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What is a stem cell - production, use in treatment and transplantation. Stem cell Do stem cells regenerate?

Modern medical technologies of the 21st century can do things that our ancestors could not even dream of. For example, it is possible to 3D print a part of an intervertebral disc implant or make a fragment from special plastic that fits the patient perfectly. But our own body already contains all the necessary information about every substance and every structure that once existed in it. This information is encoded in genes and chromosomes, which are stored in the nucleus of a somatic cell. But a person is designed in such a way that it is impossible to “pull” her out of there at the right moment. The core of the cell is not at all like the storage of drawings on a factory assembly line. Only body stem cells can start this process. Most of them were active during human intrauterine development. After all, an embryo is capable of turning into an adult by simple division in half, and this continues for some time before specialization begins.

Stem cells newborn are contained in such invaluable material as umbilical cord blood. Extracted from there, in terms of activity and ability to specialize, they are far ahead of everything that is in the body of adults. In addition, a small “reserve” is located in the pulp of fallen milk teeth. Stem cells in teeth– this is the last gift from nature for the baby to restore his own tissues.

Then, as the organism forms, stem cells lose their “fuse” and become necessary only where there is a constant production of new cells in a very large volume. These newest stem cells are engaged in constant blood renewal. Blood is a unique, highly specialized tissue and is produced in the red bone marrow.

Brain stem cells are the only ones active in the human body that has developed and become an adult. Moreover, these structures remain active and do not reduce their “fertility” until the person’s death, producing colossal offspring.

It can be said that brain stem cells are immortal, but at the same time they do not simply reproduce copies of themselves, but are capable of specialization. Depending on the need and the necessary biochemical stimuli, they are able to transform into red blood cells, leukocytes of all types, and platelets.

The most important are pluripotent stem cells. Their population is maintained at low numbers. Then, accumulating and dividing in very large quantities, they gradually acquire the necessary specialization, turning into fully functional blood cells.

But such “narrow specialization” led to the fact that brain stem cells(red bone) with great difficulty can “remember” the past, and turn into, say, neurons or myocardiocytes. As a result, the possibilities of their transplantation are largely limited.

As sad as it may be, in addition to red bone marrow, you can take stem cells out of nowhere. Nature abhors a vacuum, and these structures are found only where new cells are intensively formed. Any anabolic processes: wound healing, maturation of eggs in the ovary in women and spermatogenesis in men are far behind hematopoiesis.

That is why, if necessary, when required stem cell transplant, for this purpose they use or their own stem cells from blood, or similar materials are taken from relatives. Certainly, stem cell transplant relatives has less chance of success. Imagine that a cat has torn off the wallpaper in your home and you need to change a small piece. You don’t have original leftovers, but in the store they offer you very similar ones, but still not the same. The same is true with stem cell transplant relatives, only instead of aesthetic discomfort, one should be wary of a greater number of complications and less clinical effect.

But an invaluable source of much “stronger” cells is cord blood And stem cells in teeth(dairy).

What to do? Use your own if necessary brain stem cells, although we hope that this moment never comes. But we have the power to protect the younger generations and preserve the health of unborn babies. To do this, you just need to organize during childbirth cord blood collection, which is placed in a special stem cell bank and is stored there at liquid nitrogen temperature until needed.

If this moment is missed, then you can get stem cells from your babies' milk teeth and send them for long-term storage. Baby Teeth Stem Cell Bank and umbilical cord blood is a European invention. Stem cell bank in Europe(one of the best) is located in France, as well as in the Principality of Monaco. Cofrance SARL, which works with Europe's leading biological stem cell bank, will help you take a step in the right direction.

You can find out more on the company’s website, since the company has a service for servicing Russian-speaking clients. After all, there is no alternative to preserving the health and life of your children and grandchildren in Russia with the help of cellular technologies and is not expected.

Human stem cell colony

The development of new technologies in medicine and research conducted in leading medical centers in the world determine the future development of medicine for decades to come. One of the most impressive is the use of cellular technologies.

Science 2.0 - Stem Cells

Why did they start using stem cells in treatment?

To renew the cellular composition of a damaged organ without surgical intervention, to solve complex problems that were previously only possible through organ transplantation - these problems are solved today with the help of stem cells.

For patients, this is a chance to get a new life. The important thing here is that the technology of using stem cells is available to almost every patient and gives truly amazing results, expanding the possibilities of transplantation.

Stem cells are capable of transforming, depending on their environment, into tissue cells of a wide variety of organs. One stem cell produces many active, functional descendants.

