Capricor's Cell Therapy Trial Shows Promising Results for Muscular Dystrophy
How does cell therapy work?
The cells derived from the embryo or umbilical cord are pluripotent or multipotent, meaning that they can practically be used to grow any kind of body tissue or organ in the presence of specific factors. But developing all the tissues from the single source has ethical issues along with epigenetic concerns. Comparatively, the cells that are derived from some particular organs can only repair that particular body organ, thus decreasing risks of error or unforeseen consequences.
So, due to safety and ethical reasons unipotent cells are preferred over pluripotent.
CAP-1002 is cardiosphere-derived cells (CDC). They are tissue-specific progenitor stem cells (TSPSCs), meaning that they can grow and differentiate to repair only the muscular tissues, and they are specifically effective in repairing heart muscles.
