People, animals, plants– all begin with a single fertilized cell that divides, and divides, and divides again. These undifferentiated “stem” cells are identical to each other, and in human beings each cell possesses the capability to become any of the 200 different types of cells that make up the human body.
At some point in that process, however, the cells begin to change. Instead of each cell being just a carbon copy of its parent, it develops a character all its own. Some cells become heart cells, others bone or blood or nerve cells. As each cell develops its own specialty and begins the long process of making its own unique contribution to the body as a whole, that cell simultaneously loses the ability to transform into other cell types. Something is lost, but something gained; the cycle of life.
Early research in the 1980s revealed the magic ability of stem cells to morph into differentiated cells, but it was initially thought that only cells from embryonic tissue retained this ability, that once it was lost it was lost forever. However, in 2006 it was discovered that some adult cells could be reprogrammed. In essence the cell’s youthful ability to become anything, anything at all was restored. Such autologous (“own tissue”) cells, being a part of the patient’s own body, eliminate many concerns of transplant rejection. The fountain of youth actually exists, buried deep in the blood and bone and lipids of every living human being.
In one short decade, investigation into the potential of stem cells to treat a multitude of human ills has expanded dramatically. It appears that in time heart disease, brain and spinal cord injury, deafness, loss of sight, diabetes and a host of other ailments can be halted or reversed through the magic of these immature but powerful cells.
How ironic it is that the cure for so much disease and suffering is not an “advance”, per se, but rather a “return”, a return to an earlier, less formed state of existence. Only by going back can we progress forward. There is a philosophical truth there, written in our own DNA.