How could ES cells provide cures for diseases and injuries?
Most diseases and injuries involve defective or damaged cells and tissue. ES cells could be transplanted into a patient’s body to generate the type of cells and tissues needed to cure the patient’s disease or injury. For example, juvenile diabetes is caused by a lack of insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas. ES cells could solve this problem by providing a way to generate healthy new islet cells. Many neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s and ALS, are caused by the loss or destruction of nerve cells. ES cells could be used to generate new nerve cells that could cure such diseases and could someday be used to repair spinal cord injuries, allowing people who are paralyzed by accidents to walk again. ES cell research also provides medical researchers with new ways to study how human cells develop and how diseases progress at the cellular level. In addition, ES cell research provides a new way to test the safety and effectiveness of drugs or other treatments that may cure or s
