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WHAT ARE THE CURRENT USES?
According to the National Institutes of Health, doctors have been using adult stem cells, the active agents in a bone marrow transplant, for over 40 years to treat leukemia, anemia, blood cancers and immune system dysfunctions. Today, there are over 70 diseases that can be treated with adult stem cells. The National Marrow Donor Program conducted more than 3200 marrow and cord blood transplants in 2006. 1 In fact, over 6,000 patients were treated in the U.S. alone with stem cells products in 2006.2 See the list of some of the diseases currently treated with stem cells:
• Malignancies
Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL)
Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)
Chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML)
Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)
Solid Tumors
Liposarcoma
Neuroblastoma
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Yolk sac sarcoma |
• Inborn Errors of Metabolism
Adrenoleukodystrophy
Bare-lymphocyte syndrome
Dyskeratosis congenita
Familial erythrophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis
Gaucher disease
Gunter disease
Hunter syndrome
Hurler syndrome (genetic)
Inherited neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis
Krabbe disease
Langerhans’-cell histiocytosis
Lesch-Nyhan disease
Leukocyte adhesion deficiency
Osteoporosis (genetic)
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• Hemoglobinopathies & Various
Blood Disorders
Amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia (AMT)
Aplastic anemia
Blackfan-Diamond anemia
Congenital cytopenia
Fanconi’s anemia (genetic)
Kostmann’s syndrome (genetic)
Sickle cell anemia
Thalassemia |
• Immunodeficiencies
Adenosine deaminase deficiency (ADA or SCID-ADA)
Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCIDs)
Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome
X-linked lymphoproliferative disease (XLP) |
The only proven stem cell-based medical therapies that are currently available rely on adult-derived stem cells from bone marrow and skin. Adult stem cells from other tissues someday may provide therapies that stimulate the body’s own regenerative potential. 3
WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL USES FOR ADULT STEM CELLS?
With over 700 clinical trials currently underway in the U.S. alone solely focusing on regenerative therapies using adult stem cells, we hope to have some successes in the near future. For more information on the current U.S. Government Clinical Trials going on in the area of adult stem cell therapies visit www.clinicaltrials.gov Results from both animal studies and early human clinical trials indicate that they have significant capabilities for growth, repair, and regeneration of damaged cells and tissues in the body, similar to a built-in repair kit or maintenance crew that only needs activation and stimulation to accomplish repair of damage.4 Tissue therapies include the regeneration of bone, cartilage and organs - most notably the heart and breast. The potential of adult stem cells to impact medicine in this respect is enormous. Research is currently being conducted in the following areas involving adult stem cells:5
Sources: 1. National Marrow Donor Program, Facts & Figures, Page 3: Available online at http://www.marrow.org/NEWS/MEDIA/ Facts_and_Figures/facts _figures.pdf. 2. Robin R. Young, CFA, Robin Young Consulting Group Inc. and RRY Publications LLC, Stem Cell Analysis and Market Forecasts 2006-2016. 3. Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine page 41Copyright 2002 by the National Academy Press by Committee on he Biological and Biomedical Applications of Stem Cell Research, Board on Life Sciences, National Research Council, Board on Neuroscience and Behavioral Health, Institute of Medicine, Page 41. 4. In Stem Cell Information [World Wide Web site]. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2007, Available at <http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/scireport/2001report 5.Understanding Stem Cells National Acadamies: An overview of the Sciences and Issues for the National Academies, pge - 7. www.nationalacademies.org/stemcells.
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