Stem Cell Therapy: Do Stem Cells Need to Be Matched to You?

I'm a big proponent of using umbilical cord derived stem cells because the cells are younger, more potent, they have more differentiation potential. So they can become more things, they live longer, they're more anti inflammatory, more protective, and they also can detect cancer more easily. So I love those cells. Hi, welcome Back to the Dr. Joy Kong podcast. I answer some good questions about stem cell therapy because this is a new emerging field and there's so many questions. One common one was, okay, if I get stem cells, but it's from somebody else, don't I need to have it matched to me? So that really depends. If you are using an adult person and using their stem cells, yes, you better be matched whether it's bone marrow or fat derived or anything else if it's from an adult source, because the cells, these stem cells have further developed. So the person's adult persons, the older you are, the more further differentiated it is, then there's more chance for some kind of rejection because one person's protein expressions will be different from another person's. But if you're using very young sources like the birth tissue, such as umbilical cord placenta, then you may not need to be matched because the cells are still in a very young state. So people may not know that cells from the umbilical cord is actually younger than the cells from the baby. So even though they were delivered at the same time, Right. They came out together. But when you try to get the stem cells from the baby, the baby stem cells will be older, guess what? Because when the embryo was forming, the stem cells that, starting from early embryonic stem cells, right? The little first cell, which became a cluster of cells, so those started to form an embryo and in that process it was forming the placenta and the umbilical cord. It happened very early on and when they were forming the cord, the cells were trapped there and they retained a lot of the early chemicals characteristics. So they were kind of arrested in their youth. That's why when we obtain cells from the umbilical cord, the surface markers really are not quite there. It's not as expressed. Right. As your own individuality. So they do not need to be matched. But if the cells started to divide and differentiate in a recipient's body, is there a chance that your own immune system is going to recognize it and then try to get rid of it? Yes, that's a possibility. But the issue is, for example, I'm a big proponent of using umbilical cord derived stem cells because the cells are younger, more potent, they have more Differentiation potential so they can become more things, they live longer, they, they just, you know, they're, they're more anti inflammatory, more protective and they also can detect cancer more easily. So I love those ce. And then of course the question is, okay, you are getting it from one baby unless you're using it for the same person when the per, the baby got older. If you are getting the cells from the same person, then of course there's no concerns of rejection to speak of. But most of the time when I'm doing stem cell therapy, I'm giving it from an unknown person, right, to somebody that's an adult that needs some, some help with certain aspects of health. So in those cases, because the cells are so young, then they haven't expressed the surface markers and mark them as foreign. Then your body doesn't really recognize it and the cells will go in and do their work. As far as how stem cells work, there's a lot of different ways and different types of stem cells work differently. Of course, the one we talk about the most is mesenchymal stem cells. And those cells are, have a wide array of capabilities such as calming inflammation, modulating your immune system, fighting off any infections, or saving tissue from damage, or helping the tissue to make new tissue to regenerate, or even helping with blood vessel formation, promoting that vascular regeneration type of function. And it can also give you fresh mitochondria when you're getting cells from the younger source. And it can also recognize cancer. So there's no anti cancer properties. So MSEs have been used as cancer treatment in a lot of research. So these cells can go in and do all these things, right? These are all the activities that they, they're capable of and then they die. So no cells, once you activate it, can live forever. There is a finality in life that once you activate it is not forever. None of us is forever. So the cells is the same thing once you activate it, or same thing from your own stem cells. I can get your cells from the fat or bone marrow and then once I extract it and put it back into your body, there's still a finite lifespan. They don't live forever. So when I use umbilical corduroy stem cells and, and put in the belt in the body, they will have a limited lifespan. When they're alive, which generally is about one to three months in the body they will do all these amazing things that I just talked about and then they will die. A very small minority may stay. So we know cells do stay in the body and they can even differentiate and become cells of a particular organ. So the possibilities are two types. So when the stem cell stays in the body, one, when they try to stay where they live longer and they start to differentiate, one, your immune system will attack it and get rid of it. So that's a possibility. Or it actually just adapts to your local environment and continues to be there. We actually have seen human cells transplanted onto animal's body and just became part of the animal. So animals are animals, you know, human, between human and human. Really we're not that different and between human and animals, and the differences are not huge either as from a genetic point of view, but you know, between mammals, et cetera. So the cells has a potential to differentiate and, and either live in your body or your immune system, get rid of it. But that is a fraction of what the cells do, because I would say 98% of what we're doing with these cells is to promote this regeneration with these signals. The signals are teaching your body in probably in a, in a diseased or, or confused, you know, aging state. Your body doesn't know how to heal as well. And these young cells is going to instruct your body and get it to a place where healing is effective. So does it need to be matched well, if you use younger cells? No. What we've seen is that these cells do not promote the kind of immune reaction as older cells. A typical example I want to give you is we know one of the quintessential ways of doing stem cell therapy is bone marrow transplant. So we all know if you want to transplant somebody's bone marrow, you better do a matching process. Right. Otherwise it's going to be a disaster. So do you know that even a perfectly matched bone marrow can actually cause rejection? So that's perfectly matched. It's just perfectly matched to our knowledge. Right. For all the markers that we can tell. But life is so vast and so complex, there's so many different protein expressions. You can't match them all. Right. You can't match 100%. So there's a chance of rejection. Yet when you use cells extracted from the umbilical cord blood, which is very similar in composition to the bone marrow, as far as how you know what type of cells are in there. When you use umbilical cord blood as a way to transplant into somebody's body, usually it's for people after chemotherapy or they have a severe autoimmune disease and, and the doctor can wipe out their whole immune system. And then they put in either bone marrow or umbilical cord blood to help reconstitute the entire blood system. So if you use umbilical cord blood completely unmatched, there is a less chance of rejection than perfectly matched bone marrow transplant. So that's how different young versus old. So do you need to have a matched product to your, to your body? From what we know of how the cells work, no. Apparently the cells, because they don't have expressions that they're different from your own body, they can just go in and do their work and then they have a finite lifespan. But if they do decide to differentiate and to become more specialized, your immune system, one can get rid of it, you know, not a big deal. Two, because it's such a small fraction, two, the cells will adapt to your own body and live there. So that's the my answer to if you use younger cell sources, you do not need the matching process, you know, from the umbilical cord, which is obtained at the time of life, healthy births. And of course, you know, I'm not going to talk about other cell sources which we do not use in the US So no one is using any aborted fetuses as stem cell source and no one is using embryonic stem cells because both of these are banned in the US So so I hope that clears that up and you find this helpful. And we'll stop here until next time. Thank you for listening.