Stem cells are the body’s “master cells”. They are the building blocks of all organs, tissues, blood, and the immune system. In many tissues they serve as an internal repair system, regenerating to replace lost or damaged cells for the life of the person. Stem cells are considered the building blocks our body uses everyday in tissue repair and normal cell replenishment.
Doctors were initially using stem cells derived from the bone marrow in patients who had received chemotherapy for cancer, to regenerate their blood and immune cells. In the late 1980s, they started using cord blood stem cells to treat diseases that had previously been treated with bone marrow transplantation.
Stem cells are today successfully being used to save lives. They also are being researched in an revolutionary new area of medicine called regenerative medicine, where scientists are studying the use of stem cells in experimental treatments for conditions like brain injury, diabetes and acquired hearing loss.