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Umbilical Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Stem Cell Therapy
Stem cells are specialized cells that are the building blocks or master cells of your body. There are two properties that make stem cells so incredible and essential to bodily functions. Not only can they make more cells that are identical copies of themselves (self-renewal), but they can also make copies of other types of cells such as blood cells, bone cells, and tissue cells (differentiation).
Stem cells are everywhere in your body, and they’re necessary for maintaining all of your tissues and repairing damage after an injury. Because of their healing and regenerating properties, stem cell therapy has become a go-to treatment for certain cancers, blood disorders, and even broken bones.
However, most stem cells can only recreate and copy the types of cells that exist in their particular location. For example, stem cells that reside in bone marrow can make blood or bone cells, but can’t make liver or lung cells. This fact limits what stem cell therapy can do and be used for.
Another type of stem cell called a mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) can do so much more because it can copy and recreate any type of cell, not just location-specific ones. Because of that, lots of research is being done on how these cells can be used to treat a wide range of diseases.
At Pinnacle Sports Performance and Rehabilitation in Austin, Texas, Ryan Anderson, DC, Logan Reiff, DC, and Michael Bhatt, DC, offer renewal therapy to heal and strengthen your body’s innate repair system. They’re passionate about the future uses of MSCs and how they could transform injury rehabilitation. So, in this month’s blog, we discuss what MSCs can do and why the future of stem cell therapy is so exciting.
What are mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)?
Mesenchymal stem cells are a type of stem cell that can become any type of cell in your body (pluripotent cells).
In some cases, these cells are obtained from embryos created through in vitro fertilization. Embryos are rich in mesenchymal stem cells because they provide the growing fetus with everything it needs to properly develop organs and tissues.
However, a more ethical way to retrieve these stem cells is through the umbilical cord, a flexible tube that connects a fetus to the placenta in order to transfer nutrients from the mother to the baby.
After birth, the umbilical cord is severed and disposed of as medical waste. However, if the blood from the umbilical cord is donated, the human umbilical mesenchymal stem cells (HU-MSCs) can be harvested and used for stem cell therapy.
What can HU-MSCs be used for?
Currently, transplants of HU-MSCs are approved for treating the following conditions:
- Leukemia, lymphoma, and other cancers
- Bone marrow diseases that require transplants
- Certain immune system disorders
- Types of anemia like sickle cell disease
Experts are hopeful that in the future HU-MSCs can be used and transform how diseases and chronic conditions like osteoporosis, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and recovery from serious injuries, strokes, or heart attacks are treated.
HU-MSCs: Providing hope for the future of medicine
The most beneficial part about HU-MSCs is that you don’t have to match a donor to receive them. Other stem cells harvested from bone marrow have certain proteins that need to match the recipient's proteins exactly, otherwise the body won’t accept the transfer. Because of the universality of HU-MSCs, a donor match isn’t needed for the donated stem cells to be effective.
While HU-MSCs provide a lot of hope for the future of medical treatment, much more research has to be done to make it a viable and affordable option.
To learn about renewal therapy and our many treatments for injury rehabilitation, schedule an appointment with our team by calling your nearest office location or using our online booking feature today.