Stem Cells: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #303

by Jonathan M.W. Slack

Embryonic stem cells have been hot-button topics in recent years, generating intense public interest as well as much confusion and misinformation. In this Very Short Introduction , leading authority Jonathan Slack offers a clear and informative overview of stem cells--what they are, what
scientists do with them, what stem cell therapies are available today, and how they might be used in the future. Slack explains the difference between embryonic stem cells, which exist only in laboratory cultures, and tissue-specific stem cells, which exist in our bodies, and he discusses how
embryonic stem cells may be used in the future to treat such illnesses as diabetes, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, spinal trauma, and retinal degeneration. But he stresses that, despite important advances, the clinical applications of stem cells are still in their infancy and that most real
stem cell therapy today is some form of bone marrow transplantation. Slack concludes by analyzing how medical innovation has occurred in this area in recent years and he draws out some of the lessons for the development of new therapies in the future.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Biology, Medicine, Medical, Audiobook, Health

130 pages, Paperback

First published February 23, 2012

Reviews

[Amirography · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. Though it got too specific for a book of this size at some points, I enjoyed the accurate explanations of the author.
My ratings:
Consistency: 4/5
Content: 3/5
Flow: 3/5
structure: 2/5

[Tso William · Rating 4 out of 5]

One advantage of the VSI series, like this very short introduction to stem cells, is that the writers do not need to bend too readily to casual readers' taste by mixing in some interesting but trivial anecdotes to make the subject-matter more palatable. This short book is concise, accessible and informative and gives a solid understanding of stem cells themselves and the issues surrounding them.

I particularly like the chapters Proposed therapies using pluripotent stem cells and Current therapy with tissue specific stem cells because Slacks outlines the potential applications of stem cell therapies and the limitations and difficulties. In diabetes, for example, the stem cell therapy (i.e. creating the cells that secrete insulin) cannot be just as good as the current therapy (i.e. glucose and insulin management) but it has to be better than it, so that it can justify the additional risks and expenses.

It seems that Slacks takes a very clinical approach to the stem cell issues. As the bone marrow transplantation (or to be more specific Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation history shows that therapies were first applied without a detailed understanding of the biological mechanism in stem cells, he therefore believes stem cell therapies could also potentially follow the same path. However it seems to me that this kind of approach could lead to much energy wasted on ineffective, if not useless, and sometimes harmful endeavors, just like the early history of cancer treatment where, due to a lack of understanding of gene, radical surgery and lethal doses of chemotherapeutic drug were adopted.

[KC · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid primer on the fundamentals of cell research and science. The introduction claims that this book "deals with the science and medicine of stem cells rather than with ethics, law, or politics," but there were several notable digressions about the ethics of embryonic stem cells as it relates to the personhood of human "beingness."

In chapter 3, we read that "the vast majority of biomedical scientists consider that personhood develops gradually and that preimplantation embryos are not the same as human beings, being more akin to cultured human cells or tissue samples."

Sounds OK, but how do we know this isn't just an attempt to rationalize away human experimentation? It continues:

"For example, the blood bank is a familiar example of something that is genetically human and is alive, but is not a human being."

That's a framing I had not considered. Human life and human being are not synonymous. Human life can exist and perpetuate independent of any living human being (Henrietta Lacks comes to mind.)

"The same could be said of donor organs, or tissues, or other types of human cell grown in culture. Such cells or tissue samples are subject to various regulations concerning informed consent for their use... Given that human Embryonic stem cells are grown from surplus preimplantation embryos donated by the parents, and that they would otherwise have to be discarded, very few scientists are opposed to the practice."

I get that it is a tricky subject, but the science and possibilities related to stem cell research are truly astounding.

[Irina Ioana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is exactly what it sets out to be. A very short, no non-sense, to the point introduction about what stem cells are and what they are not, what is their current use and what is their potential use and how companies, set out to make money, can deceive customers with unproved treatments.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a general and intelligent treatment of the biology and (potential) medical application of stem cells. The politics and economics are only treated superficially, but are never far away in the motivating background.

