primary immunodeficiency diseases such as AIDS, adult stem cells offer the promise of treating such conditions through stem cell therapy. Pluripotent stem cells, the master cells capable of generating cells from the three basic body layers, such as adult stem cells, can self-renew. In so doing, they are able to regenerate the missing immune cells at the basis of nearly all primary immunodeficiency illnesses. The transplantation of reconstituted stem cells using normal genes could therefore restore the immune function and provide a new quality of life to affected individuals.
What are the challenges to the use of adult stem cells?
For many years, adult stem cells have been used therapeutically in the form of bone marrow transplants. Nevertheless, the scientific community is still facing today a series of challenges that need to be overcome before stem cells can be deemed ready to effectively treat a wider range of diseases.
Researchers are still attempting to grasp the unique molecular and genetic basis for the phenomenon enabling these cells to replicate endlessly. As we can see, challenges pertaining to the immune system constitute a significant impediment to the reliable application of stem cell therapies.
Cell therapy surely provides exceptional prospects to disease treatment, yet the value of these technological accomplishments will only be fully realized once the therapeutic techniques underway are carefully applied to patients through clinical programs capable of ensuring efficacious and tangible results at a reasonable cost.
Morenike Trenou
Independent Scholar
See Also: Embryonic Stem Cells, Methods to Produce; Pluripotent Stem Cells, Embryonic; Pluripotent Stem Cells, Germ; Stem Cell Markers.
Further Readings
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