Application of stem cells Flashcards
What is the most well-established and widely used stem cell treatment?
The transplantation of blood stem cells to treat diseases.
How many patients are treated with blood stem cells in Europe each year?
More than 26,000 patients
What stem cells been used for patients with severe burns on very large areas of the body?
Since the 1970s, skin stem cells have been used to grow skin grafts for patients with severe burns on very large areas of the body.
TRUE or FALSE:
Currently, these are very few stem cell therapies that have been thoroughly established as safe and effective treatments.
TRUE
What was the first stem cell-based medicinal product approved in the Western world?
Holoclar®
Uses a particular type of eye stem cell, called a limbal stem cell, to repair the cornea after injury; restoring sight.
Blood stem cells: the pioneers of stem cell research
What are the main sources of stem cells?
- Bone Marrow
- Blood stream
- Umbilical cord
Future applications of stem cells
Patient derived
Induced pluripotent stem cells
What are the potential uses of stem cells?
- Improve our understanding of how the body develops from a fertilized egg; this can also provide insights into how our adult tissues are maintained and repaired in health
- Understand how diseases occur and develop; a number of diseases, such as cancer or birth defects, are the result of problems in the process of differentiation from stem cells to more specialized cells
- Search for and test potential new drugs by studying cells in the laboratory
Drug development
Drug screening/development
The embryonic stem cell test
•Only validated in vitro assay for potential embryotoxicants
