Environment

Stem cell dilemma

How clinics use embryonic therapy not approved by ICMR

Dinsa Sachan

NIKUNJ Dewan is 23 years old. Unlike others his age he does not attend college; he neither parties with his friends nor goes to the cinema every weekend. Reason: He injured his spinal cord in a paragliding accident two years ago. It left his lower body paralysed. But as he is wheeled into a clinic that provides human embryonic stem cell therapy, the Delhi’ite is optimistic he will be running soon. He has been injected with stem cells four times.“After every session, I’ve felt significant improvements in my condition,” he says.

While many more people like Dewan have found a ray of hope in the use of embryonic stem cell therapy, its use is not allowed. The Indian government does not approve of any of the therapies employing human embryonic stem cells for use in the clinical set-ups.

Stem cell guidelines were issued by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in 2007. These guidelines say: “As of date, there is no approved indication for stem cell therapy as a part of routine medical practice, other than Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT). Accordingly all stem cell therapy other than BMT shall be treated as experimental. It should be conducted only as clinical trial after approval of IC-SCRT (Institutional Committee for Stem Cell Research and Therapy)/IEC (Institutional Ethics Committee) and Drugs Controller General of India (for marketable products).” Apart from BMT, the government in 2010 approved the use of limbal stem cells (found in cornea) to treat blindness.

 

Promise of stem cells
 
  • It is said that stem cells can help treat many diseases including cardiac diseases, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes and arthritis
  • Recently, cells derived from human embryonic stem cells helped improve vision in nearly two blind patients, one with Stargardt’s macular dystrophy—an inherited juvenile macular degeneration that causes progressive vision loss—and dry age-related macular degeneration. This is the first-ever medical use of stem cells taken from human embryos. The report appeared online in The Lancet on January 23
  • Another research has found that eyes are a source of neural stem cells. They can be coaxed to form other cell types. The study was published in the January issue of Cell Stem
  • In another study published in BMC Medicine, stem cells from cord blood were used to “re-educate” the immune system T cells of people with type 1 diabetes so their pancreas start producing insulin again
  • Stem cells from umbilical cords were converted into other types of cells, which may eventually lead to new treatment options for spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, among other nervous system diseases, reports the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience
No need for trials
 

What is cord banking?
 
There are two types of cord blood bank—private and public. Private banks store cord blood for 21 years. This blood is given to the donor when the need arrives. A public cord blood bank works like a normal blood bank and anybody can donate.

On requirement you are given the blood from the bank that matches yours. Experts say, when it comes to umbilical cord blood cells, most conditions require an allogenic (from one person to another) stem cell transfer, and autologous stem cell transfer (person’s own stem cells are used for treatment) is needed in very few cases. The research on cord blood stem cell therapies is also in its nascent stage
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