These cells are used to treat various medical conditions which include Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, ALS and etc. Human stem cells are specialized cells that can give rise to a wide variety of bodily cells. A stem cell is an immature cell of an organism that has the potential to develop into an infinite number of other cells of the same type. Through a process known as differentiation, stem cells can also develop into certain other types of cells. Stem cells function as the body's system for tissue repair and can produce healthy cells to replace diseased ones.
Adult stem cells, which come from fully grown organs such the brain, skin, and bone marrow, and embryonic stem cells, which are derived from developing embryos, are the two primary categories of stem cells. Induced pluripotent stem cells, a third variety of human-engineered stem cells, are adult stem cells that have undergone laboratory modification to resemble embryonic stem cells more.
Stem cell therapy has become a treatment option for multiple diseases owing to its unique regenerative properties. The stem cell therapy entails the repairing and regeneration of the damaged cells within the body. It helps in reducing the inflammation and balancing the immune system.
Stem cell therapy affects beneficial change within the body by harnessing the self-renewal, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, signalling, and differentiation capabilities of stem cells.
Healthy stem cells are given to a patient during a stem cell transplant to replace damaged stem cells. The patient's own body can provide the stem cells (autologous), or they can originate from a donor (allogeneic). High doses of chemotherapy and perhaps radiation therapy is given to the patient prior to the transplant in order to get their body ready for the procedure. After that, the bone marrow stem cells are removed and replaced. In comparison to an allogeneic transplant, an autologous stem cell transplant has various benefits, such as defence against underlying blood malignancies.
Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is a deadly neurodegenerative disease that attacks the motor nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, impairing human body muscles. The disease's literal definition is the degeneration of the voluntary muscles as a result of their inadequate nutrient supply.
The earliest symptoms are typically so modest that they might occasionally be disregarded. Some of these include slurred or nasal speech, fasciculation, cramping, tight muscles, and trouble chewing or ingesting. These initial signs and symptoms could worsen into significant atrophy, leading a doctor to suspect ALS. Other than the first signs, the upper motor neuron's increasing symptoms include spasticity and heightened reflexes, such as the huge toe pointing upward when the foot's sole is stimulated in a particular way.
In two to five years, the person will become paralysed and die as their muscles deteriorate. Lower motor nerve cells, which regulate a variety of functions including limb movement, swallowing, and even breathing, are the only neurons impacted.
There isn't a clinically useful treatment for ALS at the moment. The use of medications with anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptotic qualities, pharmaceuticals that provide trophic factors, as well as glutamate receptor blockers have all been tried as therapy approaches in the past, but none of them have produced conclusive outcomes in clinical trials.
Only one drug, Riluzole, has been licenced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of ALS. This anti-glutamate medication has an uncertain mechanism of action and only slightly lengthens patients' lives by two to three months. ALS patients are still in dire need of new medications because there is no effective treatment for the disease.
The most thorough method of treating ALS would be to create a therapy that can sustain or regain motor neuron activity, given the intricacy of the illness and the least understood pathomechanisms.
The process that is followed is that a certain number of stem cells are isolated from either of the sources- autologous i.e. from the body of the patient or allogeneically using the help of a donor. These stem cells are then isolated and enriched to be infused back into the body of the patient. This can be via an intrathecal or intravenous administration. Post infusion, these cells improve the voluntary functions of the body.
Stem cell therapy is being researched as a possible treatment for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) . Stem cells are able to acquire new specialized characteristics by being induced in a lab through differentiation and/or trans-differentiation. These processes may allow stem cells to develop new properties, including supporting and encouraging neuroprotective qualities within damaged tissue, helping repair and potentially delay the breakdown of motor neurons while also facilitating axonal growth.
Owing to its regenerative ability, stem cells are used for the treatment of a wide range of ailments, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, if we specifically talk about the effect of stem cell therapy in ALS, various clinical models suggest that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) may represent a promising approach to treat ALS. Well, mesenchymal stem cells have been used to treat certain diseases and disorders, such as heart attacks, osteoarthritis, nerve damage, eye injuries, and even corneal blindness. One of the most critical functions that they carry out is assisting in tissue healing and regeneration by releasing growth factors. They have also been used to fight cancer tumors by either identifying which type of tumor the patient has and then adapting directly to those properties through differentiation or directly attacking cancerous tumors through the immune response.
Nonetheless, reaching out to a reliable therapy canter can be a complex task, but you don’t have to worry as long as Dr. Rajput is with you. He is the founder of Stem Cell Research Center where you can go to get top-class stem cell therapy at the most reasonable costs.
Stem Cell treatment is available in India and the average cost is estimated to be between 15-25 lacs depending upon the kind of facilities the patient opts to avail during treatment.
The average cost of treatment for ALS in India is between 5-10 lacs.
The prevalence rate of ALS has been estimated to be 3.9 per 100,000 patients on average. With an increase in the total number of reported cases, this ratio rises each year.
The cells derived from the blood of the human umbilical cord, embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells and neural stem cells can be used for the treatment of ALS.
The enriched stem cells are infused back into the body of the patient, and this can be via an intrathecal or intravenous administration.