Stem Cells
& Tomorrow's Human
Stem Cell Innovation
The Use of Stem Cells to Transplant Organs
With FDA approval, Dr. Paolo Macchiarini performed a tracheal transplant on toddler, Hannah Warren, at the Children’s Hospital of Illinois. Hannah was born with Tracheal Agenisis, which means that her trachea was unable to develop. Dr. Macchiarini used an artificial trachea made of plastic tubing which he coated in Hannah’s stem cells from her bone marrow to prevent rejection. Hannah was the youngest person to have this procedure done and the first in the United States.
Dr. Macchiarini’s innovative approach shows that stem cells can be used in conjunction with transplanted organs to integrate them seamlessly into the surrounding tissues. This causes no harm to the patient, who would usually have to take drugs that suppress their immune response to the donated organ. This technique also guarantees that there will be no organ rejection since the body would recognize the organ as its own.
There are over 119,000 people who currently on a waiting list to receive organ donations. 6,500 of them die each year waiting for an organ transplant. In the future, when synthetic organs have been tested and well understood, Dr. Macciarini’s application of stem cells can help with the transplant process.
(Citation 19, 20, 30)
ABOVE: Tracheal implant. (Image Citation 17)
Stem Cell Use to Repair Scarred Tissue
Dr. Eduardo Marbán, who directs the Cedars Sinai Heart Institute, along with his research team used adult stem cells to help hearts that were damaged by heart attacks. Hearts get damaged during a heart attack when oxygen is unable to get to the heart, leading to cell death. Dr. Marbán took adult stem cells from a patient’s heart, grew them on a culture and then injected it back into the heart. From this study, it was reported that the 17 patients who received the stem cell treatment had their scarred tissue shrink by 50%, while the 8 patients who got the regular heart attack after care reported no change in scarring.
Each year, 720,000 Americans have heart attacks; Dr. Marbán’s method of treating scarred tissue offers hope for future treatments of heart attacks. The study did not show that the heart function improved, but it showed that there was new growth in the heart muscle. This new growth helped increase the efficiency of the heart by repairing the damaged tissue.
(Citation 21, 22)
ABOVE: The diagram shows the damage done to the heart after a heart attack. (Image Citation 19)
The Use of Stem Cells to Treat Cancer
Multiple Myeloma is a rare cancer of the plasma cells.
Lymphocytes are an integral part of the immune system and they come in 2 types: T cells and B cells. During an infection, B cells turn into plasma cells which are in charge of making immunoglobins (a.k.a. antibodies) that kill invading germs.
A tumor caused by cancerous plasma cells is called a plasmacytoma. These tumors grow in the bone marrow of hollow bones because plasma cells are produced in the bone marrow. A single tumor is called solitary plasmacytoma and more than one tumor is called multiple myeloma.
Multiple Myeloma causes low blood counts because cancerous cells affect the function of the normal bone marrow cells that produce the 3 types of blood cells (red, white and platelets). Patients may have low counts of red blood cells, which causes fatigue, or they may have a lower count in platelets, which would make bruising easy and bleeding dangerous because they have a lower clotting factor.
The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2014, 24,050 new diagnoses will be made and 11,090 deaths will be caused by Multiple Myeloma.
Peripheral blood stem cell transplantation and bone marrow transplants are common treatments used to treat Multiple Myeloma. Chemotherapy and radiation are used to destroy cancerous cells since both methods target cells that divide abnormally fast. Bone marrow cells divide often, so chemotherapy destroys them. Bone marrow transplants are used to replenish the bone marrow cells that are destroyed by radiation. With peripheral blood stem cell transplants, blood stem cells are given to patients after chemotherapy to help the bone marrow recover. Both methods provide a means for healthy plasma cells to be produced.
(Citation 23, 24, 25)
Human Embryonic Stem Cell colony (Image Citation 1)
ABOVE: The series of diagrams show the steps to peripheral blood stem cell tranplantation. (Image Citation 20)
Dr. Paolo Macchiarini (Image Citation 16)
Dr. Eduardo Marbán (Image Citation 18)