Research into genetic modifications of stem cells is being conducted all over the world, and methods for increasing them are being intensively researched.

There are many diseases that have practically no cure or their treatment is not effective with medication. It is these diseases that have become the object of the closest attention of researchers.

Stem cells, regeneration, tissue repair. From Adam to the atom

What are stem cells?

When an egg is fertilized, one zygote (fertilized cell) divides and gives rise to cells whose main task is to transmit genetic information to the next generations of cells.

These cells do not yet have their own specialization, the mechanisms of such specialization have not yet been turned on, and that is why such embryonic stem cells make it possible to use them to create any organs.

Each of us has stem cells. They were initially discovered in bone marrow tissue. The easiest way to detect and isolate stem cells is in young people and children. But older people also have them, although in much smaller quantities.

Compare: a person aged 60–70 years has only one stem cell per five to eight million cells, and an embryo has one stem cell per ten thousand.

Possibilities of adult stem cells – Sergey Kiselev

What is the secret of stem cells?

The secret of stem cells is that, being immature cells themselves, they can turn into a cell of any organ.

As soon as the body's stem cells receive a signal about damage to tissues or any organs, they are sent to the site of the lesion. There they turn into precisely those cells of human tissue or organs that need protection.

Stem cells can develop and become any type of cell: hepatic, nervous, smooth muscle, mucous. Such stimulation of the body leads to the fact that it itself begins to actively regenerate its own tissues and organs.

An adult has a very small supply of stem cells. Therefore, the older a person is, the more difficult and with greater complications is the process of regeneration and restoration of the body after damage or during illness. Especially if the damage to the body is extensive.

The body cannot regenerate lost stem cells on its own. Developments in the field of modern medicine today make it possible to introduce stem cells into the body and, most importantly, direct them in the right direction. Thus, for the first time, it becomes possible to treat such dangerous diseases as cirrhosis, diabetes, and stroke.

Garyaev, Pyotr Petrovich - How to manage stem cells

Sources of stem cells

The source of stem cells in the body is primarily the bone marrow. Some, but very small, amounts of them are found in other human tissues and organs, in the peripheral blood. The blood from the umbilical vein of newborns contains many stem cells.

Umbilical cord blood as a source of stem cells has a number of undoubted advantages.

First of all, it is much easier and painless to collect than peripheral blood. Such blood provides genetically ideal stem cells in case of need for its use by close relatives - mother and child, brothers and sisters.

During a transplant, the immune system newly created from the donor's stem cells begins to fight the patient's immune system. This is very dangerous for the patient's life. The human condition in such cases is extremely severe, leading to death. The use of cord blood during transplantation significantly reduces such complications.

In addition, there are a number of undoubted advantages of using cord blood.

  1. This is the infectious safety of the recipient. Infectious diseases (cytomegalovirus and others) are not transmitted from the donor through cord blood.
  2. If it was collected at the time of a person’s birth, then he can use it at any time to restore health.
  3. The use of blood from the umbilical vein of newborns does not raise ethical problems, since it is then disposed of.

Application of stem cells

Stem cells were first used to treat anemia in 1988 in France.

Highly effective treatment with stem cells for tumors, strokes, heart attacks, injuries, burns, has forced the creation in developed countries of special institutions (banks) for storing frozen stem cells for a long time.

Today it is already possible, at the request of relatives, to place a child’s umbilical cord blood into such a commercial personalized blood bank, so that in the event of his injury or illness, there is an opportunity to use his own stem cells.

An internal organ transplant restores a person’s health only if it is performed in a timely manner and the organ is not rejected by the patient’s immune system.

Approximately 75% of patients requiring organ transplants die while waiting. Stem cells could be an ideal source of “spare parts” for humans.

Today, the range of applications of stem cells in the treatment of the most severe diseases is very wide.

Restoration of nerve cells allows you to restore capillary blood circulation and cause the growth of the capillary network at the site of the lesion. To treat a damaged spinal cord, neural stem cells or pure cultures are used, which will then turn into nerve cells in situ.

Some forms of leukemia in children have become curable thanks to advances in biomedicine. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is used in modern hematology, and bone marrow stem cell transplantation is used in a wide range of clinical settings.

Systemic diseases caused by dysfunction of the immune system are extremely difficult to treat: arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus erythematosus, Crohn's disease. Hematopoietic stem cells are also applicable in the treatment of these diseases

There is practical clinical experience in the use of neural stem cells in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The results exceed all expectations.

