Cord Blood Stem Cells Information

How do stem cells help heal or cure cancer? Please answer A.S.A.P?

Public Comments

1. they might... nothing is known for sure yet
2. If the cancer is killed by irradiation or some other method, stem cells can servie to rejuvenate the healthy function of the tissues involved in the cancerous area. In the case of leukemias the cancer can be destroyed with chemicals and/or irradiation but then you quickly need to replace the bone marrow with a transplant from a healthy donor, I think cord stem cells or something like that can be used in the case of babies. You will need to check this out at http://www.webmd.com becuase I have been out of medical work, except for nutrition, for 20 years, and I do not have the latest info. When you get there search bone marrow transplants, stem cells, cancer. I have never heard of stem cells developing into cancer fighters. Cells normally commit suicide automatically when they go astray or are removed by certain 'sheriff-like' T cells (a subcategory of lymphocytes. which are one type of white blood cell). If those natural processes are somehow blocked or do not function then you have a potential cancer growing from the deranged cells, a leukemia, a malignant tumor, a benign tumor (one that does not spread rapidly and is more like too much normal tissue (?). You better check that out, too. Search on cancer pathology, benign tumor, malignant tumor. I guess it is theoretically possible for stem cells to regenerate themselves into some form of cancer fighting cells, but I have never heard of this. As time rolls on science is learning how to tweak various changes. You may be interested in something called monoclonal antibodies also. Another good place for biology students is http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/ and this is an extremely good reference indeed. Be sure to save both urls.
3. My husband was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and was given an autologus stem cell transplant that sent him into remission from cancer. Stem cells are master cells in your body that can form into other needed cells in your body, like muscle cells, blood cells, or brain cells. Or, they can form more stem cells. You can think of them like a constant repair system for your body. In the case of my husband, the cancer had invaded his bone marrow - this proved to be very serious since the marrow is where blood is made. His own stem cells were harvested from his blood stream and sterilized to prevent any cancer from being saved. An extremely high dose of chemotherapy was given to kill basically everything in his marrow. The stem cells were then reintroduced to his body - and they went to work! Since it's the stem cell's job to figure out what's needed to make the body function properly, it made new marrow cells! And then he had new marrow and no cancer! This is sort of a simplistic view, but I hope it helps!