Stem CellsBy Khadija Ali and Samruddhi Mujumdar

What’s the Big Idea?

• Stem cells are the innovation of tomorrow.• They are cells that have the ability to specialise

and become almost anything you like; found even in our bodies.• Researched and developed right now, to change

the face of the medical world.• If done correctly medicine and the world of

pharmacology will never be the same again.

Public Health

• How will the advancing technology that is stem cells change the public health sector?• Three areas will be affected the most:• ALS• Heart• Chimeras

• How will these areas be affected?

http://www.alsa.org/research/focus-areas/stem-cells/?referrer=https://www.bing.com/

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis(ALS)• Identifying the problem:

The neurodegenerative disease that affects the brain and the spinal cord.

• In a person who isn’t affected, the motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and then to the muscles to move.

• So how is it caused?• Progressive degeneration of the motor

neurons eventually leads to a loss of voluntary muscle action

• The issue:Hard to find a treatment to prevent degeneration or regenerate cells.

What will Stem Cells do?• Cells can differentiate into the cells required for

the patient.• Patients own stem cells cannot be used so iPSCs

are used(Induces pluripotent stem cells).• These are created by skin cells and a mixture of

naturally occurring growth factors so they turn into stem cells.

• Cells are then differentiated into:• Upper corticospinal motor neurons, which

when damaged cause uncontrolled muscle spasms.

• Lower motor neurons, that when damaged cause weak muscles.

The Heart• What are some of the main issues?

• What is a myocardial infarction?

• Repair irreversible damage done by myocardial infarctions.

• Heart attack survivors are left suffering , due to heart no longer pumping blood effectively.

• Some tissue can become stunned myocardium due to poor function, can return if blood flow improves.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11613306/Heartbreak-stem-cells-could-repair-damage-of-

heart-attack.html

Irreversible? • Scientists working towards an injection

of the heart stem cells.• BHF and ICL discovered stem cell in the

heart that is crucial to regeneration process.

• After stem cells are injected, the heart can pump twice as much blood.

• Currently used on mice.• Identifying protein, PDGFRα.• Use protein to find and multiply enough

stem cells for repairing process.• Repair after 12 weeks.

http://www.heartdiseaseattack.com/heart_attack_damage.php

Chimeras• Term taken from Greek mythology,

meaning an animal of a different species.

• Exploring ways to grow human organs inside an embryo of another species.

• Do this by changing the DNA.

Why are we using

Chimeras?

• Every day in the United States, 22 people die waiting for an organ transplant.• Supply of organs shrinking as demands keep

increasing.• Scientists using different species to house these

growths.• Species being explored include pigs, despite 90

million years of evolution separating them from humans, lots of biology is shared.• Human- mouse chimeras haven’t been

successful.

https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2017/02/09/will-pig-human-chimeras-solve-organ-transplant-shortage/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38717930

How are Chimeras made?• Human totipotent stem cells

injected into a pig embryo.

• Pig embryo held in place while needle injects with stem cells.

• Embryo implanted for up to 1 month.

• 2,075 embryos, only 186 continue to develop

• The human cells were working

http://www.nature.com/news/stem-cells-take-root-in-drug-development-1.10713

Drug Development

• So what does the advancing technology of stem cells mean for the drug industry?• Well it’s going to change

everything from the types of drugs distributed to the actual testing.

Toxicity of Drugs on the Market• Stem cells adopted in pharmacology.• Help to identify new therapies.• Selling heart and liver cells from ESC.• Used to test if drugs are toxic or not instead

of trialling on humans.• Stem cells mirror different gene codes and

the effect of different medicines on different people.

• Increases overall safety

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130611111712.htm

http://www.nature.com/subjects/disease-model

Disease Modelling

• What is it?• An animal or cells displaying all of some of the

pathological processes that are observed in the actual disease. • Studying disease models, aids understanding of

how different diseases develop and help with testing future treatment approaches.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3785403/

Recent Advancements• Progress in cellular

reprogramming has opened a door in disease modelling.

• Pluripotent stem cells representing a myriad of genetic diseases can now be produced from a patients tissue.

• Cells can be expanded and differentiated to produce an almost endless supply of the affected cell type.

• Can be used as a tool to improve understanding of disease mechanisms and test therapeutic interventions.

http://kjim.org/m/journal/view.php?number=169327

Key to Success?

• Disease modelling with patient derives iPSCs has been successfully used to clarify pathophysiology of seven rare diseases.

• These include:• Retinal degeneration• Spinal Muscular atrophy• Alzheimer’s disease

• Next steps are to employ these iPSC- based platforms for molecular analysis of a disease phenotype in question.

• This is then followed by drug screening and drug development.

• If done correctly, this can help save millions of lives across the planet.

The Ethics• While using stem cells is great for the future there are

arguments both for and against.• Against:

• ESC- people may be against using embryos(breaches sanctity of life).

• Chimeras breach animal rights.• Against natural order of life.• Religious argument of being against God’s plan.

• For:• No longer need to do multiple trials on animals and

humans.• Prevent damage to organ donor.• Help eradicate diseases.• Chimeras can help with:

• Screening of drugs• Studying human diseases• Understanding stages of embryo development• Explaining differences between species