For a long time, many persons have been trying to find a concrete explanation to some aspects of stem research. Most of the findings and conclusions from these case studies have illustrated various stem cell relations. This paper takes a look at some of the articles like “Your Inner Healers” and “Diseases in a Dish” with the aim of analysing the key points that each of the articles presents in relation to stem cells.
“ Your Inner Healers” by Konrad Hochedlinger
Konrad Hochedlinger’s “Your Inner Healers,” written in 2010, talks about the pluripotent cells and the magnitude of influence the induced pluripotent cells can have on a person’s health. Given here below are some key points from the article.
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Scientists were able to generate neurons from induced pluripotent cells developed from the skin cells of persons infected with Parkinson’s disease.
Scientists can convert a body cell that is mature to an embryonic form. This will enable them to conduct studies on a range of diseases as well as develop and test medicines to hinder the diseases.
Mammal cells do not dedifferentiate. Only the cancer cells can do this as some of them become less differentiated than the tissue in which they were generated.
The use of retroviruses to deliver genes is inefficient because of some of these viruses, like the HIV, have the ability to integrate themselves into the DNA of the host. This could cause severe damages to the DNA that would probably result in a cancerous change in the host’s cells.
A pluripotent cell can give rise to any cell type where else a multipotent cell can lead to cells that are within a tissue family. Terminally differentiated cells, on the other hand, are locked into one identity.
A person’s DNA can be reprogrammed to embryonic state when a nucleus of a mature cell is transferred into an egg.
Injecting induced pluripotent cells (iPSCs) into human beings could result in the generation of a chimeric human embryo.
Additionally, this iPSCs could produce a human embryo through Vitro fertilization in the case where they generate sperm and eggs.
iPSCs can be used for healing due to their ability to generate any tissue in the body. They can, therefore, regenerate new cells to replace those damaged by disease.
The pluripotency of iPSCs is neither fully realized nor controllable. This implies that their efficiency is not entirely assured and therefore embryonic stem cells are still the standard cells for pluripotent cells.
“ Diseases in a Dish” by Stephen S. Hall
“ Diseases in a Dish” is a 2011 article by Stephen S. Hall looks at how stem cells from adult tissues can be creatively used to hasten drug development. Key points from Hall’s article are as follows:
Stem cells are being used to come up with drugs to cure certain ailments.
Stem cells can also be used to help in the screening for drugs and in investigating damages caused to the body by different diseases.
Previously, the stem cells were made using embryos. Today, scientists have the capability to generate stem cells from human cells through reprogramming.
These reprogrammed cells are then used to create diseases in a petri dish where scientists can test potential drugs against the tissue samples.
The first step in doing this is collecting the skin cells from actual human beings especially those with an infection being studied.
The next step is to reprogram this skin cells to stem cells. This is done in the Petri dishes where the skin cells are converted in iPSCs.
Afterwards, the now iPSCs are transformed into the neuron that is involved in a particular disease.
When the cells are stressed, they start causing trouble as opposed to their normal acting before being stressed. In a period of 30-60 days of the same, they seem to replicate but end up dead.
Drugs for various diseases can be developed in quite safe and humane ways.
A test for a drug that cures the ALS disease (Lou Gehrig’s) is in existence but is being tested in mice to ensure that it is efficient.
The article “Scientists develop a new type of human stem cell that has half a genome” by Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2016) explains the evolutionary growth in application of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). A group of scientists from Hebrew University of Jerusalem managed to successfully develop a new embryonic type of stem cell that could carry a solitary copy of the human genome. A normal human stem cell carries two genomes. This new cells has the ability to perform a cell division with a single copy of the parent cells genome.
In another 2016 article titled “’Game changing’ stem cell repair system,” by University of New South Wales discusses the probability of using new discoveries in the stem cell to maintain humans from aging. The article, which was written by scientists from the University of New South Wales highlights on how soon the world could be expecting to find a solution to aging, injury or even disease. This as they claim will be through a repair system that will be able to regenerate limbs, repair spinal discs and bone fractures, and will also allegedly lead to the creation of regenerative medicine.
Well, it is foreseeable that there is hope for cell regeneration sooner than later. Damaged cells will be replaced, thanks to pluripotency. Whether this will solve the aging mystery for humanity is still a question at large but with such progress there is hope that all this will be realized. However, scientists need to be advised to be quite keen in the inventions and discoveries they make in regard to stem cells. A mistake from initial stages could cost the world grossly. Stem cell research and discoveries should; therefore, be thoroughly addressed before being brought to the outside world.
References
Hall, Stephen, S. (2011). “Diseases in a dish.” Scientific American , 304 (3), 40-45.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (2016). Scientists generate a new type of human stem cell that has half a genome. ScienceDaily . Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160316140421.htm.
Hochedlinger, K. (2010). Your Inner Healers. Scientific American , 47-53.
University of New South Wales. (2016). Game changing’ stem cell repair system. ScienceDaily . Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160404152906.htm.
