Joy Kong, MD explains why stem cells won't cure genetic diseases the way people hope. They can help with local tissue repair and immune function, but they can't rewrite your DNA or fix systemic problems.
There are a lot of genetic diseases. Some happen early in life and some later. What about stem cells? Can it go in and magically fix everything? Well, not really. At least not yet. And this is the exact reason why some doctors or scientists in the field does not like the word stem cells, because they feel that this is giving some kind of connotation, that we're providing this magical cure that would put the cells in the body and they will magically appear where they're needed and then start replicating and replenishing local tissue. We can put certain cells, for example, mesenchymal stem cells, locally and help with local regeneration. We can even put cells in IV form that help rejuvenate your immune system and that can travel to places where they're needed. But the majority of the time, their function is not to replace local tissue. It's really to tell your own tissue to regenerate to help you calm inflammation and promote regeneration.
