CELL THERAPY

What Is Cell Therapy?

• Defined as administration of whole live cells in a patient to treat a disease
• Some forms are well established like blood transfusions and bone marrow transplants but others like stem therapy are on the cutting edge, but still need more trials and must prove they are effective

TREATABLE CONDIDTIONS

• Diabetes- cord blood stem cells are being explored to treat type 1 diabetes to determine if they slow the loss of insulin production in children

CONT.

• Any disease that affects internal organs can be helped by cell therapy since there are various studies are being done to grow organs using stem cells. (Kidneys,lungs,liver,etc.)

PARKINSON'S STUDY

• In this study 4 out 5 patients underwent fetal midbrain cell therapy (dopamine neurons)
• Scientists studied how long dopamine was being transferred in these patients
• Patients had healthy dopamine transfer for at least 4 years and one patient still has healthy dopamine transfer to this day

PARKINSON'S STUDY

CONTREVERSY

• Embryonic cell therapy is very controversial because you alter human embryos
• "Organ growing" is also very controversial, and often studies can be hard to do due to legal barriers

WORKS CITED

• http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/abstract/S2211-1247(14)00419-7
• http://www.aabb.org/aabbcct/therapyfacts/Pages/regenerative.aspx