Mesinchymal (stromal) stem cells have already been used in orthopedic clinics for the last few years. With their help, damaged articular cartilage and bone defects after fractures are restored.

In addition, these same cells have been used in the last two to three years by direct injection in the clinic for the restoration of heart muscle after a heart attack.

The list of diseases that can be treated with stem cells is growing every day. And this gives hope for life to incurable patients.

List of diseases treated with stem cells

Benign diseases:

  • adrenoleukodystrophy;
  • Fanconi anemia;
  • osteoporosis;
  • Gunther's disease;
  • Harler's syndrome;
  • thalassemia;
  • idiopathic aplastic anemia;
  • multiple sclerosis;
  • Lesch-Nyhan syndrome;
  • amegakaryocytotic thrombocytopenia;
  • Kostman's syndrome;
  • lupus;
  • resistant juvenile arthritis;
  • immunodeficiency states;
  • Crohn's disease;
  • Bar's syndrome;
  • collagenoses.

Malignant diseases:

  • non-Hodgkin's lymphoma;
  • myelodysplastic syndrome;
  • leukemia;
  • breast cancer;
  • neuroblastoma.

Miracles of medical and aesthetic cosmetology

A person’s desire to look young and fit for decades is due to the modern pace of life. Is it possible to look as good at fifty as at forty?

Medical cosmetics, using modern biotechnologies, provide this opportunity. Today it is possible to significantly improve skin turgor and elasticity, and relieve a person from eczema and dermatitis.

Stem cells, which are introduced during mesotherapy, eliminate skin pigmentation, scars, and the consequences of exposure to chemicals and lasers. Wrinkles and acne spots disappear, skin tone improves.

In addition, with the help of mesotherapy, problems of hair and nails are solved. They acquire a healthy appearance and their growth is restored.

However, when using highly effective cosmetic products, you should beware of scammers advertising products that allegedly contain stem cells.

Cost of stem cell treatment

Stem cell treatment is carried out in many countries, including Russia. Here it ranges from 240,000 to 350,000 rubles.

The high price is justified by the high-tech process of growing stem cells.

In medical centers, for this price, a patient is given one hundred million cells per course. If a person is more than mature, it is possible to administer this amount in one procedure.

The cost of procedures, as a rule, does not include manipulations to obtain stem cells. If stem cells are introduced during surgery, you will have to pay separately for this type of medical services.

Mesotherapy is more accessible today. For those who want to get a pronounced cosmetic effect, the approximate cost of one procedure in Russia will cost from 15,000 to 30,000 rubles. In total, you need to do from five to ten of them per course.

Forewarned is forearmed

Realizing the brilliant future of the use of new medical technologies, however, I would like to warn against excessive optimism and remind you of the following:

  1. Stem cells are an unusual drug whose effects are difficult to reverse. The fact is that stem cells, unlike other drugs, are not removed from it in the same way as conventional drugs. They contain living cells, and their behavior is not always predictable. If harm is caused to the patient’s body, doctors cannot stop the process;
  2. Medical scientists hope that side effects from stem cell treatment will be minimal. But one cannot even assume that there will be no side effects during treatment. Like any medicine, even aspirin, stem cells have limitations and side effects in their use;
  3. Clinical trials in leading medical centers have only confirmed that bone marrow transplantation is so far the only method of cell therapy;
  4. The use of stem cells is not a panacea for the treatment of absolutely all diseases, although they do have great potential in the treatment of many injuries, burns, injuries and diseases;
  5. Even if many famous people, athletes, and politicians use stem cell treatment, this does not mean that this treatment method is suitable for everyone. It is necessary to trust practicing doctors.
Is immortality possible?

Human immortality is possible – the achievements of modern medicine convince us of this.

Fantastic ideas about the synthesis of human organs are already turning into a reality in the near future. Ten years will pass and artificial kidneys, hearts, and livers will become available to every person. Simple injections will restore the skin and rejuvenate it. The main credit for this will belong to stem cells.

What are stem cells, how do they affect human life and what diseases can be cured with their help? Derrick Rossi, professor of the departments of stem cells and regenerative biology at Harvard Medical School, spoke to these and other questions in an interview with the Social Navigator projecton the eve of an open lecture organized by the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

— What are stem cells?

— There are many different stem cells. For example, embryonic: they are responsible for the formation of the human body. Such cells are also called pluripotent stem cells - this means that they can turn into any type of tissue in our body.

This type of cell exists only in the very early stages of embryonic development of the organism. However, this does not mean that the story of stem cells ends there.

