Role of bone marrow transplants in increasing the survival of patients with leukemia and other cancers, inherited blood disorders, and diseases of the immune system and it is an inspiration to stem cell research.
Hematopoietic stem cells are used in bone marrow transplant and have the ability to self renew in the marrow and to differentiate into the full complement of cell types found in blood.
They were first adult stem cells to be discovered.
Heamatopoietic cells are found in the bone marrow a, fetal liver, fetal spleen, umbilical cord and placental blood.
The cells are discovered nearly four decades ago but their ability to grow and generate tissues other than those of the blood system has recently come into light. this property is called plasticity. therefore it is hoped that we might be able to grow many lines of stem cells from these hematopoietic cells.
There are encouraging studies that report this.
If possible this would avoid the risk graft versus host disease associated with embronic stem cell tissues.
About Arun Pal Singh