Key Developments Puts Stem Cell Therapy Rogues to Rest Controversies surrounding stem cell therapy and stem

cell treatment are gradually being laid to rest as significant developments within this field of medicine show favorable response. The latest findings published in Nature.com have pinned down previous conclusions of iPS cells provoking immune response when injected into mice in 2011. A parcel of the report reads: "The latest Nature study rejects that conclusion. Masumi Abe, a geneticist at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba, Japan, and his team took iPS cells derived from mice and injected them back into the animals. For comparison, they injected other mice with embryonic stem (ES) cells. Yet unlike the 2011 study, which saw iPS cells perform worse than ES cells, the team found no differences between the immune responses of each group. The researchers also transplanted skin and bonemarrow cells derived from iPS or ES cells into mice and achieved similar success rates between the groups. The immune response of both sets of tissues is "indistinguishable", says Abe." These notable research discoveries reassure the public of the use of iPS for stem cell treatments. This also concurred the study released last year that reprogramming caused very few mutations that is expected. Stem cells are seen to have potential to be used in the development of new drugs. Stem cells are often described as pluripotent or "can do many things" in literal translation. True enough, stem cells are now being studied and used to produce pure cultures of cells for early testing of drugs. A British Drug Company, AstraZeneca, will reportedly purchase human heart muscle, blood vessels, nerve cells and liver cells made from iPS cells by Cellular Dynamics. They are planning to embark on two experiments using these iPS cells: first is to help non-pluripotent cells to transform into mature tissues that could eventually act as drugs to that enables self-healing of tissues; the second is to test iPS cells in production of medicines for non-degenerative diseases. Stem cell therapy is still at the infant stage when speaking of implementation and accessibility. Aside from the questions on source, matches and procedures, stem cell treatments are not priced cheaply at this time. However, many experts believed that cost would considerably depreciate once new techniques surface and stem cell therapy hits mainstream. At the moment, stem cell transplantation is performed with an autologous transplant--where patient is his own donor or another person that is 100% compatible with the patient. The importance of finding a perfect match is a prerequisite. Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=safety-of-induced-stem-cells-gets-a-boost http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21569363-stem-cells-may-transformdevelopment-new-drugs-potent-medicine