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Cells are the basic units of the human body, which go through the life cycle of growth, differentiation, aging, and withering. Disease and aging in the body correspond to changes in the quality of cells.
Human beings are quickly entering the era of cells
When Robert Hooke first discovered cells with a microscope in 1665, he could not have imagined that one day cells would also be used for disease.
Nearly 300 years later, in 1957, Donnal Thomas successfully performed a bone marrow hematopoietic stem cell transplant, and the first time the cells went from theory to clinic. Since then, the boom in stem cell research has also promoted the development of regenerative medicine.
In 2012, a little girl named Emily received a completely new cell**, CAR-T, and was successful**. This case ignited scientists' enthusiasm for research, and immune cells** gradually improved.
The number of mesenchymal stem cells decreases with age, **holisticbiospa
The number of immune cells decreases with age, **redermis
Currently, the two most common types of cells are: stem cells and immune cells. To use a perhaps less appropriate analogy, the difference between them is that stem cells do addition, and immune cells do subtraction.
In other words, stem cells are used to replenish new cells, cytokines, etc., while immune cells are used to remove harmful substances from the body. At the same time, their number and activity decrease with age.
Human repairman: stem cells
If you think of the human body as a large, sophisticated machine, stem cells are the busiest and most important group of repairmen in this machine.
Whether the machine is damaged or the parts are aging, this group of repairmen will show up to protect human health. Not only are they multi-directional differentiation and replenishment of fresh cells; It can also secrete cytokines to provide nutritional support to damaged cells.
In short, stem cells do what they do – to keep them alive.
Stem cells are divided into totipotent stem cells, pluripotent stem cells, and unipotent stem cells according to different differentiation potentials. Stem cells are divided into embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells according to different stages of development; Stem cells can be divided into bone marrow, periosteum, fat, synovium, skeletal muscle, liver, baby teeth, umbilical cord, umbilical cord blood stem cells, etc. Stem cells can be divided into hematopoiesis, nerves, myocardium, blood vessels, stem cells, etc.
At present, the stem cells stored by people are mainly used in the umbilical cord blood, umbilical cord, and placenta of newborns, the baby teeth of children during tooth replacement, and the fat of adults.
Human Cleaners: Immune Cells
If stem cells are the body's repairers, then immune cells are the body's cleaners.
On the one hand, they have to eliminate foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses; On the other hand, it is also necessary to remove senescent cells and mutated cells in the body.
The role of immune cells is to clear and maintain stability.
At present, natural killer cells (NK cells), cytokine-induced killer cells (CIK) and CAR-T cells are widely used in clinical practice.
NK cells are indispensable innate immune cells in our human bone marrow, which can directly remove senescent cells in the human body, indirectly activate phagocytes, T cells, etc., and increase the cleanup of viruses.
Stem cells