Stem Cell Therapy and Inflammation
Inflammation is the body’s defensive process through which the white blood cells protect the body organs from the invasion of foreign objects. These foreign objects may comprise any virus, bacteria, or stress.
In some cases, the inflammation can overdo its protective mechanism and cause serious complications in the body. According to the statistical data of WHO, every 3 out of 4 deaths occur on account of inflammation. The most common and complex inflammations include autoimmune diseases, heart diseases, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, and diabetes. Arthritis is the most common result of inflammation, leading to immobility or pain in patients.
The most common symptoms of inflammation include:
• Pain in joints and muscles
• Stiffness of joints and muscles
• Immobility or locking of joints and muscles
• Swelling of the affected area
• Redness and warmth (increased temperature of the affected part)
• Flu-like symptoms as fever, chills, constant fatigue, headaches, and loss of appetite
Causes of inflammation:
In case of initiation of inflammation, body chemicals enter the tissues or blood to protect the body from foreign invaders. This results in a rise in temperature due to blood flow in that area of injury. As a result of increased blood flow and temperature, the body becomes hot and red in that area. Some of these chemicals can also leak in fluid and cause swelling. In most cases, inflammation and swelling trigger or compress the nerves to cause pain.
In the heart, inflammation causes myocarditis, which may cause SOB (shortness of breath) and buildup of fluid around the heart. Similarly, lungs inflammation can also cause problems in breathing, and renal inflammation mostly results in high blood pressure. In case of kidney inflammation, most of the time, the patient ends up in kidney failure.
How is inflammation treated?
Until now, certain medications and procedures are in use to treat the body's inflammations. The most common medications involve NSAIDs (Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), corticosteroids, antimalarial drugs, DMARDs (disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs), and other biological drugs (such as rituximab, adalimumab, and infliximab).
However, all of these medications and drugs help in managing the symptoms of inflammation. There is a dire need to resolve the root cause of the inflammation to prevent its recurrence in the future.
Stem cell therapy and inflammation:
Stem cell therapy is the innovative treatment approach in which the body uses its cells and turns them into needed cells. These stem cells can help accelerate the healing and repair of damaged tissues such as cartilages, bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles.
Stem cells are generally present in the fat tissues or bone marrow. The donor cells are injected inside the body to deal with the damaged tissues through the extraction and processing of these stem cells. After the cells enter the body, they trigger the natural healing process of the body and result in decreased inflammation and infections.
Why is stem cell therapy important for inflammation?
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can efficiently respond to the different inflammation levels in the body by altering the functioning and phenotype of the damaged cells. MSCs act as immunosuppressive agents because they release a few factors that can inhibit the inflammation's acceleration.
Mesenchymal cells provide the right biochemical factors or cues according to the needs of the wounded area or inflammation sites. An individualized MSC therapy can help in reducing the inflammation and repair the tissues with fewer chances of scar tissues formation.
Inflammation is a complex process that requires a specific biochemical series of different events to achieve its suppression. The process of inflammation healing in the adult tissues mostly results in the formation of scars as a part of the normal healing process.
The most commonly treated disease due to inflammation is OA (osteoarthritis) via stem cell therapy. In this autoimmune inflammatory disease, the patient suffers from pain, immobility, and loss of range of motion. Moreover, this disease can also cause damage to the chondrocytes or cartilage cells. For arthritis (either rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis), stem cell therapy has proved to be the best alternative treatment approach. In this treatment, stem cells are injected inside the body to enhance the growth of the damaged tissues and cells. Chondrocytes or cartilage cells are incapable of regeneration because they have less blood supply and nutrition.
Other than osteoarthritis, several other inflammatory conditions are treatable through stem cell therapy. Wound healing is one of the most significant applications of stem cell therapy. Inflammation causes delayed wound healing due to the aggregation of several other harmful materials inside the wound bed. Stem cells can help with the degradation of the harmful substances around the wound and improve the wound healing capacity of the body. Stem cell therapy is important because it can solve the pathology at its root level instead of only managing the symptoms.
Takeaway:
Stem cell therapy is an innovative treatment approach that can help with inflammation and other body problems. The significance of stem cell therapy is that it treats the pathology instead of only managing symptoms of the disease.
References:
• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00535-015-1040-9