For the formation of various body tissues throughout life, a person also needs stem cells. For this purpose, there are special stem cells that create replacements for old or dead cells in our body.

I work with those stem cells that form blood, or rather, those components that move oxygen throughout our body, fight infections, and so on. There are about 200 different blood cells that are responsible for different functions, and they all come from just a stem cell - a hemocytoblast - that lives in the bone marrow. There are not many of them there, but they still exist.

These cells have enormous potential. For example, they can be used to cure leukemia, a blood cancer. You may have heard of bone marrow transplantation. However, today it is used as a means of last resort.

— Why?

“The fact is that this procedure is quite dangerous in itself. In 10% of cases, a bone marrow transplant is fatal to the patient.

After all, first a person is subjected to harsh chemotherapy or irradiation with radioactive or gamma rays to kill all blood cells, and then new ones are introduced, which can restore the bone marrow and begin blood reproduction anew. At the same time, one must understand that if at least one cell remains in the human body, the disease will return.

A girl from Kazakhstan found a bone marrow donor in RussiaThe first interstate search for a bone marrow donor in the National Registry named after Vasya Perevoshchikov ended successfully: a resident of the Russian Kirov became the donor for a 16-year-old girl from Kazakhstan.

New blood stem cells are taken from a donor. More precisely, part of his bone marrow is transplanted into the patient. The donor does not even have to be a close relative: the main thing is that he and the recipient have a high level of compatibility. More precisely, this: the higher, the better.

However, it is worth understanding that high compatibility is still not ideal, so there will be elements of mismatch. Because of this, the donor's cells can begin to attack the recipient's body, which will lead to a disease such as graft-versus-host disease. This is a very terrible disease. The worse the compatibility, the worse the disease. That is why initially, more than half a century ago, transplantation was carried out only among identical twins who had perfect compatibility.

— How to determine the degree of compatibility?

“It is determined using genetic analysis of the histocompatibility system, which in the body is represented by a set of proteins located on the surface of almost all cells of the body. With their help, the latter determine their own and others.

— How difficult is it to find a donor with a high level of compatibility?

— It varies, for some it’s difficult, for others it’s not. Some types are more common, some less common.

When studying the histocompatibility system, a person is checked according to ten parameters. In general, everything is simple: the more donors, the greater the chance of finding a high level of compatibility.

— How is bone marrow taken from a donor and how much is needed for a successful operation?

— In this procedure, it is not the amount of bone marrow that is important, but the number of stem cells. In the bone marrow, as I already said, there are not so many of them: approximately one cell out of 20 thousand will be a stem cell. But, for example, there are about 10 billion cells in the femur, so there are plenty of stem cells there.

As for the amount required for the operation, one true hematopoietic stem cell is enough to restore the process of blood formation, but it may take months for the stem cell to accelerate and give rise to all its predecessors! Therefore, it is necessary to transfer not only stem cells, but also the precursors that differentiate from them, which can restore the hematopoietic system for a short period of time, but very quickly. It's like baking: you can buy a finished product, a semi-finished product, a raw product, or build a farm. Hematopoietic cells are a farm, and until it works at full capacity, you will die of starvation.

The necessary stem cells are also present in the umbilical cord blood, but there are too few of them there: not enough even for a large child, let alone an adult.

In Russia, October 16 is celebrated as Anesthesiologist Day. Anesthesiologist-resuscitator at the Federal State Budgetary Institution National Medical Research Center of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation Valery Kurdyukov spoke about the difficulties of work, stress and phobias of the doctors themselves.

Therefore, for this operation, cells are taken from the bone marrow. There are two ways to get them. The first is when a person under general anesthesia with the help of a special huge needle is sucked out of the ilium, or more precisely, from its crest, part of the bone marrow.

The second is when, with the help of certain proteins that are given to the donor, stem cells are removed from the bones into the blood. Then, using a special apparatus, they are taken from there. But in order to obtain a sufficient number of stem cells in this way, you need to carry out the procedure for five days in a row.

— Could this somehow harm the donor?

- No. During the procedure with proteins, slight short-term pain in the bones is possible.

If we talk about the procedure with a needle, then it will be a little painful and uncomfortable after the procedure. However, what is a little discomfort and pain compared to what you can give someone life?

— In July, news agencies wrote about an experiment where, if I’m not mistaken, mice were injected with stem cells into the hypothalamus, which increased the rate of regeneration of all cells in the body and, accordingly, slowed down aging. Have you heard about this?

— To be honest, no.