[Miguel Mancera · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting topic. As a layman, I was not able to follow many explanations provided, but it still gave a good idea overall.

[Jung · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything you always wanted to know about the science of stem cells.

We’ll all grow old and die one day. It’s inevitable. But along the way, wouldn’t it be ideal to avoid as many of the disabilities and diseases associated with old age as possible?

Medical conditions like Alzheimer’s disease or a stroke can be life-changing, and it’s only natural to hope for a “miracle cure” if you or a loved one are affected. But many claim that this miracle might already be here, in the form of stem cell therapy. As a result, a great deal of research – and a large sum of money – is now focused on this very area. But is it worth all the hype?

In this book Jonathan Slack’s Stem Cells, we’ve kept medical jargon and technical aspects to a minimum. Instead, we focus on what stem cells are, the limitations of current stem cell treatments, and the potential for treatments in the future – all in an effort to get to the bottom of this complex science.

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Stem cells

Before we dive into what exactly stem cells are, let’s start with some basics. Cells – measuring no more than .02 mm in diameter – are the building blocks of any plant or animal. Human bodies have around 200 visually different types of cells. Most of these are known as differentiated cells. This means that they have specific functions and can be clearly identified from their appearance under a microscope. Typical examples include our liver cells, brain cells, and heart muscle cells. 

Then there are the undifferentiated cells. These have a more generic appearance. But appearances can be deceptive – some of these cells may also be specialized to perform specific functions. For instance, undifferentiated cells can also be found in embryos and develop into differentiated cells as the embryo grows. Unfortunately, they’re also found in some cancers, where their unrestricted growth capacity can spell bad news. 

Some, but not all, undifferentiated cells are what we know as stem cells.

The defining characteristic of stem cells is that they’re able to reproduce themselves and generate offspring that become differentiated cells. They usually exist in an organism for the entirety of its life, inhabiting places like the skin, blood, and lining of the intestines.

To examine these cells, let’s take a closer look at skin. The top layer of your skin, the epidermis, is made up of cells called keratinocytes. During the course of the day, these wear away. So, to maintain your skin, new cells are created by stem cells found in your skin’s basal layer. Some of these cells become new stem cells; others mature and develop into new keratinocytes to replenish the old, injured, or dead cells. The epidermis is what’s called a renewal tissue because it’s continually being renewed. Without these tissue-specific stem cells, that wouldn’t be possible. 

The most famous stem cells are now embryonic stem cells, or ES cells. It’s this type of stem cell that’s usually the cause of controversy – and what most people think of when stem cell research is mentioned. But, in reality, ES cells don’t actually exist in nature. They’ve been created by scientists and only exist as tissue cultures kept in laboratories.

ES cells are produced from cells found in early embryos and are capable of producing differentiated cells that can divide without limit – making them pluripotent. They're versatile: they can either divide to create more stem cells or transform into any other type of cell in the body. But not all cells in an embryo are stem cells. Once an embryo has matured, its cells are no longer considered stem cells because they develop into other cell types within just a few days.

OK, that was a lot. To wrap up this first chapter, let’s quickly review the differences between embryonic stem cells and tissue-specific stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, which means they can form any cell type found in the body. Tissue-specific stem cells, on the other hand, aren’t pluripotent – they’re only able to produce cells of the tissue type from which they originate.

In the next few chapters, we’re going to dive deeper into these stem cell types and their possible applications.

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Embryonic stem cells

As we’ve already mentioned, embryonic stem cells typically cause the most ethical and political debates – especially human ES cells.

Opponents of stem cell research often argue that preimplantation embryos should have full human rights and that using them to make ES cells is tantamount to murder. Usually, the reasoning is based on religious grounds. Modern-day Catholics, for instance, believe that human life begins at fertilization. Interestingly, this wasn't always the case. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church proclaimed that the soul entered the fetus during quickening. This was when a mother first felt the fetus move – around 18 to 24 weeks. Buddhists share the modern Catholic view, while Jewish and Islamic teachings acknowledge the embryo only after 40 days have passed. For Hindus, life starts depending on when reincarnation occurs – somewhere between conception and seven months.

