What are stem cells?

They are immature cells from embryos, foetuses or adults that have the ability to transform into different kinds of tissue.

There's been a lot of recent press comment about the use of stem cell therapy for treatment of spinal cord injuries and other types of conditions.

It's understandable that people with spinal cord injuries who are paraplegic or tetraplegic seek any sort of treatment that may bring them back to their pre-injury state, and a quick internet search reveals that stem cell therapy is offered by physicians and clinics in the USA, India and China.

Desperate patients are charged tens of thousands of pounds for treatment, and claims are made about miracle recoveries following stem cell therapy, which involves injecting stem cells into the spinal cord fluid.

Stem cell therapy being offered at present sees stem cells 'harvested' from the patient's own bone marrow and then injected back into the cerebro-spinal fluid – a different process to embryonic stem cell therapy.

There's also the prospect of stem cells being harvested from embryos, which has prompted ethical and regulatory debate here and in the USA, where the Food and Drug Administration has just given regulatory approval to biotech company Geron to begin clinical trials using stem cells derived from human embryos.

Geron plans to test the therapy on volunteer patients paralysed by spinal cord injuries, in the hope that this will prompt damaged nerve cells to re-grow, enabling patients to eventually recover feeling and movement.

The trial will primarily assess the safety of the treatment, which has been under development for some time.

No reliable evidence

Right now there appears to be no reliable evidence that any of the treatments work.

Stem cells at present do hold out the hope of exciting medical advances in the future for a host of conditions and diseases, but it's early days for clinical trial therapy testing, and there are no peer reviewed tests to prove the efficacy of the therapies.

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