Explore Stem Cell

It is not the news most people want to hear, but there are still only a few approved clinical uses of stem cell research. Some other applications of stem cells, for a range of conditions, are being investigated in clinical trials. A very large amount of research is ongoing globally.

The most well-established and widely used stem cell treatment is the transplantation of blood stem cells to treat diseases and conditions of the blood and immune system, or to restore the blood system after treatments for specific cancers. The US National Marrow Donor Program has a full list of diseases treatable by blood stem cell transplant.  More than 26,000 patients are treated with blood stem cells in Europe each year.

Stem cells are cells that can differentiate into other types of cells, and can also divide in self-renewal to produce more of the same type of stem cells. Adult stem cells, also called somatic (from Greek σωματικóς, “of the body”) stem cells, are stem cells which maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found. They can be found in children, as well as adults.

There are three known accessible sources of autologous adult stem cells in humans:

  1. Bone marrow, which requires extraction by harvesting, that is, drilling into bone (typically the femur or iliac crest).
  2. Adipose tissue (fat cells), which requires extraction by liposuction.
  3. Blood, which requires extraction through apheresis, wherein blood is drawn from the donor (similar to a blood donation), and passed through a machine that extracts the stem cells and returns other portions of the blood to the donor.

Autologous or Allogeneic Stem Cells

All stem cell therapies should be manufactured under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). The primary difference between allogeneic and autologous are the source of the cells used. Allogeneic therapies are manufactured in large batches from unrelated donor tissues whereas autologous therapies are manufactured as a single lot from the patient being treated.

While both therapies use similar technologies common to the growth of cells, the scale is different. Allogeneic therapies are “off the shelf”, used to treat many patients and more time is available to quality control the product prior to administration. Autologous therapies are “individualised” products for each patient and the chain of identity of the patient samples is critical to assure the right product is returned to the patient.