After Nick Evans’ lectures on stem cells and regenerative medicine I was intrigued with the concept of using stem cells to treat autoimmune disease. My mother suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and I was under the impression that such conditions had long been considered incurable. I know first-hand how debilitating autoimmune disease can be, and how the side effects of current treatments are almost as severe as suffering the disease itself, which really is heartbreaking. The idea that stem cells could regress or even cure autoimmune disease seemed almost unbelievable, so I had to investigate it further.  

What are stem cells?

Stem cells are the body’s solution to self-renewal and healing: ‘blank templates’ which can divide to form many different specialised cell types. Two types of stem cell have distinct therapeutic potential for treating autoimmune disease; Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs), which differentiate into connective tissue cells like bone and cartilage, and Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs), from which all cell types in the blood are derived. 

Living with autoimmune disease

Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system, the body’s defense mechanism against foreign cells, cannot tell the difference between body cells and foreign ones, attacking the body’s own cells. There are various forms of autoimmune disease, commonly type 1 diabetes, where the immune system kills insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells, or rheumatoid arthritis (RA), where connective tissues in joints are destroyed. Nearly 4% of the world’s population suffers from some kind of autoimmune disease, and in the UK has been found to affect around 1 in 10 people, – impacting the lives of millions, without hope for a permanent cure. 

Current treatments for autoimmune disease serve only to manage symptoms and still bear significant impact on patients’ lives. In the case of RA, common treatment includes a cocktail of anti-inflammatory drugs combined with immunosuppressants. From my mother’s experience, I can personally attest as to how severe the side effects can be – constant headaches, nausea and ceaseless illness from immunosuppression – imagine having somewhere between a cold and flu in perpetuity! In fact, around half of patients quit immunosuppressants after about a year, opting to just cope with the pain instead.  

A miracle cure?

MSCs can ‘reprogram’ the immune system to stop attacking the body’s own cells and repair damaged tissues. Moreover, HSCs can be transplanted into a patient, completely replacing their dysfunctional immune system, effectively curing them of the disease. The opportunity this presents to people who have long given up hope truly is life-changing, which made me question: “why there isn’t more public excitement about stem cell-based therapies?” 

Too good to be true?

Despite their therapeutic potential, stem cell therapies are fundamentally limited by their scarcity in the body. MSCs, for example, comprise only 0.01% – 0.001% of cells in bone marrow. They must be extracted from each patient and grown at a small scale in the lab, at a cost of around $900 per 1 million cells. This presents an ethical quandry; treatment remains prohibitively unaffordable for the majority of those affected. 

My Thoughts

The advent of stem cell therapy is an exciting prospect for treating autoimmune disease, for which I have great hopes. I have come to better appreciate the importance of understanding individuals’ experiences rather than fixating solely on science, and I hope that these considerations are made with stem cell developments to prevent their misuse.