The 2021 J.U.C. MEDIA, RESEARCH & WRITING AWARDS | Category: RESEARCH | Theme: STEM Cell
(1122 words except references)
Submission No# 7 | Submitted by: Sevinç Orman (Student, High School, 10th Grade.) Parental Consent received.
• Virtual Award Ceremony is scheduled for Friday, June 4, 2021. Stay in tune…

STEM Cell: BIOLOGY TO STEM CELL THERAPHY CHALLENGES

Abstract  

This research paper is about historical perspectives, biology, classification on the basis of potency and the sources of stem cell. In circumstances of today’s world, stem cell therapies are providing remarkable benefits to patients suffering on a large scale of diseases such as but not limited to cancer, non-cancer, diabetes, neuronal disease and brain trauma related injures and spinal cord injuries. Nevertheless, it faces with so many problems such as the increasing level of consumers demand for stem cell therapy which as the market announced the rise from $26 billion in 2011 to $119 billion in 2018 [17]. To avoid this and many more problems to some extent, the private sector should be promoted along with the government. Besides, the private sector should be highly encouraged by government in order to start research and clinical therapies via financial privileges.

Introduction  

The undifferentiated cells which have the capacity to self-renew are called stem cells. Stem cell therapy, likewise, comprises a modern technology so as to replace damaged cells with healthy new ones. The cells can become dysfunctional due to many reasons such as aging, disease, injury, genetic modification. In the past term, people witnessed a unique progress in the study and use of stem cells in clinical treatment, regenerative, tissue engineering that never experienced before [1, 2]. So, what “exactly” are these stem cells and why are they so special?

1.1 Historical perspectives

In the mid-1800s, with the discovery that some cells could generate other cells, the history of stem cell research started with an embryonic beginning. There were no real stem cells until the early 1900s when it was found out that some cells generate blood cells [3]. 

The Russian histologist named Alexander Maksimov proposed the use of “stem cell” in 1908 [4]. The successful treatment of bone narrow transplant between two siblings happened in 1968. In human cord blood where haemopoietic stem cells were discovered in 1978 [5].  

At the University of Wisconsin–Madison, James Thomson and coworkers derived the first human embryonic stem cell in 1998 [6]. Furthermore, at Kingston University in England, cord blood embryonic-like stem cells was discovered by scientists in order to originate an umbilical cord blood. 

In October 2006, at Newcastle University in England, using umbilical cord blood stem cells, the first ever artificial liver was created [7, 8]. However, when scientists Shinya Yamanaka and Kazutoshi Takahashi discovered that it is possible to reprogram multipotent adult stem cells to the pluripotent state, the turning point in stem cell therapy appeared.

2.1 Stem Cell Biology

After the fusion of sperm and ovum fertilization, a blastocyst is formed which is composed of two distinct cell types called the inner cell mass (ICM) and the trophectoderm (TE). ICM develops into epiblasts in order to induce the development of a fetus. The TE is for forming a specialized support structure while the ICM cells remain undifferentiated, fully proliferative.

Besides, based on their development capacity, there are various stem cells such as;

-Multipotent cell which can give rise to several types of mature cell.

-Pluripotent cell which can give rise to all types of adult tissue cells but also extraembryonic tissue that can support embryonic development.

-Totipotent cell which can give rise to a new individual if given appropriate maternal support [9].

2.1.1 hESC

Human Embryonic Stem Cell is derived from five day old spare ICM before specialized tissues of the body begin to form which is able to develop into each more than 200 cell types of the adult body of three primary germ layers such as ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm [12].

Ectoderm

Ectoderm is known as the three germ layers, or masses of cells, which appears early in the 

development of human embryo which gives rise to hair, skin, nails, sinuses, mouth. 

Endoderm

Over the past few decades, genetic studies have showed that many of the upstream signals 

specifying endoderm identity which is a progenitor tissue that gives rise to the internal organs in humans. 

Mesoderm

Mesoderm, however, is a germ layer that arises during gastrulation which is in the middle of the three embryonic germ layers discovered and defined in the 19th century.

3.1 Stem Cell Therapy 

Stem cells have considerable role in clinical applications of modern cell therapy and drug discovery [13]. The prominent research activities in medicine field started in the 1970s. However, the idea of stem cell therapy was offered as a suggestion many years ago.

