STEM CELL

Harriette M. FLores

Introduction: What are stem cells, and why are they important?

Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many

different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In
addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair
system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells
as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell
divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell
or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such
as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Stem cells are distinguished from other cell types by two important
characteristics. First, they are unspecialized cells capable of
renewing themselves through cell division, sometimes after long
periods of inactivity. Second, under certain physiologic or
experimental conditions, they can be induced to become tissue- or
organ-specific cells with special functions. In some organs, such as
the gut and bone marrow, stem cells regularly divide to repair and
replace worn out or damaged tissues. In other organs, however, such
as the pancreas and the heart, stem cells only divide under special
conditions.

What is stem cell research?

 Understand more about development, aging, disease

o Experimental model systems
 Prevent or treat diseases and injuries
o Cell-based therapies
o Pharmaceutical development
 Includes testing and drug delivery

All STEM CELLS can

1. Self-renews
2. Differentiates

Stem Cell Types

1. TOTIPOTENT stem cells come from embryos that are less than 3
days old. These cells can make the total human being because
they can form the placenta and all other tissues.
2. Embryonic – PLURIPOTENT: can form almost any cell type in the
human body
3. Tissue-Specific (Adult) – MULTIPOTENT: can form only limited
types of cells (blood, brain, liver, etc.)
4. INDUCED PLURIPOTENT – engineered by scientists to act like
embryonic stem cells
Signals to STEM CELLS

o Cells stick and respond to molecules embedded in their

extracellular environment
o They also respond to chemicals or molecules floating around in
the liquid surrounding them
o Cells can feel and communicate with each other and also can
respond to forces.

In induced Pluripotent Stem Cell technology,

1. Isolate and culture skin cells from a patient.
2. Introduce three or four pluripotency genes into the skin cells
by using an engineered virus carrier.
3. After the skin cells have been genetically engineered, you
harvest and culture them according to the method for embryonic
stem cell culture—that is, together with feeder cells.
4. Through this process, a subset of the cells generates embryonic-
stem-cell-like colonies called induced Pluripotent Stem cells.

Pros and Cons to iPS cell technology

• Pros:
– Cells would be genetically identical to patient or donor of
skin cells (no immune rejection!)
– Do not need to use an embryo
• Cons:
– Cells would still have genetic defects
– One of the pluripotency genes is a cancer gene
– Viruses might insert genes in places we don’t want them
(causing mutations)

Factors Affecting Stem Cells

• Low stress levels
• Regular exercise
• Enriching experiences
• Learning new information
• Healthy diets: rich in antioxidants
• Avoid excessive drinking

USES OF STEM CELLS

1. Cord Blood Bank
2. Bone marrow transplant

What are stem cell technologies?

• Cloning technologies
– Is human cloning a technology?
– What is different about cloning embryonic stem cells?
• Induced Pluripotent Stem cells
– New ways to potentially avoid the use of embryos
– Disease-specific stem cell lines created
 – The promise and potential pitfalls of this approach
FUTURE STUDY
• Pluripotent
– Expanded developmental potential allows them
to be used in ways that adult stem cells cannot
• Can proliferate indefinitely in culture
• Easier to obtain than adult stem cells
• Stem cell field is still in its infancy
• Human embryonic stem cell research is a decade old, adult stem
cell research has 30-year head start
• Holds hope for curing or improving treatments for
70+ diseases