Regenerative Medicine and Cellular Bio Environment

When our cells are injured or dying they send out distress signals known as chemokynes. These are picked up by immune cells that start the regenerative process. Immune cells secrete protein messengers known as cytokines.

Regenerative cells, of which stem cells are the most important, are able to recognise these types of signals and respond accordingly. Hence, they can settle inflammation, regulate and modify the immune system, and direct the growth of new tissue in order to replace damaged cells and tissues.

This is opening up new doors in medicine. Research into stem cell therapy has shown promising results in a number of fields, including pioneering treatments for injuries, aesthetic treatments, and new ways to fight and prevent degenerative illnesses and autoimmune diseases.

Conditions that studies suggest could potentially benefit include:

In addition the stem cell therapy, there are a number of other types of regenerative treatments. These include:

  • Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP), which makes use of the patient’s own blood platelets in order to boost healing and regeneration.
  • Fat transfers using adipose tissue from the patient’s own body, which is likely to be rich in regenerative cells.
  • Stromal Vascular Fraction (SVF), which is refined from a sample of patient’s own fatty tissue, bone marrow or skin.
  • Stem Cell Technologies, which is a regenerative treatment using a patient’s own adipose tissue.
  • Regenera, which makes use of the patient’s own tissue in order to stimulate hair growth and skin regeneration.

"Whilst it is important to stress that further research is needed before stem cells therapy becomes a standardised treatment, the benefits that cellular and regenerative techniques may unlock - both now and in the future - are potentially limitless."

- Dr Aamer Khan-

The Potency of Stem Cells

In order to understand why stem cells play such an important role, it is helpful to examine what happens at the beginning of human life. Embryonic stem cells are like a ‘blank canvas.’ They have two main functions that are of particular interest.

1

Firstly, they can multiply and replicate themselves without any degradation, so each new stem cell is as potent as the last.

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Secondly, they are ‘pluripotent’ which means they are able to differentiate to become any type of cell within each of three different layers of tissue in a pre-embryo that eventually go on to form the human body.

Not all stem cells are pluripotent. When they are found within a layer they are instead ‘multipotent’. They can still change into different types of cells to perform specific functions, but only within a given embryonic layer.

Stem cells are able to secrete their own cytokines and growth factors that encourage neighbouring cells to migrate to a distressed area in order to initiate repairs. If no other cells are available, they can differentiate into the required cells.

For example, if we were to inject pluripotent stem cells into a liver, they would recognise their surroundings. They would then potentially be able to become new liver cells if required. They do this by reading various proteins that act as intracellular messengers within a given environment.