PEOPLE AND THEIR PROBLEMS

New Delhi, 30 September 2005

Future Of Genetic Medicine

FORAYS INTO STEM CELL RESEARCH

By Radhakrishna Rao

A number of initiatives spearheaded by both the Government-funded agencies and private sector outfits in India are all set to give a new direction and orientation to the state-of-the-art stem cell research described as the future of medical science. For quite sometime now, there has been a growing realization of the need to foster and strengthen public private partnership to sustain the tempo of stem cell research which calls for a huge investment and creation of research facilities.

“Public-private partnership is inevitable for sustainability due to high cost involved in stem cell research” says Dr.Chander P.Puri, Director of the Mumbai based National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRH), which functions under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Interestingly, the Union Health Ministry has sanctioned a grant of Rs.5-million to NIRH to help set up a well-equipped stem cell research facility in Mumbai.

On its part, the Union Health Ministry is in dialogue with the privately-owned Korean research enterprise Histostem for setting up four umbilical cord blood banks in India. Incidentally, cryo storage of umbilical cord, the richest source of stem cells, is gaining in popularity. Described as a bio-insurance the stored umbilical cord stem cells can be used to set right many of the hitherto incurable afflictions at any point of the life of an individual.  The stem cell bank has been described as the future of genetic medicine.

As pointed out by Dr.A.Ramdoss, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, human stem cell banking in India could receive a boost in the country if 2.5-crore waste umbilical cord were cryo-frozen and later used for stem cell research. “There is a need to stop this wastage and these could be channelized   to stem cell banks”, he said.

For many years now, bio-medical researchers have been envisioning the use of stem cells to cure degenerate disorders including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Researchers have found that these cells when injected into the affected areas begin replicating and transforming into cells of the organ, in the process recovering the degenerate disease. 

In a significant breakthrough the New Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) has pioneered a novel injection method for an effective stem cell therapy.  This innovative technique perfected by doctors at this prestigious Institute helps to deliver the stem cells to the site of the diseased organ in patient suffering from a variety of ailments.

According the AIIMS sources, the specialized stem cells that are versatile enough to perform a variety of functions initiate the process of repair and regeneration of diseases cells.  This, in turn, substantially brings down the severity of disease.  Over the last two years, more than 30 patients suffering from heart-related ailments were subjected to stem cell treatment.  In majority of cases, the dead heart muscles of the patients were revived.  It has held out the hope of setting right several immune related disorders and degenerate diseases. 

In Banglore, the Manipal Hospital is planning to carry out stem cell-based trial to tackle neurological and other disorders.  According to Satish Totey, Director of Stem Cell Research Centre at the Hospital, trials will be conducted for persons suffering from myocardial infraction, spinal cord injury, peripheral arterial diseases and optic nerve.

On another front, Appolo hospital group has tied up with Histostem to set up a stem cell therapy Centre which will make use of the cord blood. Reliance Life Sciences in Mumbai, National Centre for Biological Science and Pune-based National Centre for Life Sciences are some of the major centers of excellence in the area of stem cell research.  On its part, Reliance Life Sciences has revealed that it will invest Rs.200 million for speeding up stem cell research. 

The Hyderabad-based L.V. Prasad Eye Institute is among the few medical centers in the world that have been putting the fruits of stem cell research to the good use.  Here doctors take about one millimeter limbal tissue from the healthy eye of the patient, culture them on an appropriate surface and graft it on to the diseased eye. 

The Banglore-based Cryostem Karnataka Pvt. Ltd, which is both a cord stem cell bank and research center has entered into an agreement with Malasia’s Stem Life to expand the scope of its research and development activities.  This tie up is expected to pave way for opening up the stem cell transplantation facilities in various parts of S.E. Asia.  “This tie up with Stem Life is important and will strengthen our endeavour in fighting the disease that don’t have a cure and those include Parkinson’s disease, Alzhiemer’s, diabetes and myocardial infarction” says Dr. S.G.A. Rao, Chairman of Managing Director of Cryostem Karnataka.

Basically, stem cells are considered wonder cells that are capable of developing into any of more than 200 cell types that make up the human body.  As such stem cell research offers potential of replacing the “faulty” and “malfunctioning” tissues and pave way for curing the hitherto incurable diseases.  Stem cells grow into virtually and kind of tissue in human body when properly nurtured.  The new stem cell lines, researchers hope, can replace the old ones and worn out cells within the human body, serving as a miracle cure for degenerative diseases.

All said and done, many aspects and features of stem cells continue to puzzle researchers.  As pointed out by Dr. Peter A. Andrews, Chairman of the International Stem Cell Forum, “The basic science of stem cell biology is still not fully well understood.  By and large, people today know how to derive stem cell but we do not know what exactly do they do and how to control them.  We do not know how to keep them in desired state so that they can be used when needed.  All this will take time, perhaps the normal span in any new treatment. 

With the US restricting the scope of stem cell research under pressure from Christian fundamentalists, countries such as India, South Korea, China and Japan are expected to take lead in this vital research could prove costly for the USA which seems to buckling under the influence of Christian Taliban.---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Features Alliance)