Developing Areas of Medicine

Tissue Regeneration

Tissue regeneration is an approach to disease and aging that is directed toward the regrowth of dead or damaged tissue. Regenerative medicine is the concept of repairing the body by developing new tissues and organs as the old ones "wear out." This type of approach began with growing new skin for burn victims and has acquired new potential with knowledge about stem cells and the understanding of the human genome. Recently, scientists have been able to influence cord blood stem cells to differentiate into neurons, suggesting these cells may be suitable for transplantation in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Additional applications of this technology include gene delivery to the central nervous system, and repair of brain and spinal cord injuries. Data has also shown that cord blood stem cells may be able to repair brain damage resulting from stroke. In animal studies, treatment with cord blood stem cells twenty-four hours after stroke significantly improved functional recovery.

Angiogenesis

Angiogenesis refers to the formation of blood vessels. For certain diseases, vascular functionality is a key factor in disease progression or improvement. Scientists have been looking at therapeutic angiogenesis as a potential way to treat heart disease for some time.
Cord blood stem cells contain abundant endothelial progenitor cells, which have been shown to proliferate blood vessel growth. In the future, this could benefit treatments for heart disease, allowing patients to essentially "grow their own bypass."

Gene Therapy

Gene therapy refers to cellular-based approaches to treatment, whereby a gene is inserted into a stem cell, or population of cells with a "vector" (usually an inactivated virus) and those "corrected" or "modified" cells are reintroduced back into the patient. These cells then multiply, and after a critical mass of cells has been generated, the therapeutic effect of the gene correction is realized.