As the several recently published articles showed as well the patients with diseases such as diverse heart disease, stroke and spinal cord injury can benefit from adult stem cell therapy which have been discussed by many scientists especially in the topic of the regeneration potential of adult stem cells [14]. 

In Ährlund-Richter et al.’s opinion; over time personalized medicine model where the cells will be isolated from the same patient in order to maximize the therapeutic potential of health interventions while minimizing the risk for adverse effects, the termed banking model which the isolated cells will be stored and exposed to minimal processing, the third model called manufacturing model the cells would be manipulated centrally, will develop. [15, 16]

3.1.1 Challenges of Stem Cell Therapy in Developing Country  

There are many challenges which aggravates the growth of stem cell therapy in developing country, that can be listed as follows;

-Traditional beliefs: People still believe in the primiti primitive forms of therapy due to lack of up-to-date knowledge of modern medicine [17].

-Lack of skilled human resources, poor transfusion services: They lead to the lack of knowledge which can be considered a major problem.

-Poor socioeconomic status: Ethical issues and financial limitations become a barrier when it comes to treating the disease by stem cell as it requires a great deal of money.

-Poor Government Support: Even though lots of fund become available without doing research every year, there is a poor government support and policies which leads to a serious challenge [18]

3.1.2 Recommendations for Challenges of Stem Cell Therapy in Developing Country   

There are so many things that should be done in order to avoid this problem; 

-Determining the efficacy, maintainability and the safety of stem cell therapy in controlled Multicenter clinical trials. 

-Compensator agencies have to define new criteria in order to evaluate the risks associated with specific stem cell products. 

-Manufacture the stem cell therapeutics at a cost-effective scale for the aim of make them financially competitive and viable.

-Private sector should be promoted with government to start research and clinical therapies in reasonable price.

4.1 Obstacles in The Future 

Nowadays, there are several challenges concerning stem cells. That can be listed as;

–Fully understanding the mechanism: By trying Stem Cell products on animal models, we cannot be sure if it would work on humans, which causes fear, rendering it the greatest challenge to overcome [20]. 

–The identification of Stem Cells from a patient tissues: This can be regarded as an another challenge that immunological rejection is a major barrier to successful stem transplantation.

Conclusion

People have experienced a unique progress about stem cells more than ever. However, we face with so many problems such as lack of skilled human resources, poor transfusion services, poor socioeconomic status of certain countries, ethical issues and financial limitations. While all these reasons are defined, there are numerous ways to deal with this issue such as supporting the private sector in collaborating with the government to start a thorough research, and providing clinical therapies in reasonable price.

_ . _

References  

[1]https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/path.1187

[2]https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO201924063316998.pdf

[3]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1521693404001415

[4]https://www.nature.com/articles/bmt2009370.pdf

[5]https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/282/5391/1145.full.pdf

[6]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2705327/

[7]https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/good-news-for-alcoholics

[8] https://www.imedpub.com/articles/stem-cell-basics-classification-andapplications.pdf

[9]https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/stem_cell_day1_part2_shelanski.pdf

[10]https://www.britannica.com/science/ectoderm

[11]https://journals.biologists.com/dev/article/146/11/dev150920/48903/The-endoderm-a-divergent-cell-lineage-with-many

[12]https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/mesoderm

[13] https://www.nature.com/articles/nrm3448

[14]https://www.openaccessjournals.com/articles/challenges-in-the-clinical-development-of-stem-cell-therapy.pdf

[15]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2886988/

[16]https://stemcellres.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s13287-019-1165-5.pdf

[17]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953615001513

[18]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142961217306324

[19]https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-981-15-4370-8.pdf

[20] https://www.labiotech.eu/in-depth/cell-therapy-obstacles-widespread-use/

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The 2021 J.U.C. MEDIA, RESEARCH & WRITING AWARDS | Category: RESEARCH | Theme: STEM Cell
(1122 words except references)
Submission No# 7 | Submitted by: S.O. (Student, High School, 10th Grade.) Parental Consent received.
• Virtual Award Ceremony is scheduled for Friday, June 4, 2021. Stay in tune…