Stem cell therapy is a form of treatment in which the body's own stem cells or those of a donor are used. In most cases, these are blood-forming stem cells from the bone marrow (bone marrow transplantation). Stem cells are mainly found in the bone marrow, but also in the blood, brain, liver, fatty tissue and muscles.
A distinction is made between embryonic and adult cells. Embryonic cells are found in an embryo, whereas adult cells are present in the human organism for life. Stem cells have extraordinary properties. They can regenerate, divide and develop into other cell types (e.g. red and white blood cells and platelets).
In stem cell therapy, previously isolated and preserved stem cells are introduced into the recipient's bloodstream by infusion. Stem cell therapy has been used successfully for decades to treat blood cancer (leukemia) and burns. The treatment of other diseases is being intensively researched and tested in clinical trials.
Stem cell therapy is most frequently used for blood and cancer diseases in which the bone marrow has been damaged by chemotherapy. After high-dose chemotherapy, the white blood cells (leukocytes) in particular, which are responsible for immune defense, are destroyed. By infusing stem cells into the bloodstream, the hematopoietic system and the immune system can be rebuilt. Typical diseases that need to be treated with high-dose chemotherapy are acute and chronic leukemia, lymph node cancer and multiple myeloma (malignant bone marrow disease).
Stem cell therapy is also successfully used to treat large areas of severe burns. Skin tissue is cultivated from the patient's own stem cells and applied to the burnt areas of skin. A new procedure is the repair of corneal damage in the eye caused by chemical burns, for example. Stem cells are transplanted into the eye so that the patient's cornea renews itself. The effect of stem cell therapy is currently being researched for the following diseases:
Cancer cell in the blood © psdesign1 / Fotolia
Stem cell therapy is carried out in hospital. The first step is the collection of stem cells from the bone marrow, blood or umbilical cord. Stem cells are harvested from the bone marrow by puncturing the pelvic bone. The bone marrow is extracted using a hollow needle. Bone marrow transplantation is painful and time-consuming and is rarely used nowadays.
A more common procedure is the extraction of stem cells from the blood. Here, the stem cells are first stimulated by growth factors to migrate from the bone marrow into the bloodstream. Via an infusion needle, the donor's blood enters a machine that filters the stem cells from the blood. The remaining blood is returned to the donor via a second needle.
The third option for stem cell collection is umbilical cord blood. The stem cells in umbilical cord blood are collected directly after the birth of a child. After the stem cells have been collected, they are preserved. The stem cells are frozen and stored at -196 degrees Celsius using liquid nitrogen. After freezing, the stem cells can be transplanted into a recipient.
Autologous stem cell therapy involves chemotherapy prior to transplantation in order to reduce the cancer cells(conditioning phase). The treatment with high-dose chemotherapy or radiation lasts between two and ten days. The transplant itself only takes one to two hours. Healthy blood stem cells are infused into the recipient's vein. After around two weeks, new blood cells are formed from the stem cells.
The patient can leave the hospital after three to four weeks if successful hematopoiesis has begun. Allogeneic stem cell therapy is carried out in exactly the same way as autologous treatment. However, as an additional measure, active substances to suppress the immune system are administered before the transplantation in order to reduce or prevent rejection reactions of the foreign stem cells.
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