Our Current Position with Stem Cell Treatment

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The human body is made up of many different types of cells that are specialized to perform particular functions.  Stem cells are distinct from other cells in the human body because they are unspecialised.  Through differentiation, stem cells have the ability to develop into many different types of cells.

Muscle wasting diseases and conditions can benefit from stem cells because they self renew, therefore they continue to divide and produce identical copies of themselves. 

Adult stem cells are very versatile and through continual research it has been found that stem cells from blood vessels and fat tissue are capable of becoming muscle cells. 

Stem cells can also be manufactured by adding reprogramming factors to specialised cells.  The specialised cells convert to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS).  iPS cells can be converted into any types of cell.

While under going Plasma Exchanges in Kings, I have seen Stem Cells taken from family members to help in Cancer cases. 

iPS cells can be produced from a patient's own cells they can therefore be used to create cells that can be transplanted back into the person without any risk of immune rejection. 

I am looking forward to the day when iPS cells from someone with a muscle wasting condition could be genetically corrected outside of the body using gene therapy and then transplanted back into the body.  Skeletal muscle stem cells are called satellite cells and their function is disrupted in certain muscle wasting conditions.

Genetic mutation can directly affect satellite cell function, the loss of dystrophin in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy also affects the division of satellite cells.   

It is thought that stem cell therapy could help benefit people with muscle wasting conditions as it could help encourage the growth of new muscle fibres in damaged muscle.  At this point in early 2018, stem cell therapy has not yet proven to be effective, the difficulty is still delivering the cells to the muscle. 

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