Discussion Forums > Working Towards a Cure
New Research Sheds Light On How Stem Cells Turn Into Blood Cells
Dori:
I understand now why my doctor said that I should wait 10 years for a BMT. Nine years to go, hahaha! :biggrin I never want to have one and always said (saying) that I will think about that when I beated the ferritin. :wink
Manal:
Andy
I realy don't inderstand how can this help in genetic blood disorder???
Aren't these stem cells are already muted???
When blood is formed from these stem cells for the first time,it is supposed to last for a certain period of time (120days), how will new blood be formed again.. i am mean the continous supply of ''good'' blood?
manal
Andy Battaglia:
Manal,
The key is what they are learning to trigger the process of prompting stem cells to become blood cells. We've already seen how a somewhat primitive method has shown with retrodifferentiation creating red blood cells that provide at least 6 months of transfusion independence, and I think that once stem cell research gets going, we are going to see major advances. The goal is to get this happening for long periods. This is the same thing that needs to be seen with gene therapy. Will it continue to work over time or will boosters be needed? Even if treatment with stem cells is needed periodically, the result would be blood with a normal lifespan rather than the very short lifespan of transfused blood, and also a complete elimination of antibodies being transferred by transfusion. A normal lifetime for blood would also mean a normal iron load. This alone would make it all worthwhile.
I think we are in an age where medical advances are happening so fast that we will soon be seeing major changes in the treatment for thalassemia.
Manal:
Ameen :pray :pray :pray
manal
nice friend:
Ameen, hope to hear good news regarding stem cell therapy in soon future .. A cure with less risky and promising treatment ....
Always Praying for this
Umair
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version