Pages

Understanding The Process Of Cell Therapy


By Raymond Young


Research on a global scale has been motivated by the many health conditions that the world is now plagued with. Due to continuous research, cell therapy and many other promising treatment options have been discovered. The names cellular therapy and cytotherapy also refer to this treatment option. Cytotherapy requires cellular materials from animals or human beings to be injected into patients. The materials injected are normally whole 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.

The first instance involving the use of cytotherapy dates back in the nineteenth century. The first attempt was made by someone named Charles Brown by injecting animal testicle extracts. Charles was trying to stop the occurrence of effects of aging. Paul Niehans is considered the inventor of cytotherapy because of the experiments he carried out. Paul had patients whom he injected with extracts from calf embryo. He later made many unverified claims of having cured many cancer patients with this method.

Researchers discovered when recipient animals are pre-inoculated with donor cells prior to organ transplant it prevented organ rejection. This discovery was made in 1953 and in 1968, the first bone marrow transplant to be successful was achieved. The transplant was done in Minnesota.

The success of bone marrow transplants has been determined to be successful in treating various medical conditions. For instance, damaged knee cartilage can be treated successfully. Cytotherapy shows hope for the development of many kinds of treatments. In mainstream medicine, this field receives a lot of support because of the high prospects for future growth it holds.

Types of cell therapies are many. Common examples include neutral, mesenchymal, alogeneic, hematopoietic stem cell, and human embryonic stem cells therapies. In allogeneic variety, two different people act as recipients and donors. Unmatched allogenic therapies may have potential for creating off-the-shelf products. This reason has made this variety of cytotherapy to be valued a lot in pharmaceutical medicine.

Research in human embryonic stem cells has attracted a lot of controversy in the public. Some countries have banned it totally while others regulate it very closely. The belief that these cells may have many therapeutic applications is the reasons some countries still support research in this direction. Research indicates that these cells can find use in the treatment of chronic diseases like diabetes and Parkinson disease.

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.