We often see the inscription “Non-GMO” on products in stores. For some, it has become a kind of sign of quality. However, what is a genetically modified organism and how do these changes occur?

However, sometimes in science some seemingly fantastic things turn out to be true. And in general, science is the discovery of the unknown, and nature constantly surprises us. Never say never. This is especially true for biology and science in general. If someone succeeds, someone will definitely try to repeat the experiment. This is how science works. This is her beauty: she always tests herself.

For example, the Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka discovered that you can take any cell in the body and turn it into a stem cell. He took a small piece of mouse skin and obtained from it a separate cell, a fibroblast. Yamanaka then realized that with a series of genetic manipulations, he could be reprogrammed into a stem cell that could grow into any type of tissue. In fact, he obtained pluripotent stem cells, but called them induced stem cells.

Thanks to this discovery, scientists have learned to transform any cell in the body into pluripotent, which in turn can transform into any other.

Before this discovery, any scientist would have said that a skin cell is a skin cell and will never be anything else. A kind of dogma. But Yamanaka denied this.

— If you can turn any cell into any cell, then why is this technology not used in the treatment of leukemia?

— We can take any cell and easily turn it into a pluripotent stem cell, yes. However, making a blood stem cell from it is a much more difficult task. Many laboratories in the world are now working on how to “persuade” a pluripotent stem cell to turn into the desired one. We just don’t yet know the rules that will allow us to do this.

— What can you say about the use of stem cells in cosmetology?

— The only clinically proven stem cell procedure is a bone marrow transplant. All!

There are a lot of pseudoscientific clinics in the world that promise to restore youth, beauty and much more with the help of stem cells. Nothing of the kind has been proven clinically. This is complete nonsense! They just want to scam you out of money.

The only thing you can hope for when going through such a procedure is that you will not be harmed. You'll be lucky if they give you saline solution. Believe me, you don't want them to give you stem cells, because these would-be doctors don't know what they're doing.

Don't believe what you read on the internet.

— What do you think are the prospects for stem cells in medicine?

- Who knows, real potential? Before 2006, everyone thought that it was impossible to get another from one cell.

How soon will stem cells be used on a daily basis in medicine? Currently, about 40 thousand bone marrow transplant operations are performed per year. We are trying to increase this figure. If the operation is made safer, then in the future it will be possible to treat other diseases, such as HIV.

Have you heard about the "Berlin patient"? This is the only person on earth who could be cured of HIV infection. His name is Timothy Brown. Twice he was very unlucky, and once he was incredibly lucky. In 1995, the man was diagnosed with HIV, and in 2006, leukemia. A donor was found for him with a mutation in the CCR5 gene, which makes a person immune to HIV. This mutation occurs in a small number of Europeans (about 10% have the delta32 gene variant, and only 1% have it in double set, making these people resistant to HIV-1). In 2007, Timothy Brown received a bone marrow transplant, thanks to which he beat leukemia and then HIV. This fact has been confirmed several times.

