Tariq Nelson

Saudis are using stem cells to cure diseases.

The next stage in preventative medicine and one which has arisen from controversy and has now moved out into the mainstream of preventative techniques is stem cell banking. Stem cells came into public prominence after the discovery that these basic building blocks of animal life could be harvested from embryos and used to grow organs and — just possibly — whole humans. Lost in the furious ethical debate was the fact that stem cells could also be retrieved from the blood contained in the umbilical cord — normally discarded at birth — of the new-born infant.

These cells can be frozen, stored and used possibly decades later to treat hundreds of diseases and conditions that medical science knows about now and perhaps can be used in ways that future medical research has not yet discovered.

Storing — banking — these potentially life-saving cells has developed into a well-regulated commercial procedure which young Saudi couples are turning to.

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The arguments raging in the US about the ethics of using the stem cells of a fetus to grow body parts have tended to overshadow the other aspect of stem cell preservation. The “Frankenstein Factor” has cast a shadow over the simple but vitally important fact that there is more than one type of stem cell.

Originally, bone marrow transplants obtained blood stem cells (hematopoetic stem cells) from the bone marrow of a matched donor. Although in the US there are registers of donors, about half the patients who need the cells — to regenerate a faulty immune system for example — cannot find matching donors. The simplest stem cell — the totipotent cell — produces both pluripotent and haemopoietic stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells are those which can be extracted from embryos. Research shows that it is possible to use the fundamental, or pluripotent, stem cells from discarded human embryos to grow all kinds of human tissues. This is where the ethical minefield lies and the Frankenstein Factor originates. Umbilical cord blood contains hematopoetic — or blood stem cells — that are even more primitive than the blood stem cells found in bone marrow. Like bone marrow cells, they can also be transplanted to regenerate a patient’s immune system

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Khlood and Yasser found nothing in the principle or the procedure that conflicted with their religious or moral values and they are sure that they have done the right thing for their family. “When you think about the procedure, there is nothing in it that is controversial. They just take a sample of blood from the umbilical cord which cannot possibly harm the baby or the mother. It’s a very easy procedure and when the cells are stored, they can only be used by the family.”

Khlood noted that so far stem cells had been able to help cure more than 70 diseases. Developments in research announced daily in the media show the potential of stem cells to treat a variety of diseases including heart disease, Type 1 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, spinal cord injury and testicular cancer. The use of human stem cells in the treatment of disease is now established as a medical procedure. Private stem cell banking, where an individual can use his or her own tissue to treat disorders is established as a viable and increasingly common practice. One day it may be as common as immunization as a kind of medical insurance against disease. [MORE...]