Physiological and pathological consequences of a presence of germ line stem cells in adult tissues

Abstract

Abstract Various therapheutic strategies employing stem cells have been proposed as the alternative, effective methods for therapy of multitude diseases, difficult to treat using standard, well-established methods. Advancing regenerative medicine, which is becoming a novel branch of clinical medicine, has high hopes of stem cells which could be used in treatment of injuried organs such as myocardium after heart infarction, brain after stroke, spinal cord after mechanical injury as well as in treatment of diabetes and Parkinson disease. Application of embryonic stem cells, harvested from developing embryos, is highly controversial. Hence, the stem/primitive cells isolated from adult tissuses are considered to be an optimal source of cells for therapy. Recently, our reaserch team has isolated a population of very primitive stem cells from adult tissues (very small embryonic-like stem cells – VSELs) that show several embryonic-like features. These cells can become an alternative and more ethical source of the stem cells for therapy when compared to those isolated from the developing embryos.