Biomedical scientists’ views differ on many things. But they generally agree that personhood develops gradually and that preimplantation embryos aren’t human beings – they’re more like cell cultures or tissue samples. Martin Evans and Matthew Kaufman of Cambridge University, and Gail Martin of the University of California, first isolated mouse ES cells in 1981. The isolation of human ES cells followed about seven years later when James Thomson first grew them from human embryos at the University of Wisconsin. But, believe it or not, it’s actually mouse ES cells that have been the most important to science thus far.

These mouse cells can be injected into mouse blastocysts – an early-stage embryo which contains a clump of undifferentiated cells. They then integrate with the host embryo, and the resulting offspring carry the gene variants injected at the blastocyst stage. The result? A line of genetically modified mice.

Big deal, huh? Well, yes, actually! The last 35 years of research on tens of thousands of genetically modified mice has been based on this very technique. Without these mice, a lot of the research on human diseases, investigations into normal gene function, and testing of new drugs wouldn’t have been possible.

Human ES cells share many of the same properties as those of mouse ES cells, including being made from embryos. But there are some big differences.

For example, we now know there are two pluripotent cell states known as naive and primed. Mouse ES cells are the naive type, and human ES cells are primed. Scientists don’t yet know why this is the case, but it results in differences in gene expression, appearance, and behavior. Only naive cells can be integrated into a host embryo, whereas only primed cells can carry out the process of differentiation.

So, where do human ES cells come into the picture? Well, scientists use them in three main areas of research – normal human development, the cellular pathology of genetic diseases, and drug screening – which may remove the need for animal testing.

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Pluripotent stem cells and potential therapies.

It’s 1997 and Ian Wilmut is working at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, Scotland. He takes the nucleus from a sheep tissue culture cell and transplants it into the enucleated oocyte of a female sheep. He then transfers the resulting embryo into the uterus of another sheep, which acts as a surrogate mother. Some 22 weeks later, a newborn lamb becomes the first-ever cloned mammal: Dolly.

Actually, successful cloning had been around long before Dolly. By the late nineteenth century, scientists had managed to clone frogs and sea urchins.

Cloning something means making an identical genetic copy. These days, it’s a common enough procedure and occurs virtually every day around the world in every biomedical laboratory. But the type of cloning we’re talking about here isn’t as dramatic as cloning a full animal – it’s growing a colony of cells, where each cell is genetically identical to its founder.

Most people agree that cloning humans would be a bad idea. But by using somatic cell nuclear transplantation – the process used in producing the embryo that went on to become Dolly – it’s possible to establish an ES cell line as a source for therapeutic cloning.

It’s not easy to do. First achieved in 2013, it’s only been successfully repeated in a few labs. Part of the problem is obtaining human oocytes, which have to be surgically harvested from human female volunteers – an unpleasant and risky procedure. Then, only a small minority of reconstituted eggs successfully develop into an ES cell line.

In 2006, Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University discovered a new methodology that made it easier to produce cells similar to ES cells, called induced pluripotent stem – or iPS – cells. One year later, human iPS cells were being made. Nowadays, they can be produced using white blood cells extracted from a simple blood sample.

iPS cells are patient-specific. As such, differentiated cells are an immunological match to the donor. This means that if these cells are grafted back to the patient, there’s no need for immunosuppressive drugs. At present, though, the costs of production are too high for this treatment to be viable.

Instead, banks of iPS cell lines are being created in the hope that most of the population could find a suitable match for grafting and only require a minimal amount of immunosuppression. Research into other solutions is also underway. 

Of all the therapies, the treatment of retinal degeneration has had the most success – and promise for the future. Roughly 10 percent of people over the age of 65 experience a degree of age-related macular degeneration, or ARMD, in the center of the eye’s retina. Severe cases are characterized by a loss of central vision, which results in an inability to read and to recognize faces. Clinical trials carried out in several countries since 2011 have shown that grafts below the retina have few side effects and require little immunosuppression. Most treatments have resulted in an improvement in visual acuity. A high prevalence of ARMD coupled with a relatively simple treatment means that it’s likely this will be used more frequently in the future.

