Friday, 6 May 2016

The History And Application Of Cell Therapy

By Raymond Young


The prevalence of cancer has led to research into many possible cures and treatments. One of the methods of treatment that have been researched widely by researchers in different parts of the world is cell therapy. This method is also known by several other names including cytotherapy and cellular therapy. Cytotherapy involve injection of cellular material into patients. The injected cellular materials are usually in the form of intact, living cells.

Cellular therapy can be placed into broad categories, one is based on legitimate, conventional medicine while the other one is based on alternative medicine. The variety that is based on conventional medicine transplants human cells from donors into patients. It is completely safe and has been used severally with successful outcomes. The variety that is based on alternative medicine is poses a lot of danger to patients. In this variety, patients are injected with animals cells in an attempt to treat diseases.

Cytotherapy was discovered and used in the nineteenth century. The discovery was made by Charles Brown when he injected extracts from animal testicles with the aim of alleviating the effects of aging. Later, Paul Niehans conducted experiments that earned him the title of being the inventor of cytotherapy. Niehans injected materials from the embryo of a calf into his patients to treat diseases. Later, he made claims that could not be verified scientifically that he cured many cancer patients.

Researchers determined in 1953 that rejection of transplanted organs could be prevented by first pre-inoculating the recipient animal with cells of the donor animal. The first successful human bone marrow transplantation was done in 1968. The transplant took place in a facility based in Minnesota.

Bone marrow transplants have been found to be successful in the treatment of different medical conditions. For example, it can successfully treat damaged knee cartilage. Development of many forms of treatments is viewed to be highly dependent on cytotherapy. The high prospects for growth in the future make this field to receive a lot of support from mainstream medicine.

Many types of cell therapies exist today. Some of the common examples are mesenchymal, alogeneic, neutral, human embryonic stem cells, and hematopoietic stem cell therapies. In allogeneic variety, donors and recipients of the cells are different individuals. That is why unmatched allogenic therapies are very important to pharmaceutical medicine. It is believed to be able to lead to the creation of off-the-shelf products.

The human embryonic stem cells are a source of great controversy in research. Different countries impose different levels of regulation on them, with other countries placing a complete ban on them. Other countries are continuing with investigations to determine if human embryonic cells can be useful in therapeutic applications. Possible applications for these cells are in the treatment of Parkinson disease and diabetes.

This field is still relatively young with a lot of research still going on. Medical trials that base on these treatments have achieved mixed results with some failing outright. Although promising, reaching any concrete and conclusive results is still a long way. Many organizations have invested heavily into research in this area.




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