Health and Tech: Long road ahead for regenerative medicine

Regenerative medicine, which involves the technology of using human stem cells to repair and regenerate damaged tissue or cartilage between two joints, has become a booming industry and a major area of research worldwide in the last few years.

Hyderabad: Regenerative medicine, which involves the technology of using human stem cells to repair and regenerate damaged tissue or cartilage between two joints, has become a booming industry and a major area of research worldwide in the last few years.

While there are numerous clinics and high-end healthcare establishments offering stem-cell technology to regenerate destroyed tissue and give pain relief, the fact also remains that so far not many have been able to deliver fully on the promise.

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Regenerative medicine is based on the concept of the human body’s natural ability to heal itself. Across the world, scientists are carrying out numerous studies aimed at developing therapies to induce or support the human body to regenerate and repair damaged tissue or cells on its own.

In recent years, due to its promise and potential, regenerative medicine has been hailed as the future of joint repair. As a result, it has also spawned several unregulated clinics which promise a lot but are yet to deliver 100 per cent success. A majority of regenerative medicine research and therapeutics are centred on the treatment of osteoarthritis. The aim is to utilise the body’s own stem cells to repair and rebuild the cartilage between the joints, enabling arthritic patients to walk effortlessly.

“We are still years away from having foolproof and tested regenerative therapeutics that can make damaged cartilage in the joints regrow on its own. However, there is definite potential and promise in regenerative medicine in the future. As a result, multiple research studies are being taken up worldwide. At this moment, people must not get carried away by promises because we are not there yet,” says Dr Maheshwar Lakkireddy, head of orthopaedics at AIIMS Bibinagar.

Stem cells and joints

Noted US-based healthcare and research facility Mayo Clinic defines stem cells as the ‘body’s raw materials, the cells from which all other cells with specialised functions are generated. Under the right conditions in the body or a laboratory, stem cells divide to form more cells. No other cell in the body has the natural ability to generate new cell types’.

Stem cell therapy is increasingly being used to treat arthritis based on the concept that it can renew the damaged tissue for almost any part of the body. Usually, clinicians collect Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) — found mainly in bone marrow and fat — for such procedures.

The stem cells are separated from other tissue components and are then injected into the painful joint with the hope that they (stem cells) will initiate tissue regeneration in the joint.

Indian scenario

Last year, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in a paper titled ‘Evidence-based Status of Stem Cell Therapy for Human Diseases’, said, “Unfortunately, the promise of regenerative medicine in general, and stem cells in particular, is yet to be realised due to several technical, biological, ethical and medical challenges. To produce a sufficient number of specialised cells for restoring a lost body function with just a small number of stem cells or by using stem cells from one organ to restore cells and function of a different organ has proven to be far more difficult in humans than what was thought based on animal experiments. As a result, the inherent appeal of stem cells has remained largely unfulfilled in human diseases.”

Despite the cutting-edge research on stem cells, senior orthopaedic surgeons in Hyderabad have pointed out that there is no firm evidence that stem cells can restore lost tissue or cause damaged cartilage to regrow on its own.