6. Stem cell therapy is gaining popularity in India to treat a wide variety
of medical conditions including leukaemia, thallessemia, damaged cornea and several
burns. Describe briefly what stem cell therapy is and what advantages it has over other
treatments?
(150 words) 10 M
- Ans. Stem cell therapy is considered as the future of medical field because of its capability in curing the diseases. For understanding Stem Cell Therapy (SCT) first we need to understand what stem cells are. Stem cells are those type of cells which can renew themselves and can be converted into a whole new organism or a number of different type of cells.
- For example, an embryonic stem cell can be converted in multiple cell types like muscle, blood, brain etc. SCT uses these stem cells to cure disease or to replace the faulty gene with a functioning genes.
- e.g. diseases like SCID, leukaemia, Alzheimers, all happen because of certain genetic defect or modifications. SCT can replace the genetic defect in the stem cells itself which will give rise to healthy cells.
- SCT has many advantages over other therapies, like
- In stem cell therapy the stem cells used can be somatic or germ line. Somatic stem cells can cure the disease for the present generation and these cells will give rise to the healthy cells. In germ line SCT, the faulty genes are replaced from this generation and the healthy gene will now pass on to the next generation.
- So, this technique can help in eradicating the degenerative diseases from generations which other techniques could not.