• Question: can stem cells be used to regrow body parts?

    Asked by spiderpigjam to Clare, Mariana, Pedro, Robert, Susanne on 15 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Clare Taylor

      Clare Taylor answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      Hi! Great question! Stem cells sound like they could be the tools of the future don’t they but there are lots of challenges! At the moment, can grow stem cells in culture and get them to turn into different types of cells (we call this process differentiation) depending on whether they are adult stem cells or stem cells from an embryo.

      Did you know there were 2 kinds?
      Human embryonic stem cells (ESC) can differentiate into practically all cell types and have potential as a renewable source of functional cells but adult stem cells can generally only differentiate into the same cells as their origin.

      Here’s an example:, researchers have managed to grow new pancreatic cells using ESC, but not a whole pancreas – that would be a lot more difficult and complex. Another exciting development is that we can now reprogramme adult stem cells and make them behave like ESC. This is a really exciting development because there are lots of ethical issues surrounding the use of ESC because of where they come from.

      What do you think about using ESC?

    • Photo: Susanne Muekusch

      Susanne Muekusch answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      Hi spiderpigjam,

      No.
      Or not yet?

      The good thing is: Stem cells have the potential to produce the different cell types that are found in an organ. Some stem cells can even produce all the different cell types found in the body- everything, from nerve cells to bone cells to blood cells.

      We know for many different cell types how to tell the stem cell to produce that specific cell type. Now we have a little problem left: We have no clue how to tell the stem cell to produce the different cell types needed for one body part at once and with every cell in the right place.

      Imagine you want to grow an arm- you will need bone cells, skin cells, muscle cells, to name a few. If you just take those cells at random, you will not have an arm, but a total mess. The bone cells should be all together in the middle, the skin cells should be outside etc. An arm is quite complicated, because it has so many different cells. An organ like liver is easier, because you have less cell types, but it is still too complicated to do.

      Right now we don’t know how to regrow organs from stem cells, but scientists are working on it.

    • Photo: Mariana Campos

      Mariana Campos answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      Doctors removed adult stem cells from the bone marrow of a patient that had a wind pipe disease. they grew them in a petri dish till they had a lot of them, and them the scientist put some signals in the dish so that this stem cells turn into the cells you have in your trachea (wind pipe).
      They had got a wind pipe  from a donor (that had died from other cause). They put these new cells in the donor windpipe. And they transfered back to the patient. And it worked. 🙂
      And it looks like they’ve just done something similar to a child in Britain 🙂 check here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18980915
      So, is not really regrowing but is almost 😉

      In 2009 the SENS Foundation was launched, with its stated aim as “the application of regenerative medicine – defined to include the repair of living cells and extracellular material in situ – to the diseases and disabilities of ageing.” [21]

      In 2012, Professor Paolo Macchiarini and his team, improved upon the 2008 implant by transplanting a laboratory-made trachea seeded with the patient’s own cells.[22]

    • Photo: Robert Insall

      Robert Insall answered on 22 Nov 2012:

      Stem cells – unfortunately – can grow cancers as well. So you have to be careful with them! One big stem cell research project was stopped, because the patients got cancers.

      That probably explains why we don’t regrow bits that get cut off! Our bodies could have the machinery to do it, but the cost would be more cancer.

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