Regenecell product and procedure

This article was commissioned by Regenecell Pty Ltd, to supplement the current anecdotal data on stem cell therapy. For additional information, contact: info@regenecell.com

In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells, but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin or intestinal tissues.

As stem cells can now be grown and transformed into specialized cells with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves through cell culture, their use in stem cell therapy for degenerative diseases has been proposed, especially using highly plastic adult stem cells from the umbilical cord blood.

The classical definition of a stem cell requires that it possess two properties:

» Self-renewal - the ability to go through numerous cycles of cell division while maintaining the undifferentiated state.
» Potency - the capacity to differentiate into specialized cell types. In the strictest sense, this requires stem cells to be either totipotent or pluripotent - to be able to give rise to any mature cell type.

Potency specifies the differentiation potential (the potential to differentiate into different cell types) of the stem cell.

» Totipotent stem cells are produced from the fusion of an egg and sperm cell. Cells produced by the first few divisions of the fertilized egg are also totipotent. These cells can differentiate into embryonic and extraembryonic cell types.
» Pluripotent stem cells are the descendants of totipotent cells and can differentiate into cells derived from any of the three germ layers.

New research into stem cell therapy has resulted in several technological innovations that have improved the manufacturing and design of these products. Improvements in cell sorting and cell culture have allowed for improved survival and growth of umbilical cord stem cells. This allows for the rapid production of a high-quality adult stem cell product with increased bio-availability that may be produced on a large scale.

Adult stem cell therapies were traditionally thought to have poor therapeutic potential because they could only be produced in limited quantities or as needed. Now adult stem cells have the potential to become standardized pre-made therapies that can be mass produced.

New evidence suggests that umbilical cord blood stem cells have more plasticity than once thought, and derive more tissue types. In addition, new technical innovations allow for umbilical cord stem cells to be cultured in large quantities without the loss of potency making it an ideal cell type to use in regenerative therapy.