Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
development of stem cell science, the first clinical uses of adult stem
cells appeared in the 1950s with the earliest attempts at bone
marrow transplants. Of course, the first bone marrow transplant,
attempted in 1957, actually occurred before stem cells had been
identified (Martin et al., 2008). They suggest that at this time, the
principle of regeneration of the blood and immune systems had been
established but that the scientists involved in this work were more
interested in establishing proof of concept rather than understanding
the minutiae of the mechanism of bone marrow regeneration (Martin
et al., 2008).
The use of adult stem cell treatments in cancer medicine in
particular was a function of the post-Second World War political
climate (Martin et al., 2008). Heavy investment in identifying means
of surviving radiation sickness, combined with a significant increase
in the postwar investment in fighting cancer, saw the development of
new fields of scientific research in radiobiology and pharmaceuticals
(Martin et al., 2008). Indeed, other histories of the advent of bone
marrow transplantation also suggest that advances in immunology
were a crucial step in the development of clinical uses for bone
marrow (Little and Storb, 2002).
While the early predictions of the first bone marrow transplants
were on the right track, it has been suggested that the fact that bone
marrow treatment was only approved for people with end-stage
disease worked against the development of bone marrow
transplantation as a routine treatment protocol (Martin et al., 2008).
Citing data which shows that by 1970 all but three patients out of
203 treated with bone marrow had in fact not recovered, one study
argues that these dismal success rates, originally attributed to the
diseases the patients were being treated for, were actually a result of
the transplant for the most part and not the disease after all (Martin
et al., 2008). As it turned out, such poor outcomes were caused by
limited knowledge about the importance of what is now routine
tissue matching (Martin et al., 2008). In the study cited, the three
recipients who did survive happened to receive bone marrow from
siblings whose tissue matched (Bortin, 1970). In 1970, it was
hypothesized that although this appears to have been a fortuitous
coincidence in these particular cases, it did highlight the potential for
