Stem cell therapy is most promising for diseases caused by the loss or damage of a particular cell type that the body cannot replace. If that cell type can be grown from stem cells and put back in the right place, normal function could be restored.Examples being researched include:
• Type 1 diabetes: loss of insulin-secreting beta cells in the pancreas.
• Parkinson's disease: death of neurones in the brain that release the neurotransmitter dopamine, causing tremor and slow movement.
• Spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis: damage to neurones or to the myelin around them.
• Age-related macular degeneration: loss of cells in the retina of the eye, a common cause of blindness.
• Heart damage: after a heart attack, dead heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) are replaced by scar tissue, weakening the heart.
• Severe burns: sheets of skin grown from stem cells can cover large wounds.
• Blood disorders such as leukaemia and sickle cell disease: already treated with bone marrow stem cells.
• Osteoarthritis: replacing worn cartilage in joints.Some inherited disorders could be treated by combining stem cells with gene editing, correcting the faulty allele in the patient's own stem cells before returning them.Stem cells are less useful where the cause of a disease is not a loss of cells. For an infection, the problem is the pathogen, and replacing cells would not remove it. Diseases affecting many tissues at once are also harder to treat this way.
• Type 1 diabetes: loss of insulin-secreting beta cells in the pancreas.
• Parkinson's disease: death of neurones in the brain that release the neurotransmitter dopamine, causing tremor and slow movement.
• Spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis: damage to neurones or to the myelin around them.
• Age-related macular degeneration: loss of cells in the retina of the eye, a common cause of blindness.
• Heart damage: after a heart attack, dead heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) are replaced by scar tissue, weakening the heart.
• Severe burns: sheets of skin grown from stem cells can cover large wounds.
• Blood disorders such as leukaemia and sickle cell disease: already treated with bone marrow stem cells.
• Osteoarthritis: replacing worn cartilage in joints.Some inherited disorders could be treated by combining stem cells with gene editing, correcting the faulty allele in the patient's own stem cells before returning them.Stem cells are less useful where the cause of a disease is not a loss of cells. For an infection, the problem is the pathogen, and replacing cells would not remove it. Diseases affecting many tissues at once are also harder to treat this way.