Current Stem Cell Therapies
Two types of applications
There are two types of stem cell therapy: autologous and allogeneic. In an autologous stem cell therapy, the patient is administered their own stem cells. In an allogeneic stem cell therapy, the stem cells come not from the patient, but from someone else.
What stem cell therapies already exist?
Stem cells are already used in medicine for the following purposes:
- For blood diseases such as leukaemia, medicine has for decades been using allogeneic bone marrow transplantations to replace the patient’s defective bone marrow with healthy bone marrow (I). After all, bone marrow contains many blood-forming stem cells. Since 1988, allogeneic stem cells from umbilical cord blood have also been used in the treatment of leukaemia (II). It was recently calculated that 2000 transplantations with stem cells from umbilical cord blood have already been performed. The success rate is just as high as for stem cells from bone marrow (III).
- In 2000, a leading medical journal published an authoritative article listing the disorders that can currently be treated by autologous stem cells from bone marrow (IV). These include certain forms of blood cancer, diseases of the lymph system such as Hodgkin’s disease, certain tumours (including tumours of the breast and ovaries) and autoimmune diseases such as systemic sclerosis and juvenile arthritis.
- Autologous stem cells are also used after chemotherapy in connection with cancer treatment, to help regenerate bone marrow.
For an overview of the current stem cell applications, please click here to view the PDF.
For an overview of applications using umbilical cord blood stem cells, please click here to view the PDF.
When are autologous stem cells necessary?
The use of allogeneic ‘foreign’ stem cells can in a number of disorders lead to rejection by the body. In those cases, only treatment with autologous stem cells from the patients themselves is possible. In other disorders – such as leukaemia – the doctor should decide whether to use autologous or allogeneic stem cells. Sometimes, stem cells from a close blood relation are the best solution. It is best for you to leave a medical decision of this kind to the doctor’s expertise.
One thing is certain: a doctor who can access autologous stem cells from the patient’s umbilical cord blood has more options than when this is not the case.
