Researchers at the Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute at the University of Cambridge and at BRIC, the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, did a study that tested the effect of stem cells as a treatment for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in mice. They isolated fetal stem cells and grew them in a laboratory for a long period of time. (They were able to isolate similar cells from adult mice and humans called induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs).) Once the cells were added to the digestive tract of the IBD induced mice, within 3 hours, the stem cells attached to the gut lining and started repair. Of course, one risk with cells that divide easily and happily in their new environment would be tumor formation. However there was no evidence of this in the study.
Since this appears to be a treatment to repair damage, I would think the patient would still have the symptoms associated with the disease (one has to have damage to repair damage). Which are often, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and bloody ulcers in the intestine wall, which lead to bloody stool. With the description of the stem cells creating a plaster over the damaged areas and integrating with gut cells, I envisioned it to work like a band aid, do you think this would have beneficial long-term effects? Or cause issues such as tumors?
This study was done in mice and would have to be able to transfer to a human model. As stated they did find similar cells in humans! What do you think would be an issue (if any) to transfer this study to humans?
- Jensen et al. Transplantation of Expanded Fetal Intestinal Progenitors Contributes to Colon Regeneration after Injury. Cell Stem Cell, October 2013
- Wellcome Trust (2013, October 17). Stem cell transplant repairs damaged gut of inflammatory bowel disease. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 17, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131017135210.html
I enjoyed reading this and how you came to the conclusion about the "band-aid" effect. It seemed to be a temporary repair for a long-term disease. Learning that the stem cells replicate easily and can form a tumor is actually quite frightening and painful thinking that a tumor formed in the gut lining.
ReplyDeleteSeeing as though the experiment was used in mice, I highly doubt that there would be human experimentation for a while because the human body is far more complex each one varies greatly from another.
I would say this is a great study but still need much more work. As you asked if this could be a long term fix, I think it has a great potential for it, because the stem cells aren’t just covering the problem they are actually repairing and replacing the damaged cells. As you mentioned there is the risk of tumors, and it is not something to be taken lightly and more research should be done to find out the percentage of the risk of tumor formation in this “treatment”.
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