Novel Stem Cell technologies (Isolation & Differentiation)
Stem cell technologies are now much easier to isolate and differentiate when compared to years ago. This paper shows those cells to have great plasticity with potential therapeutic application. Isolation and differentiation characteristics of those stems cells were considered to be on properties of the mesenchymal stem cells to be able to adhere to plastic surfaces.
The importance of this research is that of the understanding of the properties of the stem cells and what make them function the way they were. Understanding that is being provided by this would represent a stepping stone for future advancement regarding more function stem cells could offer in the future.
Therapeutic development of stem cells
Since the discovery of stem cells, there have been several researches into the nature of stem cells and its therapeutic implication. This paper provides an understanding into the intricacies surrounding the leukemia stem cells and their associated cells of origin. The relationship between the hematopoietic cells and those leukemia stem cells in terms of differentiation into one another was also highlighted.
This paper simply advances the current knowledge in the field of stem cell research by shedding more light on the differentiation and the pathway which could be an important implication for the development of therapeutic modes in the future to manage acute myelogenous leukemias. An important mode by which this research could be applied is to actually conduct other studies on the current knowledge being produced by this research.
Ethical issues
Some of the major ethical issues focused on by this research paper are that of ability of academia or biotechnological companies that are aiming at stem cell technology in solving issues could have difficulty in targeting cells that are not cancer cells or the mesenchymal cells. The issue around this is that when targeting such cancer cells that are being focused by the researches it would take a longer time for such targeting to be achieved.
Another view to it is that of the toxicity that could be caused by such targets to those cells that endogenous stem cells. This would advance our knowledge as regards to prevention of excessive toxicity towards the aspect of endogenous stem cells and the application could be very important regarding further research towards prevention damage to non target cells.
References
Beyer, N & Meirelles, S., (2006). Mesenchymal stem cells: Isolation, in vitro expansion and characterization. U.S. National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health. PubMed. (174):249-82.
Pranela, R. (2011). Post-Identification of Cancer Stem Cell: Ethical and Scientific Dilemmas in Therapeutic Development?. Stem Cell Research & Therapy.
Retrieved 1 May, 2011 from http://www.omicsonline.org/2157-7633/2157-7633-1-e101.pdf
Stubbs, M & Armstrong, S. (2007). "Therapeutic Implications of Leukemia Stem Cell Development". Clinical Cancer Research vol. 13, no. 12, pp. 3439-3442
