Stem cells have the potential to differentiate into multiple functional cells and can self renew through cell division. Scientists regard stem cells as a breakthrough to cure many diseases. Stem cells have inestimable medical value in the field of regenerative medicine, providing new ideas for effective treatment of many major diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and so on.

At present, the most mature application of stem cells is hematopoietic stem cells. With the continuous development of stem cell technology, the clinical application of other stem cells such as mesenchymal stem cells, reproductive stem cells, myocardial stem cells, etc. is also gradually developing, and breakthrough progress has been made in some fields. There are roughly five application fields of stem cell technology in clinical medicine: cell replacement therapy, system reconstruction, tissue engineering, gene therapy, and beauty anti-aging.

Cell replacement therapy: use mesenchymal stem cells, reproductive stem cells, neural stem cells and other adult stem cells to repair nervous system diseases, diabetes, reproductive system diseases, etc. There has been continuous breakthrough progress in this field, but further research is needed on the quantity, timing, and long-term safety of stem cell transplantation;

System reconstruction: By utilizing hematopoietic stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells, the body's hematopoietic and immune systems can be reconstructed, making it a routine treatment for blood diseases such as leukemia, aplastic anemia, and immune system deficiency disorders;

Tissue engineering: Using adult stem cells to cultivate in vitro to form some tissue organs, which can replace the diseased tissue organs in the human body. The cultured tissue organs can also be used as disease models and drug detection models;

Gene therapy: Stem cells, as ideal target cells for gene therapy, can create an environment for stable expression of target genes. However, further research is needed on the use of stem cells in gene therapy, such as improving gene transfer efficiency, stabilizing gene expression, and preventing tumor occurrence caused by gene integration;

Anti aging health care: Utilizing the multi-directional differentiation and repair ability of stem cells to repair the aging body, changing the aging state of the body at the genetic level, rebuilding damaged and aging tissues and organs, and achieving the goal of anti-aging health care.

In addition, stem cells also have important application significance in fields such as disease research, developmental biology models, and systems biology research.

No.BNC-GW20180014