Similar types of pluripotent cell therapies are also in the works to treat type 1 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, and even spinal injuries – but, so far, studies show varying results.

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Tissue-specific stem cells and potential therapies

Our bodies are continually exchanging cells: cells die, and new cells replace them. But not all cells do this in the same way.

Some cells, known as post-mitotic cells, don’t ever divide again. Examples of these are neurons and muscle fibers. 

Other cells, known as expanding cells, divide only during our childhood; they stop when we stop growing. These include cells in connective tissues and in many organs, including the liver, kidneys, thyroid, and others.

And then there are others, known as renewal cells, that continually replace the tissues in which they’re found; they generate new cells exactly in time with the death of old cells. Renewal cells persist for the whole life of the organism. In humans, they’re found in the epidermis, as well as in things like our intestines, testicles, and the hematopoietic system of our bone marrow – which is responsible for generating both blood cells and the cells of our immune system. 

Over 50,000 hematopoietic stem cell transplants – HSCTs – are performed around the world annually. It’s undoubtedly the most important type of stem cell therapy currently in use. Better known as “bone marrow transplantation,” HSCT is now the preferred term as it also covers transplants where the blood-forming cells come from other sources, like the umbilical cord. Its main use is to treat leukemia and lymphoma. HSCT has also been used to treat some genetic blood diseases, including sickle cell anemia and a group of hemoglobin diseases.

Other existing treatments rely on tissue-specific stem cells. For instance, it’s possible to use cultured epidermis to treat severe burns, or to use stem cells from the cornea to treat eye diseases and injuries.

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Realistic future expectations

We can all be thankful for the advances in medicine in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Yet future generations may look back on us with disbelief: we live in a time where spinal injuries can lead to full paralysis, where lost limbs can't be regenerated, and where heart failure and cancer can end in death.

The hype surrounding the promise of cures in the 2000s was partly a result of the controversies over human embryonic stem cells. Many politicians also believed stem cell therapy would be “the next big thing” that might rescue them from failing economies. But scientists are less optimistic about therapies; they see more value in research on embryonic development and in drug screening.

When we think about the future, we can draw some lessons from hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, or HSCT – a story that analysts wouldn’t have been able to predict in advance.

First of all, little was known about the hematopoietic system in the 1950s when research in this field began. It took decades before hematopoietic stem cells were finally isolated in mice in 1988 – and then a few more years before they were isolated in humans. 

In spite of advances in cure rates for diseases like leukemia, the treatment is very aggressive and there’s a high mortality rate. This means it’s not suited to treat many other diseases where the risks can’t be justified. Plus, the cost of HSCT treatment is prohibitively expensive – upward of $600,000 in the US and €200,000 in Germany. 

Looking back at all this with the benefit of hindsight, we can see that knowledge of the hematopoietic system was only acquired as a result of the research. Many of the discoveries had no potential commercial value. And others that did were discarded during development. There have been long delays between understanding the biology and the implementation of new therapies. In the case of HSCT, it took around 20 years. Regulations today would probably make that much longer.

Gene and cell manipulation will yield great innovations in the future. In the next ten years alone, there’ll probably be some advances in stem cell therapy: cell grafts may be able to treat age-related macular degeneration in the eyes, dopaminergic neurons for Parkinson’s disease, and cardiomyocytes to repair damaged hearts. Treatment of type 1 diabetes through implants of pancreatic beta cells may also prove feasible. And we may even see the reversal of paralysis from spinal trauma.

Stem cell biology has enormous potential. But predicting its future is difficult. Biomedical scientists believe that we’ll someday be able to regenerate missing limbs, and there’ll certainly be cures for diabetes, cancer, and heart failure. But progress toward these outcomes will likely be slow – and require a lot more research.

---

There are different types of stem cells, including embryonic stem cells and tissue-specific stem cells. They’re being used in various applications, therapies, and trials to treat some of the world’s most cure-resistant diseases. Although a lot of promising research is being conducted in the field of stem cell research, progress is slow.

Here’s some actionable advice:

Remain skeptical.

