What is the current state of research on adult stem cells?
Doctors already use adult stem cells to treat a host of human diseases, including cancers, autoimmune diseases, stroke, cartilage and bone damage, and blood and liver diseases. Scientists are continually discovering new capabilities of adult stem cells. For example, using mice and rats, scientists have regrown nerve cells, reversed diabetes, and repaired hearts damaged by heart attack. There is also evidence of a universal adult stem cell that can change into any cell of the body. Despite the reported “promise” of embryonic stem cells, stem cells from adults {after birth} are the ones that have been delivering true therapy. Dr. Donald Orlic of the National Human Genome Research Institute states, “We are currently finding that these adult stem cells can function as well, perhaps even better than, embryonic stem cells.
