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Treating Diabetes and Paralysis with Stem Cells

A simple cut on your skin heals quickly, but damage to the spinal cord or pancreas can be permanent because those cells cannot easily repair themselves. Stem cell therapy aims to solve this by growing replacement cells on demand.
A stem cell is an undifferentiated cell capable of giving rise to many more cells of the same type. Through a process called differentiation, they can change to become specialised for a specific job.
Embryonic stem cells are used in these treatments because they are entirely undifferentiated. They have the potential to differentiate into almost any type of human cell.
In Type 1 diabetes, the patient's pancreas fails to produce enough insulin. Stem cell therapy creates new insulin-producing pancreatic cells to regulate blood glucose.
Paralysis occurs when nerve impulses cannot pass due to broken neural pathways, often from spinal cord injuries. Here, stem cells are used to grow new nerve cells (neurones) to bridge gaps and restore electrical communication to muscles.

The Treatment Mechanism:

Harvesting: Undifferentiated embryonic stem cells are extracted.
Triggered Differentiation: In a laboratory, scientists use specific chemicals or hormones to "turn on" certain genes, causing the stem cells to differentiate into the specific required cells.
Transplantation: The new, specialised cells are injected into the patient's damaged tissue (the pancreas or the spinal cord).
Functional Restoration: The specialised cells replace the faulty or damaged cells, successfully restoring the lost function (secreting insulin or sending nerve signals).

Therapeutic Cloning

If you receive a standard organ transplant, your body's immune system might attack it as a foreign invader. Therapeutic cloning solves this problem by using your own DNA.

Students often write that stem cells 'turn into' or 'heal' the damaged area. You must use the specific scientific term 'differentiate' and state that they 'replace' damaged or faulty cells.

When explaining why therapeutic cloning prevents rejection, you must explicitly state that the cells have the 'same genes' or 'same DNA' as the patient.

For AQA diabetes treatments, always refer to the specific cells formed as 'insulin-producing cells' (the mark scheme prefers this over the more advanced term 'beta cells').

In a 4-6 mark question describing therapeutic cloning, examiners award specific marks for mentioning the use of an 'electric shock' to stimulate the cell to divide by 'mitosis'.

An undifferentiated cell of an organism which is capable of giving rise to many more cells of the same type, and from which specialised cells can arise.

The process by which an unspecialised cell changes to become specialised for a specific function or job.

Stem cells derived from an early embryo that have the potential to differentiate into almost any type of human cell.

The loss of the ability to move (and sometimes feel) in part or most of the body, typically resulting from injury to the nerves or spinal cord.

Specialised cells in the pancreas that secrete the hormone insulin to regulate blood glucose levels.

Specialised cells (neurones) that carry electrical impulses around the body, communicating between the brain, spinal cord, and muscles.

A medical process where an embryo is produced with the same genes as the patient to provide a source of stem cells that will not be rejected.

The process where a patient's immune system attacks and destroys transplanted cells or organs that it identifies as foreign.

Medication used to prevent the immune system from attacking a transplant, which has the side effect of weakening overall immunity.

An egg cell that has had its nucleus removed.

A type of cell division that results in two genetically identical daughter cells, used for growth and repair.