Adult stem cells are cells which have not completely differentiated. They are found in all tissues of the human body. Adult stem cells, also known as somatic stem cells, have the potential to transform themselves into practically all other cell types. They can also revert to being stem cells with a broader capacity to differentiate.
Sources for adult stem cells are either a donor (allogenic) or the patient (autologous). According to the National Institutes of Health website, "the primary roles of adult stem cells in a living organism are to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found."1 An adult stem cell can divide and renew itself. It can differentiate itself to become other types of cells. For these reasons, adult stem cells play an important role in medical research and patient treatments.

Therapies based on adult stem cell treatments have the potential to improve the quality of life for many by providing additional options for treatments. Adult stem cell therapies can be use in treating patients with conditions such as stroke, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, spinal cord injury, ischemic head trauma, eye disease, burns, scars, skin ulcers. Research continues into the ability to use adult stem cells for regenerative medicine, including possibilities such as bone regeneration, reversing many of the effects of several neurodegenerative diseases, or treating diabetes in a way that no longer requires insulin dependence.

More information about adult stem cells can be found at the National Institutes of Health website.

Further FAQs...


1Stem Cell Basics: What are adult stem cells?. In Stem Cell Information. Bethesda, MD: National INstitutes of Health, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, 2006 [cited Monday, July 02, 2007] Available at stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics4