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New therapy helps to prolong life
BY JOAQUIN ORAMAS
NATURALLY, the will to live, regular medical
attention and other personal habits that can be
developed without sacrifice help to prolong
existence. But they are insufficient without the
advance of medical science, which has contributed in
the last and present century to average life
expectancy rates extending from under 40 in 1900 to
80 in certain developed countries, such as Japan,
and to 75 years in Cuba.
The
news that a group of French researchers have found a
formula to multiply in vitro stem cells of human
blood opens the way to new cell and genetic
therapies that, according to experts, could provide
another route to living for 120 years.
The
mother or stem cells are those that in the initial
stages of life have the potential to convert
themselves into any other kind of cell, whether from
the nervous, muscular or other systems. There is
great euphoria in relation to these cells, as it is
possible to utilize them to repair damaged adult
organs.
They
have already been applied to repair damaged nigra
matter in the brain, a situation that provokes
Parkinson’s disease in some people. The discovery’s
significance is that, after being multiplied, the
stem cells do not lose their potentiality and
maintain the capacity to mutate into specialized
cells in different tissues.
In
parallel, they ensure the production of all the
other blood cells (red corpuscles and platelets)
responsible for cleaning and immunity functions. As
Serge Fichelson from the institute’s hematology
department explained to Libération daily,
that twin capacity makes them essential for
therapeutic treatments, but their limited number in
patients subjected to chemotherapy or with genetic
diseases have prevented treatment to date.
In
their experiments at the Cochin Institute,
researchers had recourse to the HOXB4 protein that
intervenes in embryonic formation. It has the
property of penetrating into the cells, thus
avoiding any modification of the stem cells’ genome.
On
the other hand, the experts confirmed that the
passive transference of HOXB4 provoked an increase
in stem cells within the organism.
A
CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE
The
stem cells can be derived from two sources, one
being recently formed embryos, where they are
destined to convert themselves into all the body’s
cells. This type is known as embryonic stem cells.
The second type is adult tissue, where these cells
replace moribund ones to maintain and repair the
tissue. This second type is known as adult stem
cells.
There is much controversy among scientists in
relation to the use of stem cells that, in the final
analysis, signify the dissection of an embryo that
could have been a new life.
Although they are difficult to isolate, successful
tests have been carried out using adult stem cells,
like the joint trials at the Texas Heart Institute
and the Pro-Cardiac Hospital of Brazil, where adult
stem cells extracted from bone marrow have been used
to treat persons with severe cardiac disorders.
These stem cells repair the damaged area of the
heart by mutating into new muscular and blood vessel
cells.
The
final objective in the use of stem cells is to
produce complete organs to be utilized as
transplants.
Although these are practices still in the process of
development, it is no less certain that they open
onto a scientific horizon of extraordinary
possibilities.
For more information:
redac2@granmai.cip.cu |
