One should understand that reversing cartilage loss of rheumatoid or osteoarthritis is not possible completely, yet there are Arthritis treatment options, which provide relief from the symptoms. The conventional Arthritis treatment options include exercise, medication, diet, surgery, etc. At times, a number of treatment options are combined to provide greater relief. Rheumatic diseases like arthritis is one of the most common conditions that leads to disability in majority of people. The pervasiveness of arthritis is anticipated to augment with increasing population and increasing age in the time to come. The present treatment options are restricted to surgery for joint replacement or pain reduction.
The hopes for future
The future, however, might not remain the same with the advent of Stem Cell therapy. These cells have immense potential to cure degenerative diseases and regenerate, replace, or repair damaged tissues in human body. Presently researchers who are working on Stem Cell therapy for Arthritis treatment is trying to explore aging effect on the stem cells and the ways in which replacement of stem cells can cure root causes of diseases like osteoarthritis. Researchers set up conditions for the cells to mend surgical defects in lab models and they also test the efficiency of this kind of treatment animals with cartilage deficiencies.
New developments in Stem Cell therapy
Recent studies have demonstrated that stem cells comprise of anti-arthritis characteristics and under controlled conditions, stem cells can be directed towards the damaged tissues to trigger tissue repair. Researchers are striving to conduct efficiency and safety studies for preclinical stage as well. With constant efforts stem cell based therapies will soon will available in most of the healthcare centers around the world. It is expected that once administered in arthritic cartilage stem cells will cure the cause and will also help in generating tissues to repair the cartilage defects.
The exploration of adult stem cells
Trials to explore the viability of utilizing allogeneic msesenchymal stem cells to develop therapy for curing collagen stimulated arthritis is also underway. These studies suggested a therapeutic approach for targeting pathogenic system of arthritis with the use of allogeneic MSCs. Even when it comes to rheumatoid arthritis, which is an acute autoimmune disorder typified by joint inflammation, Stem Cell therapy has given new hope for this kind of arthritis treatment. Recently, adult stem cells also called mesenchymal stem cells were able to restrain response of effectors 'T cells', and have shown a number of beneficial effects in Arthritis treatment. The recent discovery of pluripotent cells has further improved the efficiency of stem cell treatment.
India also advancing in Stem Cell therapy
Biomedical research to explore and develop the scope of Stem Cell therapy is constantly in progress in western countries, but now even Asian countries are not far behind. Innovative research and advanced technological developments has made it possible to discover the secrets of stem cells and harness its power to cure degenerative diseases like arthritis. With increasing aging population in a country like India, Stem Cell therapy for Arthritis treatment might prove to be a boon. This is the reason why researchers in India are actively involved in an array of experiments for developing the correct type of stem cells, which can be used for arthritis treatment.
