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Stem cell therapies are a great achievement of modern medicine. Mesenchymal cells (MSCs) have been used for many years, incl. in clinical trials, as registered drugs, and as part of medical treatment experiments. Over the past 25 years, procedures with their use have shown a high safety profile. However, patients who are considering using cellular therapy need to be vigilant because, in addition to well-defined and guided, e.g. in Poland, experimental therapies with MSC cells are also offered unconfirmed therapies that have little to do with stem cell therapies.
Mesenchymal stem cells. Power cells
Mesenchymal stem cells are cells found in most vascularized tissues. They were found in, among others in the bone marrow and in the umbilical cord blood. Stem cells have been known for over forty years and their unique properties have been proven many times. In addition to regenerative properties, these cells also exhibit immunoregulatory properties. They are able to recreate damaged tissue, they can also modulate the course of the immune response that is present in a given tissue – be it damaged or infected – at a given moment. For these reasons, these cells are of such interest.
Therapeutic benefits of mesenchymal stem cells and safety
Mesenchymal stem cells have been used extensively for many years experimentally in a variety of clinical contexts. There is an interest in using these cells, especially in incurable diseases, which, due to progressive, irreversible pathological changes, reduce the patient’s efficiency, leading to permanent disability.
Over the past 25 years, MSC procedures have demonstrated a high safety profile, to the point that there are currently over 920 clinical trials registered with MSCs. Over 10 thousand patients were treated in a controlled clinical trial setting. MSC has been used in the therapy of, inter alia, neurological, autoimmune, ischemic, ophthalmic, metabolic, musculoskeletal and respiratory diseases.
However, what is extremely important in the context of safety, the production of medicinal products based on stem cells, like other drugs of non-cellular origin, should be subject to the guidelines of good manufacturing practice in order to guarantee the quality and safety of therapies with their use.
Choose proven cell therapies
Stem cell therapies are a great achievement of modern medicine. Mesenchymal cells have been used for many years, incl. in clinical trials, as registered drugs, and as part of medical treatment experiments.
However, patients who are considering using cellular therapy need to be vigilant because, in addition to well-defined and guided, e.g. in Poland, experimental therapies with MSC cells are also offered unconfirmed therapies that have little to do with stem cell therapies. We are talking about treatments that are used without any supervision, which do not pass approval by ethical committees, and therefore it is impossible to verify whether they are analyzed by anyone for safety and effectiveness. The patient may, instead of the medicinal product, receive a mixture of different types of cells, completely unrelated to the stem cells, which is administered without any testing of the quality of the product. Moreover, in the case of unconfirmed therapy, the effects of treatment do not constitute a scientific basis, but are quoted only as statements of the patients themselves. And it is precisely such therapies that can pose a risk to patients.
As part of the social campaign “Power of Cells – Choose Confirmed Cell Therapies”, among others, educational website where patients will find useful information, references to scientific publications, and reliable tips to help them realistically evaluate cell therapy. The campaign was launched by a debate between experts from the medical, scientific and patient communities who took up the topic of cell therapies.
Mesenchymal stem cells are an enormous therapeutic potential and an area to be exploited in the context of the development of innovative medicine. However, it is worth remembering to entrust your health to the hands of people who are experts in the use of stem cells in patients.