Stem cells have a prominent role in biology of normal life and also in pathogenesis of diseases. Life starts with generation of an embryo (the most primitive form of a stem cell) and goes through all of the embryonic and fetal stages of life. It forms all of the tissue and organs of a living organism and then has a role in maintenance of normal cellular composition of body. And finally these cells maintain body in a steady state of cell loss and substitution of normal lost/died cells by new normal cells. Nearly in every organ of body we have these cells, although location characteristic and biological property of them is not completely understood. Despite of their role in normal life, these cells also have a prominent role in many diseases. Deficiency/depletion of these cells is very important in pathogenesis diseases. For example aplastic anemia (a fatal form of hematopoietic stem cell disease) is stem cell damage in bone marrow, due to environmental or immunologic dysregulation.
Cancer is also a stem cell disease. Genetic/metabolic
abnormalities of tissue stem cells (or some times more mature progenitor cells)
may disrupt normal proliferation of immature cells in an organ and start
process of carcinogenesis. Although clinical application of the best known stem
cells (Hematopoietic stem cells) is possible today and they are useful for
treatment of many malignant and non-malignant disorders, clinical knowledge and
application of these cells is in infancy. These cells are potentially
applicable in regenerative medicine and also cancer treatment. For safe and
effective application of these cells, we need better knowledge of their
biology, their interaction with other cells (especially supporting niche
cells), growth, maturation and also immigration of stem cells through body in
normal and abnormal conditions. Also for clinical application we need to know
their characterization, their separation methods and safe manipulation.
This book is written to clarify some aspects of stem
cell biology, their characteristics, assessment of damage to cells during ex
vivo manipulation and also their role in a model of cancers (chronic myeloid
leukemia).
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