EB3222

Cell and Tissue Culture

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7. Stem cells

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Learning outcomes:
Explain the basic concepts of stem cells
Explain the usage of stem cells in therapy
Ethical issues

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Basic concepts of stem cells

Stem cells are cells that do not have a specialized function
They are an immature kind of cell that still has the potential to
differentiate into many different kinds of cell.
This capacity to both proliferate and form different types of
cells makes them ideal for replacing tissue that is lost. Hence,
they are good for the development of regenerative medicine.

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 Stem cells differ from other cells in the body in three main
ways:
1. Stem cells are unspecialised. They have not developed into
cells that perform a specific function.
2. Stem cells can differentiate. That is, they can divide and
produce cells that have the potential to become other more
specialised cell types or tissues. These new cells and tissues
are used to repair or replace damaged or diseased cells in the
body.
3. Unspecialised stem cells are capable of self-renewal. Stem
cells are able to divide and produce copies of themselves
which leads to self renewal. Once a cell has become
specialised (has differentiated) it has a very limited capacity
to produce new cells, and then only cells of the same type.
Thus, if a muscle or blood cell is damaged it cannot replace
itself.

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Basic concepts of stem cells: Types of stem

cells

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2.
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4.

There are several types of stem cells including:

Totipotent stem cells
Pluripotent stem cells.
Multipotent stem cells.
Unipotent stem cells.

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 A fertilized egg is considered totipotent, meaning that its

potential is total; it gives rise to all the different types of cells
in the body.
Pluripotent stem cells have the potential to form any cell
except extra-embryonic tissue such as placenta
Multi-potent stem cells could only differentiate into limited
types of cells. Multi-potent stem cells could be found in adults.
Unipotent stem cells could only differentiate into a single type
of cells.

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Basic concepts of stem cells: Types of stem

cells used in research
There are several types of stem cells commonly used in
research, including:
1. Embryonic stem cells.
2. Embryonic germ cells.
3. Adult stem cells
. Embryonic stem cells and embryonic germ cells are
pluripotent while adult stem cells are usually multipotent.

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Basic concepts of stem cells: Embryonic stem

cells
The embryos from which human embryonic stem cells are
derived are typically four or five days old and are a hollow
microscopic ball of cells called the blastocyst. The blastocyst
includes three structures: the trophoblast, which is the layer
of cells that surrounds the blastocyst; the blastocoele, which is
the hollow cavity inside the blastocyst; and the inner cell
mass, which is a group of approximately 30 cells at one end of
the blastocoel.

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Basic concepts of stem cells: Embryonic

germ cells
Embryonic germ cells are derived from the part of a human
embryo or fetus that will ultimately produce eggs or sperm
(gametes). They are found at 6 to 9 weeks of gestation when
the embryo is developing into a fetus.
Little research is now performed using this type of cells
because they do not appear to be as versatile as embryonic
stem cells.

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Basic concepts of stem cells: Adult stem cells

Adult stem cells/somatic stem cells are more specialized than
embryonic stem cells. They are found in the majority of
tissues and organs in our body and generate the mature cell
types within that tissue or organ.
They have a restricted ability to produce different cell types
and to self-renew

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 Adult stem cells have been identified in many organs and

tissues. One important point to understand about adult stem
cells is that there are a very small number of stem cells in
each tissue.
Stem cells are thought to reside in a specific area of each
tissue where they may remain quiescent (non-dividing) for
many years until they are activated by disease or tissue
injury.
The adult tissues reported to contain stem cells include brain,
bone marrow, peripheral blood, blood vessels, skeletal
muscle, skin and liver.
Adult stem cells are formerly regarded as unable to
differentiate into other types of cells e.g. hematopoietic stem
cells could not differentiate into muscle cells.

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 However, a number of experiments over the last several years

have raised the possibility that stem cells from one tissue may
be able to give rise to cell types of a completely different
tissue, a phenomenon known as plasticity.
Examples of such plasticity include blood cells becoming
neurons, liver cells that can be made to produce insulin, and
hematopoietic stem cells that can develop into heart muscle.
Therefore, exploring the possibility of using adult stem cells
for cell-based therapies has become a very active area of
investigation by researchers.

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Usage of stem cells in therapy

Blood-forming stem cells in bone marrow called
hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are currently the only type
of stem cell commonly used for therapy.
Doctors have been transferring HSCs in bone marrow
transplants for over 40 years.
More advanced techniques of collecting, or "harvesting",
HSCs are now used in order to treat leukemia, lymphoma
and several inherited blood disorders.

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 Potential disease that could be cured with stem cells therapy

includes:
1. Type 1 diabetes
2. Parkinsons disease
3. Cardiac repair
4. And many more

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Usage of stem cells in therapy: Type 1

diabetes and Parkinsons disease
Type 1 diabetes and Parkinson's disease occur due the loss of a
relatively small amount of tissue.
In juvenile diabetics, the insulin-producing cells of the
pancreas are destroyed by the immune system.
In Parkinson's disease the dopamine-producing cells of the
brain are destroyed no-one really knows why.
Researchers have already had some success treating patients
by replacing the lost tissue with material from aborted fetuses
(in the case of Parkinson's disease) or donated pancreases (in
the case of type 1 diabetes).

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Usage of stem cells in therapy: Cardiac tissue

repair

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Problems of stem cell therapy

There are several problems posed that needs to be solved
before stem cell therapy could be well developed and used as
regular therapeutic options:
1. Immune rejection
2. Cancer induction
3. Ethical issues

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Problems of stem cell therapy: Immune

rejection
Patients receiving embryonic stem cells or adult stem cells
sourced from another individual would probably be treated in
much the same way that organ transplant recipients are treated.
The stem cells would be matched to the individual patient
and anti-rejection drugs would be used.
However, patients receiving brain stem cells may not need
these drugs as the brain seems to get away with less
surveillance by the immune system than other parts of the
body.

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 There is a type of stem cell known as a mesenchymal stem

cell that seems to evade detection by the immune system.
Everyone carries mesenchymal stem cells in their bone
marrow; they normally give rise to cartilage, bone or muscle
cells. If these cells do not trigger immune rejection they could
be used in future treatments of bone and joint diseases or
repair heart muscle damaged during a heart attack

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 If patients provide their own stem cells, then of course

immune rejection is no problem.
Leukaemia patients routinely rely on their own stem cells. A
reserve of their blood-forming stem cells (found in bone
marrow, but different from mesenchymal stem cells) is stored
away. After cancer therapy, which destroys stem cells, patients
rely on the stored stem cells to rapidly restore their red and
white blood cell counts to normal.
Burnt patients also rely on the stem cells present in a tiny
square patch of skin to seed the growth of metres of new skin
in the culture dish.

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Problems of stem cell therapy: Cancer

induction
Any stem cell, adult or embryonic, has the tendency to give
rise to cancer.
As stem cells could grow indefinitely, if they are not induced
to differentiate, they would keep on growing until they form a
lumptumor.
All stem cell therapies have to be properly tested to make sure
that the stem cells injected into the patients would not cause
cancer growth.

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Problems of stem cell therapy: Ethical issues

Some people oppose embryonic stem cell research on religious
grounds. Many take the view that from the moment of
conception an embryo is a human being with a soul, and that
using these embryos is like dismembering a person.
But not all religious people take this view. Some believe that
an individual human being does not truly arise until the
embryo has implanted into the wall of the mother's womb at
around 14 days. According to that view, these embryos are
too primitive to be to considered human beings and so it is not
unethical to use them for life-saving research, especially if
they are to be thrown away in any case.
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Thank you

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