Extended Abstract
Kulvinder Kaur
Abstract
Treating diseases using regenerative medicine holds a great promise with the development of various kinds of stem cells, be it embryonic stem cells, induce pluripotent cells or parthenogenetic stem cells. The above have a great limitation because of cost factor, number of personnel required along with need for immunotherapy with fear of transplant rejection for ESC’s. Thus in the therapies last decade how stem cells interact with their support niche, namely the microenvironment of stem cells has markedly improved our basics in this field. Hence therapies directed towards resident stem cells are already in clinical trials. They may be gradually used more extensively in regenerative medicine, chronic degenerative disease, obesity and cancer. Problems and challenges in this include assigning the tissue specificity of any intervention, to ensure quality of repair in long term along with avoiding side effects like carcinogenesis. Therapies involving developmental pathways like Wnt, Hedgehog or notch signaling may be teratogenic or carcinogenic. Having broader therapeutic window maybe justified in case of conditions like cancer. Most successful regenerative medicine treatment involving endogenous repair will prove to be combination therapies. Thus targeting the niche is complementary to approach, which targets stem cells directly and in long term apply those are different times to effect recovery on the basis of dynamics of stem cell–niche interactions.