How Can Cell Medicine Improve
Physical Health?

How Can Cell Medicine Improve
Physical Health?
The body’s natural healing capabilities can be harnessed by cell therapy to halt
disease, repair damaged cells and restore function brtagandturf. Significant advances in cell
biology, gene editing, protein engineering and tissue culture technology have
created a fertile scientific environment for the field of regenerative medicine. Our
scientists are at the forefront of this field, developing new cell therapies that can
improve physical health.

Stem cells have the unique ability to transform into specialized cells that can form
different tissues and organs in our bodies. Scientists are able to use these cells to
replace or modulate the function of dysfunctional or diseased cells in our bodies to
treat many diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
Cell therapy can also target specific biological processes that cause a disease to
worsen over time, such as cellular senescence, which leads to the breakdown of
tissues and organs in old age. Scientists have found that transplanting a small
number of senescent cells into young mice is sufficient to disrupt the function of
multiple organs and increase the mortality rate in these animals.
The most well-known example of a cell-based therapy is bone marrow transplants.
Blood-forming stem cells that are found in bone marrow can be infused into patients
to treat blood cancers and other diseases.

In addition to blood, stem cells are also found in other organs, such as the lungs and
kidneys. Our researchers are working to develop methods of obtaining mesenchymal
stem cells from these sites for use in cell-based therapies.
Our scientists have also developed new ways of delivering drugs to the body using
cells that can “homing in” on a targeted site, such as tumors or inflammation. One
approach uses a type of stem cell called mesenchymal progenitor cells, which are
found in the bone marrow and can be reprogrammed to secrete tumor-killing
proteins.
A second approach involves using a special class of immune cells that are known as
Treg cells, which act as the ‘natural brakes’ in the immune system and regulate how
aggressively other immune cells attack healthy tissue. HSCI scientists have shown
that these cells can be reprogrammed to become more like embryonic stem cells,
which would make them less likely to be rejected by the body’s immune system.
The final category of regenerative medicine focuses on boosting the body’s own
natural production of healthy cells that can fight infection, repair damaged cells and
protect against chronic inflammatory conditions. For example, HSCI scientists have
used reprogramming to turn regular adult cells into hematopoietic stem cells that
produce new blood cells and platelets. These can then be injected into the patient’s
body to treat certain disorders, such as blood cancers and cardiovascular disease.
This treatment is in the early stages of testing in humans and has promising
potential.