Interviewed by Konstantin Ermolaev

  • 1908: The term “stem cell” (Stammzelle) was proposed for widespread use by Russian histologist Alexander Maximov (1874-1928). He described and proved hematopoietic stem cells using the methods of his time, and it was for them that the term was introduced.
  • 1960s: Joseph Altman and Gopal D. Das () presented scientific evidence of adult neurogenesis, the constant activity of brain stem cells. Their findings contradicted Ramón y Cajal's dogma that nerve cells are not born in the adult body, and were not widely publicized.
  • 1963: Ernest McCulloch and James Till demonstrated the presence of self-renewing cells in mouse bone marrow.
  • 1968: the possibility of restoring hematopoiesis in the recipient after bone marrow transplantation was proven. Bone marrow transplantation in an eight-year-old boy results in recovery from a severe form of immunodeficiency. The donor was a sister with a compatible set of leukocyte antigens (HLA).
  • 1970: Alexander Yakovlevich Friedenstein isolated fibroblast-like cells from the bone marrow of guinea pigs, successfully cultivated and described them, which were subsequently named Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells.
  • 1978: Hematopoietic stem cells are discovered in umbilical cord blood.
  • 1981: Mouse embryonic cells are obtained from the embryoblast (the inner cell mass of the blastocyst) by scientists Martin Evans, Matthew Kaufman and, independently, Gail R. Martin. Gail Martin is credited with coining the term embryonic stem cell.
  • 1988: Eliane Gluckman performed the first successful cord blood HSC transplant in a patient with Fanconi anemia. E. Gluckman has proven that the use of cord blood is effective and safe. Since then, cord blood has been widely used in transplantology.
  • 1992: neural stem cells obtained in vitro. Protocols for their cultivation in the form of neurospheres have been developed.
  • 1992: first personalized stem cell collection. Professor David Harris froze the umbilical cord blood stem cells of his first child. Today, David Harris is the director of the world's largest umbilical cord blood stem cell bank.
  • 1987-1997: Over 10 years, 143 cord blood transplants were performed in 45 medical centers around the world.
  • 1997: The first operation on an oncology patient to transplant umbilical cord blood stem cells was performed in Russia.
  • 1998: James Thomson and his collaborators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison developed the first line of human ESCs.
  • 1998: The world's first autologous cord blood stem cell transplant into a girl with neuroblastoma (brain tumor). The total number of cord blood transplants performed this year exceeds 600.
  • 1999: magazine Science recognized the discovery of embryonic stem cells as the third most significant event in biology after deciphering the double helix of DNA and the Human Genome Project.
  • 2000: a number of articles were published on the plasticity of stem cells of a mature organism, that is, their ability to differentiate into the cellular components of various tissues and organs.
  • 2003: The Journal of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (PNAS USA) published a report that after 15 years of storage in liquid nitrogen, umbilical cord blood stem cells fully retain their biological properties. From this point on, cryogenic storage of stem cells began to be considered as “biological insurance”. The world's collection of stem cells stored in banks has reached 72,000 samples. As of September 2003, 2,592 umbilical cord blood stem cell transplants have already been performed in the world, 1,012 of them to adult patients.
  • During the period from 1996 to 2004, 392 autologous (own) stem cell transplants were performed.
  • 2005: Scientists at the University of California, Irvine, injected human neural stem cells into rats with traumatic spinal cord injury and were able to partially restore the rats' ability to move.
  • 2005: the list of diseases for which stem cell transplantation has been successfully used reaches several dozen. The main focus is on the treatment of malignant neoplasms, various forms of leukemia and other blood diseases. There are reports of successful stem cell transplantation for diseases of the cardiovascular and nervous systems. Various research centers are conducting research on the use of stem cells in the treatment of myocardial infarction and heart failure. International protocols for the treatment of multiple sclerosis have been developed. Approaches to the treatment of stroke, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases are being sought.
  • August 2006: The journal Cell publishes a study by Kazutoshi Takahashi and Shinya Yamanaka on a way to return differentiated cells to a pluripotent state. The era of induced pluripotent stem cells begins.
  • January 2007: Researchers from Wake Forest University (North Carolina, USA), led by Dr. Anthony Atala from Harvard, reported the discovery of a new type of stem cells found in amniotic fluid (amniotic fluid). They may be a potential replacement for ESCs in research and therapy.
  • June 2007: Three independent research groups reported that mature mouse skin cells can be reprogrammed into ESCs. In the same month, scientist Shukhrat Mitalipov announced the creation of a primate stem cell line through therapeutic cloning.
  • November 2007: in the magazine Cell published a study by Katsutoshi Takagashi and Shinya Yamanaka, “Induction of pluripotent stem cells from mature human fibroblasts under certain factors,” and in the journal Science The article “Induced pluripotent stem cells derived from human somatic cells” by Juning Yu, co-authored with other scientists from James Thomson’s research group, was published. It has been proven that it is possible to induce almost any mature human cell and give it stem properties, as a result of which there is no need to destroy embryos in the laboratory, although the risks of carcinogenesis in connection with the Myc gene and retroviral gene transfer remain to be determined.
  • January 2008: Robert Lanza and his colleagues from Advanced Cell Technology and the University of California, San Francisco, produced the first human ESCs without destroying the embryo.
  • January 2008: Cloned human blastocysts are cultured through therapeutic cloning.
  • February 2008: pluripotent stem cells derived from mouse liver and stomach, these induced cells are closer to embryonic than previously derived induced stem cells and they are not carcinogenic. In addition, the genes required to induce pluripotent cells do not need to be placed in a specific region, which facilitates the development of non-viral cell reprogramming technologies.
  • March 2008: a study by doctors from the Regenerative Sciences Institute was published for the first time on the successful regeneration of cartilage in the human knee joint using autologous mature MSCs.
  • October 2008: Zabine Konrad and her colleagues from Tübingen (Germany) derived pluripotent stem cells from spermatogonial cells of a mature human testicle by culturing in vitro with the addition of FIL (leukemia inhibition factor).
  • October 30, 2008: Embryonic stem cells derived from human hair.
  • March 1, 2009: Andreas Nagy, Keisuke Kaji and their colleagues discovered a way to develop embryonic stem cells from normal mature cells using an innovative "wrap" technology to deliver specific genes into cells for reprogramming without the risks that come with using viruses. Genes are placed into cells using electroporation.
  • May 28, 2009: Kim Gwangsoo and his colleagues at Harvard announced that they had developed a way to manipulate skin cells to produce induced pluripotent stem cells in a patient-specific manner, claiming it was the “ultimate solution to the stem cell problem.”
  • 2011: Israeli scientist Inbar Friedrich Ben-Nun led a team of scientists that developed the first stem cells from endangered animal species. This is a breakthrough and thanks to it we can save species that are in danger of extinction.
  • 2012: Giving patients stem cells taken from their own bone marrow three to seven days after a heart attack is a safe but ineffective treatment, according to a clinical trial supported by the US National Institutes of Health. However, studies conducted by German specialists in the Department of Cardiology in Hamburg showed positive results in the treatment of heart failure, but not myocardial infarction.

