Why stem cell research is being pursued?
Right now, only a few diseases are treatable with stem cell therapies because scientists can only regenerate a few types of tissues. However, the success of the most established stem cells-based therapies-blood and skin transplants-gives hope that someday stem cells will allow scientists to develop therapies for a variety of diseases previously thought to be incurable. Many major diseases are caused by the loss of a single type of cell or tissue. For example, type I diabetes (juvenile onset) is caused by the loss of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, and its treatment is limited to merely alleviating the symptoms. Finding a cure for such diseases would be much easier if scientists could simply re-grow the missing or damaged cells and implant them into patients.
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