Stem Cells: A Miracle Cure

By Author: Mike Smith
Total Articles: 103
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Stem cell cures have taken the medical world by storm. Diseases which were earlier considered fatal or incurable, are now being evaluated for treatment with stem cells that are obtained from the human body. Stem cells are essentially those which have the potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. These cells can be distinguished from other cell types on the basis of two important characteristics. The first being, these cells are unspecialized and thus capable of renewing themselves through cell division, in spite of long periods of inactivity. And second, these unspecialized cells can be induced to become tissue or organ specific cells that have special functions, when treated under certain physiological and experimental conditions. Scientists have primarily worked with two kinds of stem cells; namely, embryonic stem cells and somatic, adult or non-embryonic stem cells.

Stem cells are further classified on the basis of their potency, which essentially describes how many types of cells a certain stem cell can transform into. Stem cells can be divided into totipotent, pluripotent, ...
... multipotent and oligopotent and unipotent cells. Totipotent and pluripotent stem cells are those which have not yet begun differentiating and can be developed into any other type of cells. Multipotent are those which have already begun differentiating into a general type of cell, and can be developed into several cell types of a particular family of cell types. Oligopotent stem cells are capable of differentiating into only a limited type of cells, while unipotent stem cells can only reproduce indefinitely into their own type. Stem cells can be found in embryos, the umbilical cord and certain tissues of a fully developed body such as the bone marrow.

Stem cell-based therapies can work in the area of cardiac disorders, neural degeneration, spinal cord injuries, metabolic disorders, hematological diseases, oncological diseases, skin pigmentation disorders and burns and wound management. There are four firms that are looking towards expanding their hold in the Indian stem cell market. These are Reliance Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., LifeCell International Pvt. Ltd., Regenerative Medical Services Pvt. Ltd. and Cryo-Save India Pvt. Ltd. Of these, Reliance Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. has already developed ReliNethra, which is an autologous limbal stem cells graft that can be used to restore or improve vision.

ReliNethra is essentially a culture of limbal epithelial stem cells on a human amniotic membrane which is then used to renew the ocular surface of an eye damaged due to chemical or thermal burns, severe microbial keratitis or contact-lens induced keratopathy. Reliance Life Sciences also offers the facility of a stem cell cord blood repository, which offers both public and family banking services. The stem cell enriched cord blood repository offers various programs which includes ReliCord -S, which is a sibling donor program that involves private banking; ReliCord - Superior, which allows cord blood, 1 million stem cells and cord tissue banking; ReliCord - M50, which allows cord blood, 50 million stem cells and cord tissue banking; and ReliCord - A, which is a public banking donor program wherein patients can access grafts from the repository that would be required for transplants.

Reliance Life Sciences is the biotechnology research and development arm of the Reliance Group with services such as a cord blood bank and clinical research services center. Reliance also has an institute dedicated to Life Sciences.