Armed with your newfound knowledge, stay skeptical of miracle cures touted by private stem cell clinics. If you have any influence in politics or businesses concerning stem cell research, push for sensible decisions concerning funding and regulation over the next few decades. Stem cells may one day yield the longed-for miracle cures – but there’s still a long way to go.

[Ricky Catto · Rating 4 out of 5]

All I can say is I really want a CRISPR

[Harsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Science, and this book is full of it. Only if the books was little more simple.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jonathan M. W. Slack delivers another fine VSI to go with his slightly newer Genes: A Very Short Introduction (2014). This one is from "way back" in 2012, which is a rather long time in the rapidly advancing fields of molecular and cell biology. For example there is no mention of organoids, which were only just emerging from research in the early 2010s, around the time of this book's publication.

The book is a fairly tough read by VSI standards. Although the writing style is good, the technical nature of stem cells limits how simple the presentation can be. Slack does include a helpful glossary and unless you have a photographic memory you'll need to keep it bookmarked to look up all the acronyms you'll be forgetting. The going should be easier if you've already read related books, such as any (or all) of the other VSIs on the subjects of biology and medicine. In particular, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction (2011) sets the stage nicely and has a chapter about stem cells which this book greatly expands on. I'd also recommend Genomics: A Very Short Introduction.

Slack does a decent job of explaining what stem cells are, how they were being used in the lab and clinic when he wrote, and their immense long-term medical potential to revolutionize the treatment of many intractable degenerative diseases and catastrophic injuries. He also debunks the premature hype associated with what he calls "aspirational" stem cell treatments. These are often administered in connection with "stem cell tourism" whereby desperately ill patients travel to countries with lax regulations where poorly-tested and un-evidenced stem cell treatments are available. And despite promising early in the book to focus on the science and not on the ethical/religious/superstitious objections to stem cell research and application, Slack can't help but touch on the latter to some degree. If you're doing research on human stem cells, your work is going to be impacted by the Noah's Ark crowd, unless you relocate to one of those countries with lax regulations and you are terrific at fund-raising. Speaking of which, it might make more sense for Elon Musk to forget about Mars and plow his spare cash into this.

As I mentioned above, a decade is a long time in this field. That creates a bit of awkwardness in the last chapter where Slack speculates on future progress. To see how his predictions are panning out, the easiest way might be to check Wikipedia, which has continuously-updating articles on virtually everything mentioned in the book (although not always under the exact names that Slack uses). Fortunately Slack wrote a more recent textbook, The Science of Stem Cells (2017). It's longer, more technical, better-illustrated, and did I mention more recent. (It also covers those organoids, just in case you'd like to try growing a brain in a dish or something similar.) If you're wondering whether stem cell technology and the associated regenerative medicine are making progress faster than your own body is aging and falling apart, you'll be in the market for the latest stem cell book every few years. Perhaps if you are very young right now, you might live long enough to get some real benefit. If you're already closer to the end of your life than to the beginning, it's probably too late to win the race against Father Time. But at least you'll die knowing that whatever kills you might become curable decades in the future.

[عمر الحمادي · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب يقدم ملخصاً متقناً لموضوع الخلايا الجذعية، جدير بالقراءة للمهتمين.

يرى المختص النتيجة من زاوية مختلفة، فمنطق العالم يختلف عن منطق الطبيب، فعند حقن نخاع عظم مريض في قلبه ثم أدى ذلك إلى تحسن ٢٪؜ في وظائف القلب، لكن جميع الخلايا ماتت في اليوم التالي، فهل نستمر بالعلاج؟ العالم سيطلب التوقف والعودة للمختبر للدراسة، والطبيب سيميل للموافقة لأن ٢٪؜ أفضل من لاشيء ولا يهم لماذا حصل التحسن!؟

تحديات الخلايا الجذعية:

١-أغلب الخلايا لا تنقسم في مزارع الأنسجة وإن انقسمت فإنها تفقد سريعاً سماتها ومميزاتها، خير مثال خلايا بيتا المنتجة للأنسولين في البنكرياس.

