Stem Cell and its potential use
Old note: 7 years go by
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หัวข้อนี้บรรยายโดย อ.สุรเดช จาก ภาควิชา กุมารเวชศาสตร์ คณะแพทยศาสตร์ โรงพยาบาลรามาธิบดี เป็น Special Lecture ใน Cell Science อีกเช่นเดียวกัน
Stem Cell and its potential use
Stem cell is the cell that has the ability to produce itself endlessly through the cell division (self-renewal property). It also has the potential to differentiate into other cell types if it is treated with a proper condition. There are two types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. The embryonic stem cells can be taken from the inner cell mass of blastocyst whereas the adult stem cells can be isolated from the adult tissues. The difference between embryonic and adult stem cells is the differentiation potential. Only embryonic stem cells are able to differentiate into all kinds of cells while the adult stem cells are able to change into the cells that are related to the original tissues, for example, Hematopoietic stem cells can not differentiate into neuron but they can differentiate into red blood cell.
Because of the capability to change into different cell types, we can use the stem cells as therapeutics, especially in regenerative medicine. However, we could not get the embryonic stem cells to grow and generate various kinds of tissues because it is against the ethical issue. Although, we could use the adult stem cells to generate specific types of tissues, only some not all tissues that have the adult stem cells. Moreover, getting the adult stem cells from some parts of our body is sometimes very complicated or in some cases, it cannot be done. Luckily, nuclear transfer technology seems to be a potential way to solve the above problem. This technology is similar to the way that we generate “dolly”. By putting the nucleus of adult somatic cell into the unfertilized egg, which nucleus is already removed, and then culturing it, could generate the blastocyst. Moreover, recent studies have shown that the adult stem cells could have the ability to differentiate into the cell types which are not related to the originated germ layer. This characteristic, we call stem cell plasticity. By culturing the particular adult stem cells in the “special growth medium” could somehow induce this phenomenon. Additionally, there is a group of researchers showed that the adult somatic cell (in this case is the skin fibroblast) can be reprogrammed to become the embryonic stem cell. The plasticity property could be then an alternative choice, to be used as therapeutics or even as a model to investigate some diseases. Nonetheless, the mechanism of this feature is still unclear, more studies will need to be performed.
In Thailand, the use of stem cells for therapeutics is now practical in the patients who have leukemia or other blood-related diseases. Hematopoietic stem cells are transplanted to the patient who suffers from these diseases. Nowadays, we could collect Hematopoietic stem cells from the cord blood in addition to directly get Hematopoietic stem cells from the bone marrow fluid of donor. The advantage point of using cord blood is that it can be stored at -70 C while the later method must be used right away.
With further investigations on the biology of stem cell could produce more alternative treatments that are less complicated but effective enough to cure the patient.
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หัวข้อนี้บรรยายโดย อ.สุรเดช จาก ภาควิชา กุมารเวชศาสตร์ คณะแพทยศาสตร์ โรงพยาบาลรามาธิบดี เป็น Special Lecture ใน Cell Science อีกเช่นเดียวกัน
Stem Cell and its potential use
Stem cell is the cell that has the ability to produce itself endlessly through the cell division (self-renewal property). It also has the potential to differentiate into other cell types if it is treated with a proper condition. There are two types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. The embryonic stem cells can be taken from the inner cell mass of blastocyst whereas the adult stem cells can be isolated from the adult tissues. The difference between embryonic and adult stem cells is the differentiation potential. Only embryonic stem cells are able to differentiate into all kinds of cells while the adult stem cells are able to change into the cells that are related to the original tissues, for example, Hematopoietic stem cells can not differentiate into neuron but they can differentiate into red blood cell.
Because of the capability to change into different cell types, we can use the stem cells as therapeutics, especially in regenerative medicine. However, we could not get the embryonic stem cells to grow and generate various kinds of tissues because it is against the ethical issue. Although, we could use the adult stem cells to generate specific types of tissues, only some not all tissues that have the adult stem cells. Moreover, getting the adult stem cells from some parts of our body is sometimes very complicated or in some cases, it cannot be done. Luckily, nuclear transfer technology seems to be a potential way to solve the above problem. This technology is similar to the way that we generate “dolly”. By putting the nucleus of adult somatic cell into the unfertilized egg, which nucleus is already removed, and then culturing it, could generate the blastocyst. Moreover, recent studies have shown that the adult stem cells could have the ability to differentiate into the cell types which are not related to the originated germ layer. This characteristic, we call stem cell plasticity. By culturing the particular adult stem cells in the “special growth medium” could somehow induce this phenomenon. Additionally, there is a group of researchers showed that the adult somatic cell (in this case is the skin fibroblast) can be reprogrammed to become the embryonic stem cell. The plasticity property could be then an alternative choice, to be used as therapeutics or even as a model to investigate some diseases. Nonetheless, the mechanism of this feature is still unclear, more studies will need to be performed.
In Thailand, the use of stem cells for therapeutics is now practical in the patients who have leukemia or other blood-related diseases. Hematopoietic stem cells are transplanted to the patient who suffers from these diseases. Nowadays, we could collect Hematopoietic stem cells from the cord blood in addition to directly get Hematopoietic stem cells from the bone marrow fluid of donor. The advantage point of using cord blood is that it can be stored at -70 C while the later method must be used right away.
With further investigations on the biology of stem cell could produce more alternative treatments that are less complicated but effective enough to cure the patient.
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