of patients, names have been changed. Several stem cell therapies are emerging, and more data is required to prove their effectiveness.
Each chapter ends with certain key points that can help you decide what’s best for you and your family. This book is not a prescription for your condition, neither is it a recommendation for what you should do. Treatment advice should come from a physician who is familiar with your specific condition. Stem cell therapy is a rapidly evolving field involving many different ways (and often claims) of achieving results. Most of these claims unfortunately cannot be truly verified. It is important for you as a potential patient to decipher the vast information. This book will help you cut through the noise so you can make a well-informed decision for you and your loved ones. No single book is comprehensive enough to cover this entire vast topic. We hope through the science and patient experiences shared in this book, you will find the book enlightening and informative as well as entertaining. Ultimately the success of this endeavor lies in patients all over the world making better choices regarding their own health.
Stem cell therapies are extremely new, and with anything new there will be great highs and great lows. This book is ultimately dedicated to the patients who are willing to push the boundaries beyond traditional thinking in an effort to look at better ways of naturally healing themselves.
CHAPTER 1
Welcome to the World of Stem Cells
The entire human body is a collection of cells; our cells are the fundamental unit of our life.
The Basics
We all start our journey as a single cell. This cell then specializes into different types of cells, which further develop into different organs. As we mature, our cells continue to multiply and replace themselves throughout our lifetime. The basic cells that make all of this possible are called “stem cells.”
Stem cells are an integral part of all our organ systems and practically govern our health, disease, and aging. Application of stem cells in the treatment of disease and injury is called “stem cell therapy.”
While our knowledge of disease and injury has improved over the past two decades, mainly due to sophisticated imaging techniques, our treatment methods have remained rather primitive.
Just as the resolution of your phone screen is dependent on the health of the pixels constituting it, your daily life depends on how well your cells are functioning. How your cells respond to disease and injury determines the symptoms you feel. Unless there is healing at the cell level, you are unlikely to feel better. Medications and surgeries, in most cases, have completely bypassed this scientific truth. While they may have a role to play in certain conditions, we have to focus on healing our bodies by healing our cells.
With this brief understanding, let’s answer some commonly asked questions (largely derived from patient consultations) you or your friends and family may have!
1. What are stem cells?
Stem cells are the basic cells that develop and differentiate into different organ cell types. Once our organ systems have matured, stem cells replace old dying cells with new ones throughout the course of our life.
2. What is the role of stem cells?
Cells within every organ of your body have their own life cycle. Stem cells replace those cells. This process is happening 24/7 in your life until your very last moment.
3. Why are stem cells important?
Stem cells make life sustainable. By constantly turning over and replacing old cells with new cells, stem cells make sure our bodies are functioning optimally. They maintain health. When disease or injury strikes your body, your stem cells remove damaged cells and replace them with new cells. This helps your body heal itself and you continue to function.
4. If my body is full of stem cells, why do I need help when I suffer from disease or injury?
Depending on the severity of your condition, your own stem cells may not be able to heal the damage on their own. When the condition is severe and damage is significant, your stem cells need extra help. That extra help so far has been in the form of drugs or surgery.
5. What is stem cell therapy?
If you have a significant disease or injury that your body cannot heal on its own, help is needed. Additional stem cells given to boost your local cells may potentially help you heal. That help (when more stem cells are introduced at the site of disease and injury in an attempt to heal) is called “stem cell therapy.”
6. What are the different types of stem cells?
There are many different types of stem cells. Each specialized organ has its own stem cells that help regenerate and repair local cells specific to that organ system. We are still learning about the different populations of stem cells and their functions. The most commonly studied cells are the mesenchymal stem cells found in most of our organ systems. These tend to reside along the blood vessels. Bone marrow, muscle, pancreas, liver, lung, kidney, fat, dental pulp, and joint lining (synovium) are some of the organs rich in mesenchymal stem cells.
7. What are the different sources of stem cells?
There are many different sources of stem cells. The main categories are your own stem cells (autologous) versus stem cells belonging to another individual (foreign). At any stage of your life, you carry your own stem cells. As an adult, your own body carries stem cells in virtually all your organ systems. These stem cells can be harvested from your own body. Stem cells can also be harvested from another person’s body at any stage of that person’s life. The most common sources are from babies such as embryonic stem cells (pure embryonic stem cells are banned and may involve sacrifice of life). Other sources commercially available are amniotic fluid (fluid surrounding the baby in the mother’s womb), the placenta (the site where the baby is attached to the mother in the womb), and the umbilical cord (the cord that attaches the baby to the mother). These are all sources foreign to your body since they belong to another individual. The big concern with foreign stem cells is whether your body will accept or reject them. Their ability to mount an immune reaction and cause other long-term side effects is largely unknown and poorly understood.
8. I am old; are my stem cells ineffective?
There is good news here. Your stem cells do not age at the same rate as your regular cells. Research has shown that a healthy lifestyle can help maintain the potency of your own stem cells. Your own stem cells can be very effective in tissue repair and regeneration despite your age. Studies have shown that we can slow down the aging process by watching the amount of food we eat, doing regular exercise, and managing stress. Having healthy habits makes your own stem cells stronger. This will help if you ever need them. Despite aging, currently your own stem cells are still your best bet when it comes to treatment. Your own cells can be harvested in large numbers, and they can be delivered fresh back into your body. So both the cell count and the number of live cells from your own source are much higher than most foreign sources can provide.
9. What conditions can be treated with stem cells?
Current stem cell treatments have limited application in athletes and others with sports-related injuries, joint pain, or back pain. Treatments for heart failure, lupus, scleroderma, MS, stroke, macular degeneration, and autism are being offered to selected patients in
