A tremendous breakthrough for regenerative medicine occurred when Japan approved the first ever regenerative medical products made from reprogrammed human cells! These new applications of regenerative cellular medicine take us one step closer to repairing damaged organs with live cells and regenerative technologies.
A key part of this breakthrough are the use of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are adult cells that can be converted by scientists into behaving like embryonic stem cells. iPS cells are capable of becoming almost any cell type in the body, providing regenerative medicine with enormous potential.
Two transformative regenerative cellular therapies have been approved for use in Japan:
- ReHeart for severe heart failure
ReHeart uses sheets of lab-grown muscle cells derived from iPS cells to assist in repairing the heart by placing them onto a damaged heart to improve blood flow and support for healing injured/lost cardiac tissue.
- Amusepri for Parkinson’s Disease
Amusepri is a new type of regenerative cellular therapy that uses the transplantation of stem-cell-derived neuron precursors into the brain to replace the dopamine-forming neurons lost due to Parkinson’s, potentially restoring a level of functional mobility and motor control.
Why this matters
The FDA’s approval is the start of a new age of medicine:
-For example, in the future it may be possible to use lab-grown cells to fix damaged tissue
-Another example will be treating people with neurodegenerative diseases by replacing damaged neurons
-A third example could be using personalized regenerative therapies to provide treatment for patients
Up until now, the use of stem cells for therapy was primarily experimental. This marks the introduction of stem cells into real clinical medicine.
If we can reprogram cells to repair the heart and brain,What other organs might we regenerate in the future?
MBH/PS