Stem Cells vs. Exosomes for BEGINNERS

Hi, this is Dr. Joy Kong. I'm the medical director of Thea center for Regenerative Medicine and also the founder of Chower Biologics as well as American Academy of Integrative Cell Therapy. One of my missions is to clear the air about exactly what cell therapy is, how it works, and I want to dispel a lot of myths. There's a lot of information floating around on the Internet and in all kinds of spaces. And I get patients, you know, asking me, what about this, what about that? So I just figured it's important for me to provide education, provide the real information. So today I want to start with stem cells versus exosomes. I mean, I get asked this all the time from doctors, from patients, because exosomes, whether or not you've heard of it, it's a very much in fashion right now. And I do like them and I think they're extremely helpful. But they are very different from stem cel. When people say, oh, now we have exosomes, so we don't need stem cells, that is a little bit short sighted. And I'll tell you why exosomes, what they are are these nanoparticles that are enclosed by lipid bilayer that are secreted out by stem cells, mostly mesenchymal stem cells. They're secreted out by the stem cells because they package a lot of information in this little lipid bilayer. So it's a particle that's very small, it contains all kinds of growth factors, micro rna, so it got, you know, cytokines. So it has all these information that's in it that cells can secrete them out so that it can communicate with the rest of the body. You know, can send information to the immune system or to other cells in the adjacent area. So it provides a lot of functions. But what happens with exosomes is that they are still a secretion product by the cells. The cells is, they're the mother of exosomes. So they make exosomes and cells have DNA and DNA have intelligence. So I don't know if you know, but DNA is the most energy dense substance in the universe. So it's packed with energy and with intelligence information. So when the cells are looking at the environment of the body, it's able to send out these, you know, basically workers, which are the exosomes. So it's communicating, it's responding through the exosomes, but the intelligence is still within the cells. So whether or not you're giving a person stem cell treatment or exosome treatment, there's vast difference. Yes, stem cells produce the exosomes. So the exosomes will bring the word out to the rest of the body. Body, which is great, but they're shorter lived and once they are degraded, it's done. That's why exosome products, when they're given to people in the body, their effect lasts for, you know, a few months, two to three months. Because the message, the message goes away, right? Because the exosomes are degraded. They do have somewhat lasting effects because the microrna, which are these little pieces of RNA that can go into the cells, into the recipient cells and go into cell nucleus and actually change methylation patterns of the cells, so make more long term changes in the cells of the person that's receiving the exosomes. So that creates a longer lasting effect even after the exosomes themselves are degraded. But on the other hand, if you give person stem cells, the stem cells are a factory of exosomes. Generally stem cells, you know, from lots of studies have shown they stay in the body for about three months. So there's a lifespan. Just no cells stay in the body forever. If you have cells that are some kind of cells in your body, there's always a finite lifespan. So the stem cells, after they get into your body, on average they stay for about three months. So they do multiply and their progenies and everything, they produce all the other cells, they live for about the maximum three months and their effect can last another three months. Guess what? Because they secrete exosomes and the exosomes can go into the cell nucleus and make changes in the DNA and create much longer lasting effects. So the difference between stem cells and exosomes is that the stem cells are producing the exosomes. And when you give somebody stem cells, the stem cells, first of all it has ability to travel to the sites of injury and inflammation because it's able to sense the signals and like a siem is swimming upstream and find where the signals come from and go into that area to provide the right response, to make changes to promote repair and regeneration. So in the meantime they're alive, right? Cells is self enclosed entity. So it can continue to secrete these exosomes that so in a way they're like this sustained release exomes so they can secrete exosomes for the whole three months that they're in the body. And not only they're secreting exosomes, they're secreting the kind of exosomes that are more appropriate to the recipient, to the body that Is in the exosome products people get are either obtained from amniotic fluid, which is someone else's body, right? So it's from the newborn's Mei fluid, or in most cases, are from the culturing product from the mesenchymal stem cells. So what they do is that they get the mesenchymal stem cells. It can be from different sources, you know, bone marrow or umbilical cord. So these mesenchymal stem cells, they put them in an incubator. So artificial environment, they put an incubator, give them some nutrients, and let the cells spew out these exosomes. And they collect the exosomes, and then they give the exosomes to people. So if you think of this, the cells are secreting exosomes, in a sense, blindly, right? It secrete, secrete. This is what I do. I give you exosomes, but it's not specific. If you put the cells in the human body, this body is a more perfect incubator than any incubator that our human brain can design. This is something that's much more remarkable. This is design something that's from probably another dimension. When you put the cells in the human body, not only the cells are incubated perfectly, but also when they secrete exosomes, these exosomes are more tailored toward what the body needs. So instead of just giving out exosomes, exosomes blindly, these cells actually will produce exosomes that are more targeted toward what the body's needs are. So these are more targeted and more sustained release of exosomes. So these are things that just a single infusion of exosomes cannot achieve the exosomes that you are obtaining from the incubator. And besides that cells are a living entity. So no matter how superior our technology is, we do not have the capacity to produce a single cell. We don't know how to make a cell. It's incredibly complex. The cells carry intelligence. So there's particles, molecules, is never going to surpass the intelligence of a full cell. And when the cell is in the body, not only does it secrete exosomes, it also secrete other growth factors that it didn't include, it doesn't include into the exosomes. And it does something else that's really, really awesome, which is called mitochondria transfer. So they've caught that on electron microscope, that there's image of of the new cell, the stem cell and the recipient cell. And there's microtubule bridge established between these two cells. So the new Mitochondria from the new infused cells actually can travel across the microtubule and get into the recipient cell. So if you're receiving stem cells, you're getting a new supply, a new infusion of mitochondria. And we all know mitochondria is the hot topic of the day because it's so incredibly powerful. It's an engine, cells is crucial for your cells energy source, metabolism and it just, it drives your whole body, right? So you're getting a new supply. So all these things are not provided in an exome product. So I just feel that people need to know what they're getting. I do like exosomes only in certain circumstances and I never, almost never give a patient exosomes alone. I always want to do the stem cells because that's what creates this long lasting benefit. And then exosomes can be given in particular circumstances. And what I think of when, you know, the best times to give exosomes is when someone has a lot of inflammation. The exosomes are very anti inflammatory. So you can give somebody a quick kind of blast of exosomes. But if you wait for the stem cells they will create, you know, produce exosomes and you will get that effect. But it's not going to be as rapid as you just give a huge blast of exosomes. So that's kind of my philosophy and I hope people find this information helpful and so I hope that I'll continue to produce these videos so we can get more truth out there and help everybody achieve the best health they can.