HOPE STEMS FROM A CELL

While stem cell therapies have shown success in treating blood disorders, orthopaedic ailments, autoimmune diseases and eye issues, there is hope that they can one day treat patients with heart disease, blindness, Parkinson's, HIV, diabetes and spinal cord injuries

- Priya Menon

Shyam was only 31 when his heart stopped beating in November 2018.

A property broker and former high school volleyball player, Shyam had recently gained weight. During a workout one day, he felt short of breath and insisted that friends rush him to hospital. Minutes later, his pulse flat-lined.

He survived the heart attack, but the scar tissue that resulted cut his heart's pumping ability by a third. He couldn't pick up his children. He fell asleep every night wondering if he would wake up in the morning.

Desperation motivated Shyam to try for an unusual medical treatment: getting stem cells injected directly into his heart.

"I just trusted my doctors and the science behind it, and said, 'This is my only chance,"" he recalled.

Over the last decade, by studying stem cells in lab dishes, test animals and patients like Shyam, researchers have brought the promise of stem cell therapies closer to reality. The use of stem cells is part of a field called regenerative medicine, wherein a body's own cells and growth factors are deployed to repair tissues by restoring their lost function. Several cellular therapies and products have already been approved by regulators and are in use, including skin substitutes for treating burns, 'scaffold' products for healing surgical incisions and products derived from umbilical cord blood for treating certain blood diseases and disorders.

Stem cells broke into the public consciousness in the early 1990s, alluring for their potential to help the body beat back diseases of degeneration like Alzheimer's, and to grow new parts to treat conditions like spinal cord injuries. Progress has been slow. But researchers have been persistently learning how to best use stem cells, what types to use and how to deliver them to the body-findings that are not singularly transformational, but progressive and pragmatic.