Stem-cell Therapy is the use of stem cells, which are undifferentiated cells that can differentiate into any specialised cell, to either treat or prevent a disease. There are two main types of stem cells, embryonic stem cells extracted from the early blastocyst phase in embryonic development and adult stem cells found in the bone marrow. The difference between these two is their totipotency or ability to become a new cell; embryonic stem cells can develop into any type of cell, they are pluripotent. Adult stem cells can develop into the same type of cell from which they are extracted, they are multipotent (Brignier and Gewirtz S336). Due to this embryonic stem cells can treat more diseases that adult stem cells, because they can differentiate
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This differences give rise to the controversy of using stem cells in research and treatment.
The main potential use of Stem Cells in medicine is for cell and tissue replacement because they can regenerate damaged tissues and create new healthy tissues; besides they are the way to cure life-long diseases such as Sargardt’s Disease, Huntington Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Diabetes type 1, Leukaemia and many others. Stem Cell research in regenerative medicine may pave the way for a novel approach, since Embryonic stem cells can reproduce without a limit and differentiate into any cell type. Also stem cells can be used for genetic research, …show more content…
This points out that destroying the embryo ultimately means a potential human being was killed because anything with the capacity to develop into a human is considered a human being; therefore it is unethical and inmoral. Although with the introduction of iPS, this issue was supposedly eradicated, though these cells also have ethical implications; this due to the fact that they can be introduced into humans or non-human blastocysts. So what-if scientist decided to introduce human iPS cells into a mouse embryo and create a human-mouse chimera or into a human blastocyst and cause human cloning. Furthermore cloning humans reproductively is illegal, but it hasn't been ratified by all nations, so there are many debates about banning the use of iPS.
Finally there are arguments about safety and standards of the use of Stem cells; one regarding the slight chance that the patient can reject the iPS cells; because they are reprogrammed, though there is way of reprogramming this cells again to make them patient-specific; however this is a time-consuming and extremely expensive process. Due to this another argument rises that Stem-Cell Therapy won’t be available for everyone. And the other safety issue is that embryonic stem cells are capable of continued division and this may developed into cancerous cells and cause
This differences give rise to the controversy of using stem cells in research and treatment.
The main potential use of Stem Cells in medicine is for cell and tissue replacement because they can regenerate damaged tissues and create new healthy tissues; besides they are the way to cure life-long diseases such as Sargardt’s Disease, Huntington Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Diabetes type 1, Leukaemia and many others. Stem Cell research in regenerative medicine may pave the way for a novel approach, since Embryonic stem cells can reproduce without a limit and differentiate into any cell type. Also stem cells can be used for genetic research, …show more content…
This points out that destroying the embryo ultimately means a potential human being was killed because anything with the capacity to develop into a human is considered a human being; therefore it is unethical and inmoral. Although with the introduction of iPS, this issue was supposedly eradicated, though these cells also have ethical implications; this due to the fact that they can be introduced into humans or non-human blastocysts. So what-if scientist decided to introduce human iPS cells into a mouse embryo and create a human-mouse chimera or into a human blastocyst and cause human cloning. Furthermore cloning humans reproductively is illegal, but it hasn't been ratified by all nations, so there are many debates about banning the use of iPS.
Finally there are arguments about safety and standards of the use of Stem cells; one regarding the slight chance that the patient can reject the iPS cells; because they are reprogrammed, though there is way of reprogramming this cells again to make them patient-specific; however this is a time-consuming and extremely expensive process. Due to this another argument rises that Stem-Cell Therapy won’t be available for everyone. And the other safety issue is that embryonic stem cells are capable of continued division and this may developed into cancerous cells and cause