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The Curious History of Cell Therapy: From Animal Experiments in the 19th Century to the Modern Revolution!
Cell therapy, also known as cell transplantation or cell therapy, has become a breakthrough technology in modern medicine. Starting from initial experiments in the nineteenth century, this field has undergone many technological innovations and is now used to treat a variety of diseases, especially cancer and various degenerative diseases.
"Cell therapy can be defined as the infusion or transplantation of living cells into the patient's body to achieve therapeutic effects."
Historical background
The story of cell therapy dates back to the nineteenth century. In the 1850s, scientist Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard administered injections of extracts from animal gonads in an attempt to delay the effects of aging. Although his research conclusions had no substantial scientific support, they paved the way for subsequent cell therapies.
In 1931, Paul Niehans claimed to treat cancer by injecting material from calf embryos, although his results lacked empirical support. It wasn't until 1953 that researchers discovered that organ transplant rejection could be prevented by inoculating experimental animals with cells from donor animals.
"In 1956, the first successful bone marrow transplant changed the history of cell therapy and was an important milestone in the treatment of leukemia patients."
Clinical Application
With the advancement of science and technology, bone marrow transplantation has gradually developed into one of the most common cell therapies in clinical practice. Each year, approximately 18,000 patients in the United States require potentially life-saving bone marrow transplants. In addition to bone marrow transplantation, research on stem cell and other cell transplantation is also continuing.
Cell therapy has a wide range of clinical applications, and researchers are actively exploring the use of stem cells to repair damaged tissues and organs. In recent decades, its potential has been increasingly appreciated. Cell therapy can be used not only to treat degenerative diseases and immune diseases, but also for various cardiovascular diseases and cancers.
Mechanism of action
There are various types of cell therapy operations, and their therapeutic mechanisms mainly have two principles. First, the implantation of stem cells or mature cells, which can integrate into the damaged area and differentiate into cells with specific functions. For example, cardiomyocytes can be used to replenish damaged tissue after a myocardial infarction. Second, certain cells can release soluble factors that promote self-repair, such as cytokines and growth factors, thereby promoting the repair of local damage.
Cell therapy strategy
Homologous cell therapy
Allogeneic cell therapy, in which the recipient’s cells come from another person. The manufacturing process of this strategy not only has great prospects, but also promotes the standardization and mass production of finished products.
Autologous cell therapy
Autologous cell therapy extracts cells from the patient's own tissue for transplantation. The advantage of this strategy is that it is less likely to cause immune rejection, but it is usually expensive. The challenge with autologous strategies is that because patients often have pre-existing disease, the function and quality of the cells are often affected.
Xenogeneic Cell Therapy
Xenogeneic cell therapy uses cells from other species. Most of them are still in the experimental stage, but they are expected to be transferred to human clinical applications in the future.
Future Outlook
With scientific advancement and technological innovation, cell therapy is attracting considerable investment and attention. In 2021, Atara Biotherapeutics became the first allogeneic T cell therapy company in the world to receive certification from the European Medicines Agency, a development that paves the way for the widespread application of cell therapy.
"Facing the future, can cell therapy become a new benchmark for the treatment of various diseases?"
With the deepening understanding of cell therapy and the expansion of clinical applications, this technology will undoubtedly play an increasingly important role in the treatment of various diseases. In the future, as technology continues to improve, can we truly achieve a fundamental cure for the disease?
