Regenerative Medicine involves creating living, functional tissues to repair or replace parts of the body that have become damaged and cannot heal themselves.
And it’s a market valued at around $13 billion and is projected to grow to $38 billion by 2024.
First, we need to briefly cover stem cells.
Stem cells are the vital building blocks of the human body, replenishing the cells of our blood, bone, skin, and various organs.
There are three kinds of stem cells, Adult stem cells, Embryonic Stem cells, and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells or iPSCs.
Adult stem cells are found in many of our organs and replenish the cells in their respective systems.
These are the most manageable stem cells to use because everyone has their own supply.
Adult Stem cells are multipotent, meaning they are can only develop in certain types of cells.
They are also limited to how often they can divide.
Embryonic Stem Cells, on the other hand, are pluripotent, meaning they can develop into any of the more than 200 cell types in the human body.
They can also divide and multiply endlessly.
Embryonic Stems Cells are found in embryos that are just a few days old called Blastocysts.
At this stage, the embryo contains 150 cells, and within that, there is a cluster of 20-30 embryonic stem cells called the inner cell mass.
Alright, so that leaves us with and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells or iPSCs.
iPSCs are made by reprogramming Adult Stem Cells to gain the characteristics of embryonic stem cells.
As their name suggests, IPSCs are pluripotent like embryonic stem cells; they can develop into any cell type in the body.
IPCs do not pose ethical and social concerns because they are obtained without the destruction of embryos.
Another advantage of IPCs is that the cells match the body that they are extracted from.
So, Step Cells play a fundamental role in Regenerative Medicine, which is broken multiple concentrations.
First is, Tissue Engineering, which often involves implanting biologically compatible scaffolds where new tissue is formed.
Millions of patients have been treated by some form of tissue engineering like skin grafts, supplemental bladders, and small arteries.
Most examples of tissue engineering treatment involve soft tissues, that is why the work being done by Osteopore stands out to me.
Osteopore is based out of Singapore and commercializes 3D printed scaffolds made from proprietary polymer material used to regenerate bones.
The amazing thing is that as the bones grow, the material naturally dissolves, leaving the healthy bone tissue.
Since 2016, Osteopore products, which are FDA approved, by the way, have been used in over 20,000 surgical procedures such as repairing skulls with burr holes from brain surgery.
Researchers from Osaka University recently used IPSCs to grow heart muscle cells that were transplanted to damaged areas of a patient's heart.
The trial is promising because the procedure has the potential to significantly reduce the need for heart transplants.
And even though IPSCs are still expensive, its application in this case is easier than finding suitable donor hearts.
The second concentration is Cellular Therapies that involve reconstructing diseased or damaged tissues that aren't able to regenerate naturally by injecting Adult Stem Cells on the damaged area.
Researchers all around the world are working to apply the power of Stem Cell Therapies for a vast array of Health Issues, such as Leukemia, Diabetes, Stroke, Spinal Cord Injuries, and many more.
One example is researchers at Stanford performed a study in 2016, injecting IPSCs near the damaged areas of the brains of 18 stroke patients.
12 months later, half of the patients experience significant improvement.
Another interesting study involves potential treatment for diabetes. It comes from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO.
The University Researchers used IPSCs to develop beta cells that are in the pancreas that produce, store, and release insulin.
They injected the beta cells into mice that could not produce insulin, and the cells were able to control the blood sugar of the animals for months.
Scientists still have a lot of work to reach human trials as they figure out how to safely implement the cells into humans.
There are currently over 7,000 clinical trials involving stem cells registered with the FDA.
However, I was surprised to learn that there are stem cell clinics in the US that are falsely advertising that their therapies were reviewed and approved by the FDA when, in fact, they were not.
The FDA published a warning to the public about this issue back in September and is taking steps to crack down on these clinics.
There have been a few terrible incidents involving these clinics, such as a woman in Georgia going blind after receiving stem cell injections.
Regenerative Medicine is a promising field, and it gives us hope that we will be enjoying life for many years to come.