Cell therapy

Cell therapy describes the process of introducing new cells into a tissue in order to treat a disease. Cell therapies often focus on the treatment of hereditary diseases, with or without the addition of gene therapy.

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There are many potential forms of cell therapy:

• The transplantation of stem cells that are autologous (from the patient) or allogeneic (from another donor).

Main article: Stem cell treatments

• The transplantation of mature, functional cells.

• The application of modified human cells that are used to produce a needed substance.

• The xenotransplantation of non-human cells that are used to produce a needed substance. For example, treating diabetic patients by introducing insulin-producing pig cells directly into their muscle.

• The transplantation of transdifferentiated cells derived from the patient's own differentiated cells. For example, the use of insulin producing beta cells transdifferentiated from isolated hepatocytes as a treatment for diabetes.

Increasingly, mesenchymal stem cells are being proposed as agents for cell-based therapies, due to their plasticity, established isolation procedures, and capacity for ex vivo expansion.