Research on stem cells is advancing knowledge about how an
living bodies develop from a single cell and how healthy cells
replace damaged cells in adults. This promising area of science
is also leading scientists to look at the possibility of
cell-based therapies to treat disease, sometimes called
regenerative or reparative medicine.
What are stem cells and why are they important?
stem cells have two
main characteristics that distinguish them from other types of
cells. First, they are unspecialized cells that renew themselves
for long periods through cell division. The second is that under
certain physiologic or experimental conditions, they can be
induced to become cells with special functions such as the
beating cells of the heart muscle or the insulin-producing cells
of the pancreas. Scientists primarily work with two kinds of
stem cells from animals and humans: embryonic stem cells and
adult stem cells, which have different functions and
characteristics. Scientists discovered ways to obtain or derive
stem cells from early mouse embryos more than 20 years ago. Many
years of detailed study of the biology of mouse stem cells led
to the discovery in 1998 of how to isolate stem cells from human
embryos and grow the cells in the laboratory. These are called
human embryonic stem cells. The embryos used in these studies
were created for infertility purposes through in vitro
fertilization procedures and when they were no longer needed for
that purpose, they were donated for research with the informed
consent of the donor. Stem cells are important for living
organisms for many reasons. In an embryo that is 3 to 5 days old
stem cells in developing tissues give rise to the multiple
specialized cell types that make up the heart, lung, skin, and
other tissues. In some adult tissues, such as bone marrow,
muscle, and brain, specialized adult stem cells generate
replacements for cells that are lost through normal wear and
tear, injury, or disease. Scientists believe that stem cells
may, at some point in the future, become the basis for treating
diseases such as Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and heart
disease. Currently heart disease and diabetes are at epidemic
proportions in many parts of the world, and so great hope is
placed on future cures using stem cell based treatments, but
much work still remains to be done before these cures become a
reality.
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