What is stem cell therapy (regenerative medicine) and how does it work?
Stem cell therapy, also known as regenerative medicine, is the replacement of diseased, dysfunctional or injured cells with stem cells or their derivatives. It’s somewhat similar to the organ transplant process but uses cells instead of organs. Researchers grow stem cells in the lab. These stem cells are manipulated to make them specialize into specific types of cells, such as heart muscle cells, blood cells or nerve cells. This manipulation may involve changing the material in which the stem cells are grown or even injecting genes into the cells. The specialized cells could then be implanted into a person. For example, if the person had heart disease, the cells could be injected into the heart muscle. The healthy, transplanted heart cells could then contribute to repairing defective heart muscle. In fact, researchers have already shown that adult bone marrow cells guided to become heart-like cells can repair heart tissue in mice, and much more research is ongoing.
