Curing Diseases with Stem Cells

Many diseases are caused by cells being
damaged or wearing out, and the body not replacing them. Scientists are investigating how stem cells can be used to treat these diseases.
Some ways that stem cells might be used are

• the doctor injects stem cells into a damaged organ, and the stem cells help the organ to cure itself
• stem cells can carry damaged or missing genes into an injured part of the body
• stem calls can be used to carry drugs to treat specific parts of the body
• if we can understand how stem cells decide what sort of cells to generate, and we can ‘teach’ them to generate whatever types of cells we like, then maybe we can learn how to encourage stem cells to be more active and to generate new cells for a sick or injured person.

In fact, stem cells have been transplanted into patients with blood diseases such as leukaemia for over forty years. Bone marrow transplants move healthy blood stem cells from donors to patients, and these healthy stem cells help to make the blood cells that the diseased body can no longer make.