogrammed to pluripotency. Most stem cells offer multipotent cells, which are sparse...
The President’s Council on Bioethics published “Monitoring Stem Cell Research” in 2004. This report was written in response to President Bush’s comments regarding research of human stem cells on August 9, 2001. President Bush announced that he was going to make federal funding available for research that involved existing lines of stem cells that came from embryos. He is the first president to provide any type of financial support for the research of human stem cells. A Council was created with people who are educated in the field of stem cells to help monitor the research and to recommend guidelines and consider the ethical consequences that this research could create. This report is an “update” given by the President’s Council in January of 2004 to make the public aware of the significant developments in the science and medical aspects of stem cell research. It also describes the ethical, legal and political implications that stem cell research may create. However, since the research is still in its beginning stages, this “update” does not describe a complete or definitive study of stem cells nor does it provide specific guidelines or regulations. This is a report that is suppose to help the President, Congress and general public make better-informed decisions as to the direction that we should go with stem cells.
Imagine that there is a cure for nearly every ailment that affects the human race. Imagine that you could help the terminally ill, put those you love out of pain, and cut the healing time of an enormous number of serious illnesses in half. Imagine a world in which pain and suffering would be nearly nonexistent, and the people you love can live safe from the fear of crippling injury. Now what if I told you that this utopia was a fast approaching reality? Everything from serious life threatening burns to lymphoma, AIDS, Alzheimer’s, Muscular Dystrophy, Parkinson’s Disease, Spinal Cord Injury, and Strokes could, in the very near future, be eliminated through the simple culturing and implementation of stem cell therapy . These diseases are no small component of the myriad of conditions that plagues the human race, and yet, the end for these horrible maladies could very well be in sight. Man has always sought to end suffering, largely without success, until now. the promise that stem cell therapy holds could completely change our world for the better. Already, stem cell therapy is being used to treat leukemia, immune disorders, hodgkins and non-hodgkins lymphoma, anemia and a profusion of other ailments. As you all know, this is no small accomplishment. One day i believe that we may look at alzheimer's and diabetes and other major illnesses much like we look at polio today, as a treatable illness. Right now, our research with stem cells is providing us with new light into how we look at and model disease, our ability to understand why we get sick and even to develop new drugs. In 2008, a researcher from the New York Stem Cell Foundation Laborato...
There are many different types of stem cells that are being looked at for research. These include embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, and induced pluripotent cells. Embryonic stem cells are cells that have the potential to produce many different cells in the body. They are cells that are tak...
Monroe, Kristen, et al., eds. Fundamentals of the Stem Cell Debate: The Scientific, Religious, Ethical and Political Issues. Los Angeles/Berkley: University of California Press, 2008. Print
Sharp, J., Frame, J., Siegenthaler, M., Nistor, G., Keirstead, H.S. (2010). Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cell Transplants Improve Recovery after Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: Stem Cells, 28, 152 – 163.
“What are the potential uses of human stem cells and the obstacles that must be overcome before these potential uses will be realized?” . InStem Cell Information. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009.
Stem cells offer exciting promise for future therapies, but significant technical hurdles remain that will only be overcome through years of intensive research. Stem Cells have the incredible potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. Scientists primarily work with two kinds of stem cells from animals and humans. The embryonic stem cells and the non-embryonic stem cells. Stem cells are the cells from which all other cells originate. In a human embryo, a large portion of the embryo’s cells are stem cells. These stem cells can be used for cell-based therapies. Cell-Based therapies are treatments in which stem cells are induced to differentiate into the specific cell type required to repair damaged or destroyed cells or tissues. Stem cells are versatile and offer the possibility to treat a number of diseases including Alzheimer’s, stroke, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc. The problem is that for the process of embryonic stem cell research and embryo will be destroyed if used. This raises a moral issue and questions of whether stem cell research is unethical or not.
The findings in this book could easily be compared to real findings, throughout history we have been looking at finding proof for existence of life out in the universe and we have found several meteorites throughout times. Though they are not as significant as the discovery in the book where they are found during presidential elections and with fossils on it, but today when people are looking in space and saying our future lies there; reading the book has made everything just more interesting and exciting. "If this discovery is confirmed, it will surely be one of the most stunning insights into our universe that science has ever uncovered. Its implications are as far-reaching and awe-inspiring as can be imagined. Even as it promises answer to some of our oldest questions, it poses still others even more fundamental"
...there are some risk factors in using stem cell for therapeutic approaches, hematopoietic stem cell therapy by bone marrow transplantation has already been proofed to be safe if donors’ background and screening, cell contamination, HLA matching and opportunistic or nosocomial infections during immunocompromised period were carefully monitored and controlled. Still, other types of stem cell therapies, despite of their good therapeutic efficacy, are remain in experimental stage and need more data to support and demonstrate the safety in clinical trials. More understanding of stem cell biology is also required in order to keep stem cell under controlled and avoid some complications that they might cause. So, to pave the way for successful stem cell therapy, research in this extent is needed to pursue to maximized therapeutic efficiency with highest safety in patients.