October 6th, 2005
Stem Cells Repair Liver Damage
Life Style Extra reports on more progress in regenerative medicine: "British scientists have successfully repaired patients' damaged livers by using bone marrow stem cells from their own blood. The [patient] is first injected with a drug which stimulates their bone marrow to produce extra stem cells. The stem cells are then harvested from the blood and injected into a vein or artery leading directly to the liver. Although the researchers are unsure what the cells then do they seem to help repair any liver damage." As for many adult stem cell therapies, it is still an open question as to the mechanism by which stem cells regenerate damaged tissue.