Stem cell therapy is among the most promising of treatments for a wide range of diseases that share a common factor: damaged cells. When the cells in our bodies are damaged, they can’t perform the functions that keep us healthy. If enough cells of a particular type become damaged or die, we see diseases and disorders like cancer, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease and a multitude of neurological and autoimmune disorders. Stem cell therapy addresses these diseases with a solution that makes sense – restoring the body’s capacity to generate living and functional cells to replace those that are damaged and lost by disease.
While some researchers believe that the enthusiasm for stem cell therapies is premature and their potential is overstated, we’ve seen the results offered by treatment with stem cells on a wide range of disorders and diseases. The potential impact of these life-enhancing therapies is astounding. Experts estimate that as many as 128 million people in the just the U.S. could see significant improvements in their conditions and their quality of life.
What Are Stem Cells?
As a general rule, each cell in the body is designed to perform a specific job, and most of them cannot reproduce themselves. There are specific cells that are capable of generating new cells, but in general, they can only produce cells of a particular type. Bone marrow cells, for example, generate blood cells, especially white blood cells. Stem cells break those rules. Unlike most cells, they can morph into a limited number of different types of cells, and they can reproduce.
When tissues are damaged, the body sends out stem cells to the site of the injury. The stem cells are drawn to the damaged tissue, where they generate natural chemicals that start the healing process. They also start to reproduce, and when they reproduce, they can generate two types of cells: more stem cells, or cells of the tissues to which they have attached themselves.
Where We Get Stem Cells
There are two types of stem cells: fetal stem cells, which are completely undifferentiated and have the capacity to become any type of tissue in the body, and adult stem cells, which have already differentiated into different types and can each become one of many different types of tissue. While fetal stem cells have the most potential use for healing, their use presents legal and ethical problems in some countries. Adult stem cells, which are generally drawn from a patient’s own body, present no such conundrums.
These adult stem cells are found in bone marrow and fat, as well as in a number of other organs and tissues in the body. In healthy people, stem cells are released to heal damaged tissue. In people who suffer from generative diseases and disorders, the body does not release stem cells quickly enough to deal with the damage, or, in some cases, the body may not release the stem cells at all.
Stem cell therapies are designed to actively extract tissues that contain stem cells, concentrate them and transplant those cells to the tissues where they are needed. Experimental therapies throughout the world have shown the potential of stem cell therapy to heal damaged tissue in the heart muscle, spinal cord tissue and nerve tissues. Stem cell therapy has been used to treat patients with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and other degenerative nerve diseases. We offer access to these life-changing and life-enhancing therapies now.