٢- الرفض من قبل جهاز المناعة الذي قد ينتج سايتوكينات تسبب أضرار سامة، وهنا يطرح سؤال إضافة أدوية مثبطة للمناعة والتي لها كلفتها الباهظة على المال ومناعة الإنسان.

٣-طريقة إيصال الخلايا للعضو المتضرر، كثير مم الخلايا تموت فور حقنها

ليتم اعتماد العلاج بالخلايا الجذعية لمريض سكر أو باركنسون، فإنه يجب أن يكون أفضل من العلاجات المتوفرة حاليا ويجب ألا يسبب أضراراً جانبية إضافية أكبر مما تسببه العلاجات الحالية.

[Aleksandar · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is important to learn some basics about this topic, because much pseudoscience (and marketing schemes) manipulate people with the term "stem cells". In addition, the reality behind the topic is more fascinating than the hype. My only issue is that the book should be updated to reflect the newest findings, which shed much light, and are even more fascinating than an introduction on the topic. Still, it is unfair of me to expect an introduction, especially from a series focused on brevity, to go meandering into needlessly advanced topics.

[Qonita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bikin ngantuk, tapi ada beberapa info yang menarik kaya bagaimana hematopoietic stem cell mengubah dogma radioterapi untuk kanker dan tumor, ada apa dibalik terapi stem cell ecek-ecek yang sakti, seberapa efektif terapi stem cell sebenarnya dan prospeknya ke depan. Cukup mencerahkan untuk aku yang buta banget tentang topik ini

[Kevin An · Rating 4 out of 5]

It truly is a very short introduction, in the sense that it is suited for those who have little to no background in stem cells and is interested in a brief summary. I felt it was useful for me, but will definitely be reading more in depth about it using other books.

[Arvind Balasundaram · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb introduction to stem cells in all their forms, addressing a wide swath of topic areas from politics to gene biology...all delivered in pint-sized bits that makes for a perfect read between local stops on the NYC subway....

[Rex Libris · Rating 3 out of 5]

An explanation of what stem cells are and what they are useful in medical research; more importantly the author explain what they are not and how many of the so-called promises of stem-cell research are over-hyped.

[Jb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably good content but I did not get more than 20%, biology has always been hard.

[Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

My key takeaways: regulators get in the way, we know more than we used to but still not that much, and stem cells might help some specific diseases but will not be a panacea.

[Abhyuday · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not completely, barely a couple chapters - it was not engaging

In general I am not a fan of the AVSI books so yes

[Jordi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good, informative, and critical introduction to Stem Cells.

[AHMED ALHASHMI · Rating 4 out of 5]

يوضح ما يقوم به العلماء بدراستها، ويبين العلاجات التي تقدمها هذه الخلايا حاليًا، ويشير إلى ما قد يحدثه المستقبل في هذا المجال.

[Bojan Tunguz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stem cells are one of the most intriguing and controversial scientific topics today. The interest in them stems (no pun intended) from the apparently limitless potential for their use in medicine. The controversy is rooted in the way that some of them – human embryonic stem cells – are obtained and used. For both of those reasons understanding stem cells – what they are, how they operate, and what’s fact and what fiction – is an important topic for anyone who wants to have a more informed opinion on the subject. This very short introduction is probably one of the bets and most up to date short introductions to this subject, and I’d highly recommend to anyone who is interested in stem cells.

The book covers some of the most basic facts about the stem cells: what they are, how are they different from the other cells, what are the different kinds of stem cells, why are so interesting to science as well as medicine. It turns out that the answer to every one of those questions is much more subtle and technical than it would naively be expected, and a lot of care needs to be used when discussing these issues. The book also covers various potential uses of stem cells in medicine, and in particular in tissue engineering and various tissue therapies. Despite all the hype that surrounds such therapies, many of them are still far from being viable. This is partly due to the fact that we still face tremendous technical difficulties, but also because many of the existing therapies are at least as good as anything that could be achieved using the stem cells. Thus, the book functions as a sobering reminder to keep our expectations relatively low when it comes to immediate impact of stem cells on medicine. However, the use of stem cells in drug development might hold much more promise, at least in the short turn.