Properties

All stem cells have two essential properties:

  • Self-renewal, that is, the ability to maintain an unchanged phenotype after division (without differentiation).
  • Potency (differentiation potential), or the ability to produce offspring in the form of specialized cell types.

Self-updating

There are two mechanisms that maintain the stem cell population in the body:

  1. Asymmetric division, which produces the same pair of cells (one stem cell and one differentiated cell).
  2. Stochastic division: one stem cell divides into two more specialized ones.

Differentiating potential

Differentiation potential, or potency, of stem cells is the ability to produce a certain number of different types of cells. According to potency, stem cells are divided into the following groups:

  • Totipotent (omnipotent) stem cells can differentiate into cells of embryonic and extraembryonic tissues, organized in the form of three-dimensional connected structures (tissues, organs, organ systems, organism). Such cells can give rise to a full-fledged viable organism. These include a fertilized egg, or zygote. Cells formed during the first few division cycles of the zygote are also totipotent in most species. However, these do not include, for example, roundworms, the zygote of which loses totipotency during the first division. In some organisms, differentiated cells can also acquire totipotency. Thus, the cut part of a plant can be used to grow a new organism precisely due to this property.
  • Pluripotent stem cells are descendants of totipotent stem cells and can give rise to almost all tissues and organs, with the exception of extraembryonic tissues (for example, the placenta). From these stem cells, three germ layers develop: ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm.
  • Multipotent stem cells give rise to cells of different tissues, but the diversity of their types is limited within a single germ layer.
  • Oligopotent cells can differentiate only into certain cell types with similar properties. These, for example, include cells of the lymphoid and myeloid series, involved in the process of hematopoiesis.
  • Unipotent cells (precursor cells, blast cells) are immature cells that, strictly speaking, are no longer stem cells, since they can produce only one type of cell. They are capable of repeated self-reproduction, which makes them a long-term source of cells of one specific type and distinguishes them from non-stem cells. However, their ability to reproduce themselves is limited to a certain number of divisions, which also distinguishes them from true stem cells. Progenitor cells include, for example, some of the myosatellite cells involved in the formation of skeletal and muscle tissue.

Classification

Stem cells can be divided into three main groups depending on the source of their production: embryonic, fetal and postnatal (adult stem cells).

Embryonic stem cells

Clinical studies using ESCs are subject to special ethical review. In many countries, ESC research is restricted by law.

One of the main disadvantages of ESCs is the impossibility of using autogenous, that is, one’s own material, for transplantation, since isolating ESCs from the embryo is incompatible with its further development.

Fetal stem cells

Postnatal stem cells

Despite the fact that stem cells from a mature organism have less potency compared to embryonic and fetal stem cells, that is, they can generate fewer different types of cells, the ethical aspect of their research and use does not cause serious controversy. In addition, the possibility of using autogenous material ensures the effectiveness and safety of treatment. Adult stem cells can be divided into three main groups: hematopoietic (hematopoietic), multipotent mesenchymal (stromal) and tissue-specific progenitor cells. Sometimes umbilical cord blood cells are classified into a separate group because they are the least differentiated of all the cells of a mature organism, that is, they have the greatest potency. Umbilical cord blood mainly contains hematopoietic stem cells, as well as multipotent mesenchymal ones, but it also contains other unique types of stem cells that, under certain conditions, are capable of differentiating into cells of various organs and tissues.

