Pros of Adult Stem Cell Research

Adult stem cell research involves the use of adult stem cells in attempts to cure disease and other medical conditions. Studying cell therapy may enable doctors to clone organs for transplant or repair organ tissue and help healthy organs to grow. They may be able to be used for testing drugs, with accurate results. There are countless benefits to adult stem cell research, with few of the controversies that surround embryonic stem cell research.

Benefits of Using Adult Stem Cells

• There are many benefits to using adult stem cells in conducting stem cell research. The main benefit is the ease of obtaining adult stem cells for research and medicinal purposes. Patients may be able to use their own stems cells in the treatment of their condition, and there is no political controversy associated with obtaining adult stem cells. Furthermore, the use of these cells has shown promising results, more so than embryonic stem cell research.

Why Adult Stem Cells are Useful

• Stem cells are useful for research because they have the ability to become any type of cell. Stem cells are cells that are still in development. As they develop, they can become any type of cell -- they can become a skin cell, a nerve cell, a liver cell or anything else that they are programmed to do. Within the body, the stem cells naturally become the tissue and organs that they are supposed to be. However, in a laboratory setting, the cells can be programmed to become specific cells that meet the needs o the scientist or patient. The process is then self-sustaining and self-replicating: once a cell is told what to become, it continues to produce other cells that become the same thing through the process of cell division.

  Adult stem cells are potent and can be used to make a wide variety of different cells designed for healing.

Where to Get Them

• Adult stem cells are also useful because they exist in virtually unlimited supply. The stems cells can be obtained from bone marrow, the lining of the nose, fat cells, olfactory tissue, menstrual blood, neuronal sources or numerous other places. They can come from the umbilical cord when a baby is born or the placenta of a woman who gives birth.

  The virtually unlimited nature of stem cells makes them a very useful tool both for research and healing.

Uses

• There are numerous potential and actual uses for adult stem cells. If research continues and is successful, adult stem cells may be able to provide a cure for Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, blindness, Crohn's disease, blindness and even cancer. They may be able to create organs for transplant.

  Today, adult stem cells have already proved successful in treating certain illnesses and conditions. They are routinely used for bone marrow transplants in leukemia patients. The Life Issues Institute has presented case studies showing the successful use of adult stem cells in the care and treatment of cancer, the spinal cord, heart disease, heart tissue regeneration, corneal reconstruction and autoimmune disease treatment.

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Adult Stem Cells Vs. Embyronic Stem Cells

• Adult stem cells have become more useful than embryonic stem cells both because of the lack of controversy of using adult stem cells and because of the greater degree of success with adult stem cells According to the Life Issues Institute, adult stem cells have proven to be both potent and successful in a clinical setting.

  However, some medical groups and professionals remain in favor of the use of embryonic stem cells despite the controversy. For example, researchers at Mayo Clinic has touted the success of embryonic stem cell therapy as a treatment for cardiac illness in a 2004 study.