One thing that I wish this book covered in some more detail is the general topic of cell division, growth and multiplication, especially in the context of multicellular organisms. This is a basic biology topic, and even thought it is discussed well in some other biology books in the Very Short Introduction series, it would be of some use to general readers who might have forgotten some of their biology. A small ten-page chapter would not have added too much to the bulk of this thin book.

A bigger issue that I have with this book is the way that it treats the thorny ethical issues surrounding the stem cells. The author claims that the sole purpose of this book is to present the science behind the stem cells, without getting bogged down into the controversial ethical discussions. However, he does end up discussion the ethical issues on several occasions, in addition to adopting the generally very rosy view of the stem cell research in general. The problem with bringing these issues in passing is that it’s absolutely impossible to do them justice that way, and what we end up with is a stick figure and straw man discussion of those topics. In my opinion, such approach does disservice to the whole topic, and I hope that Oxford University Press comes up with a companion book dealing with medical ethics in general and without strong and transparent bias.

Despite its few flaws, I still consider this to be one of the best short introductions to the stem cells that are currently available. It is a very concise and invaluable resource for anyone interested in the current state of our knowledge on that intriguing subject.

[David Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I read to research this post was Stem Cells A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan Slack which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. I think this book isn't quite as good as Stem Cells For Dummies which I reviewed a while back but it is a good introduction to this subject. The reason Stem Cell research is so controversial is that they tend to use embryoes for the various procedures although many of these are aborted fetuses. Immuno suppressant drugs have to be used to the implantation of the material. Embryonic material is best because it has the ability to reproduce. One problem with introducing stem cells is if they are introduced particularly into a solid organ they have to be in a solution and many of the cells die. Bone Marrow transplants can be introduced into the blood so have a good survival rate. The spine and injections injected in to it on the other hand sees many cells die. Sometimes a host is used to breed or multiply the cells and other times the cells are just grown and transplanted. Much stem cell research is done on animals like mice or similiar animals to minimize controversy. When Dolly the sheep was cloned it was very controversial due to it being a high level animal with much in common with humans. Many people thought the next step was to clone people. This book is a little short at around 150 pages but is an enjoyable read and is interesting.The book I read to research this post was Stem Cells A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan Slack which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. I think this book isn't quite as good as Stem Cells For Dummies which I reviewed a while back but it is a good introduction to this subject. The reason Stem Cell research is so controversial is that they tend to use embryoes for the various procedures although many of these are aborted fetuses. Immuno suppressant drugs have to be used to the implantation of the material. Embryonic material is best because it has the ability to reproduce. One problem with introducing stem cells is if they are introduced particularly into a solid organ they have to be in a solution and many of the cells die. Bone Marrow transplants can be introduced into the blood so have a good survival rate. The spine and injections injected in to it on the other hand sees many cells die. Sometimes a host is used to breed or multiply the cells and other times the cells are just grown and transplanted. Much stem cell research is done on animals like mice or similiar animals to minimize controversy. When Dolly the sheep was cloned it was very controversial due to it being a high level animal with much in common with humans. Many people thought the next step was to clone people. This book is a little short at around 150 pages but is an enjoyable read and is interesting.

[Teo · Rating 4 out of 5]

2016.03.16–2016.03.16

Contents

Slack J (2012) (04:03) Stem Cells - A Very Short Introduction

List of illustrations
• 01. The concept of a stem cell
• 02. Cells growing in tissue culture
• 03. Preimplantation stage human embryos
• 04. A colony of human ES cells in culture
• 05. Properties of mouse ES cells
• 06. An example of a procedure
• 07. Procedures used for cloning of whole mammals
• 08. Procedure for making induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells
• 09. Mouse iPS cells
• 10. A colony of human iPS cells
• 11. Intestinal stem cells
• 12. Microscope sections of the intestinal epithelium of a mouse
• 13. The 14C method for determining the 'birthday' of cells
• 14. An historic skin graft from a white to a tabby mouse
• 15. Microscope section showing grafts of skin to a burn victim