Hematopoietic stem cells

Before the use of umbilical cord blood, bone marrow was considered the main source of HSCs. This source is still widely used in transplantology today. HSCs are located in the bone marrow in adults, including the femurs, ribs, sternum and other bones. Cells can be obtained directly from the thigh using a needle and syringe, or from the blood after pretreatment with cytokines, including G-CSF (granulocyte colony-stimulating factor), which promotes the release of cells from the bone marrow.

The second, most important and promising source of HSC is umbilical cord blood. The concentration of HSCs in cord blood is ten times higher than in bone marrow. In addition, this source has a number of advantages. The most important of them:

  • Age. Umbilical cord blood is collected at the earliest stage of the body's life. HSCs from umbilical cord blood are maximally active because they have not been exposed to the negative effects of the external environment (infectious diseases, unhealthy diet, etc.). Umbilical cord blood HSCs are capable of creating a large cell population in a short period of time.
  • Compatibility. The use of autologous material, that is, one’s own cord blood, guarantees 100% compatibility. Compatibility with brothers and sisters is up to 25%; as a rule, it is also possible to use the child’s umbilical cord blood to treat other close relatives. For comparison, the probability of finding a suitable stem cell donor is from 1:1000 to 1:1000,000.

Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells

Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MMSCs) are multipotent stem cells capable of differentiating into osteoblasts (bone cells), chondrocytes (cartilage cells) and adipocytes (fat cells).

Characteristics of embryonic stem cells

Stem cells and cancer

Use in medicine

In Russia

By order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 23, 2009 No. 2063-, the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia and the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia were instructed by the end of 2010 to develop and submit for consideration to the State Duma of the Russian Federation a draft law “On the use of biomedical technologies in medical practice”, regulating medical the use of stem cells as one of the biomedical technologies. Since the bill caused outrage among the public and scientists, it was sent for revision and has not yet been adopted.

On July 1, 2010, the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare and Social Development issued the first permit for the use of new medical technology FS No. 2010/255 (treatment with one’s own stem cells).

On February 3, 2011, the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare and Social Development issued permission for the use of new medical technology FS No. 2011/002 (treatment with donor stem cells of the following pathologies: age-related changes in facial skin of the second or third degree, the presence of a wound skin defect, trophic ulcer , treatment of alopecia, atrophic skin lesions, including atrophic stripes (striae), burns, diabetic foot)

In Ukraine

Today, clinical trials are allowed in Ukraine (Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine No. 630 “On conducting clinical trials of stem cells”, 2007.

Olga Lukinskaya

In recent years we have heard about stem cells in a variety of contexts: they are proposed to be used in cosmetic procedures and even added to creams, they are learned to be extracted from milk teeth and the umbilical cord, and are used in the treatment of a variety of diseases. Often the news reports about new possibilities for their use, which will still have to be studied in the laboratory for a long time; As a result, some people see stem cells as something from the future, while others think that they have already become commonplace and are used in any beauty salon. Let's understand what stem cells actually are, what they are often used for now, and what benefits are possible so far only in theory.


Where do they get it from?
stem cells

Stem cells are so-called undifferentiated cells that can turn into different cells in the body - and in humans there are more than two hundred of them - with different functions inherent to them. For example, nerve cells or blood cells have narrow, specific tasks - and they spend all their energy on performing these tasks, not wasted on reproduction. And new red blood cells or neurons arise from stem cells, which every person has at any age. They come in different types: some are able to differentiate into only one type of cell, others into several; embryonic stem cells in early pregnancy can transform into any type of cell in the body.

There is terminological debate among scientists about whether all these cells can be called stem cells and whether the terms “stem cell” and “progenitor cell” are synonymous, but in general both terms can be used equally. We are talking about basic cells that can transform into any others - which means, if you learn to handle them correctly, they can potentially allow you to grow new skin at the site of a burn or replace liver tissue damaged as a result of hepatitis. Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to use stem cells for such purposes - but there are still a number of serious problems that they help solve. Stem cells can be obtained from embryos (for example, abortive materials can be used for research purposes), and in adults their main source is bone marrow. Stem cells are also actively isolated from dental pulp and from the umbilical cord of newborns.

What are they used for?

Stem cells have been used for several decades in the treatment of severe diseases of the blood and bone marrow, such as leukemia. Bone marrow is a hematopoietic organ; in fact, it consists of stem cells. When it doesn't function or produces "defective" blood cells, one treatment option is a transplant, that is, "replacing" bone marrow stem cells with healthy ones. For this, both donor cells and your own can be used if they have undergone certain processing.