Preface
• Box 1: Essential Acronyms

1. What are stem cells?
• What is a stem cell?
• Tissue culture
• Cell therapy
• Uncertain effectiveness of aspirational stem cell therapy
• Box 2: Stem cell tourism

2. Embryonic stem cells
• Mouse ES cells
• Human ES cells
• Applications of human ES cells
• Box 3: The ethical debate about human ES cells

3. Personalized pluripotent stem cells
• Stem cells and cloning
• Therapeutic cloning
• Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells
• Box 4: Human cloning
• Patient-specific iPS cell lines
• Box 5: Ethics of iPS cells

4. Potential therapies using pluripotent stem cells
• Diabetes
• Cell therapy for type 1 diabetes
• Making beta cells from pluripotent stem cells
• Parkinson's disease
• Foetal midbrain grafts
• Alternative treatments for Parkinson's disease
• Heart disease
• Cell therapy of the heart
• Spinal repair
• Retinal degeneration

5. Tissue-specific stem cells
• Cell turnover in the body
• The haematopoietic system
• Studying cell turnover
• Do non-renewal tissues contain stem cells?
• Do brain or heart cells turn over at all?
• Neurospheres
• Pluripotent stem cells in the adult

6. Current therapy with tissue-specific stem cells
• Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation
• Box 6: Banking of umbilical cord blood
• Gene therapy with HSCT
• Other real stem cell therapy
• Epidermis
• Limbus
• Stem cell therapy of the CNS
• Stem cell therapy of the heart

7. Realistic and unrealistic expectations
• Hopes and realities
• Box 7: Restrictions on stem cell research in the USa
• Lessons from HSCT
• The future

Glossary
Further reading
Index

[Eliade Weismann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stem Cells AVSI may require prior knowledge for a reader to keep up, but this book is a succinct and enlightening introduction to its field. I feel it is on a different order of quality compared to other titles in its series.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consider this a university lecture. A no-nonsense, straightforward explanation of cellular biology, and a clear definition of terms and the real and perceived issues around the topic. As you might expect, this is a deep and complex subject. The value of the book is to truly remove all the hype and wishful thinking about the potential of the subject. The author speaks to the evolution of the science, the fears, religious and ethical points of view, the various controversaries that knowledgeable and unknowledgable people have. I enjoyed the section that clarifies the application of stem cells for various human maladies. There is a bias in the book to consider the topic scientifically and that pursuit of knowledge is valuable. (This is a good thing!)

[Daniel Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

In general this is a helpful indtroduction, practically informative without being patronising. On the other hand, the author somewhat disingenuously claims, towards the beginning, that he is going to stick with the science and steer away from the inevitable bioethical discussions, then blithely makes constant references to these discussions throughout, while clearly being somewhat uncomfortable with such methods of argument. Nevertheless, he does help to clear away some of the clouds of confusion around the subject - which is no bad thing - and keep a rein on rash optimism about the potential benefits of stem cell research to medicine.

[Kabelo Ntsala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Learnt soo much about stem cells and how they function. Also learnt about induced pluripotent stem cells and their application purposes in developing potential solutions for diabetes (developing beta cells from IPS cells) and epithelial cells (skin cells for burn victims). Really enjoyed the concision of this book as well and will definitely be reading more books from the very short series and from Jonathan slack himself. Its not the books fault but it did feel quite outdated already because of things like CRISPR and other technologies being developed after its release. Would be really interested in reading another iteration that is more up to date.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was given to me by one of Johnathan Slack's former students as a debriefing on the essentials of stem cells. It is frank, informative, and explains things well. Jargon is impossible to avoid entirely in any readings that are not gross oversimplifications of the biomedical understanding, but Slack manages to be understandable to anyone who didn't fail high school biology. It was not the most engaging read, but it is the best resource someone could have who is interested in understanding the wildly complex field of stem cell research.

[Arthur Cravan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This 5 isn't an "I loved it" 5. This is that rare 5 that scores that way just for being exactly what it should be. I went into this book for two reasons: 1) To learn what stem cells are & how they work, & 2) To see where we were at with them, & get a realistic forecast for the future. I learned both of those things, & then some. It really is a concise & interesting book. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the subject!