Interesting information and thoughts can come from odd places. Earlier this week NPR Science Friday was discussing the potential of stem cells in curing disease. New techniques have become available to take a person’s own stem cells and turn them into cells with specific functions. The target has been to fight cancer within the body more effectively than using drugs to kill the cancer cells. The body fights infection usually very effectively, if we can train the body to fight similar problems using its own cells, then we may have ability to fight many different kinds of problems affecting the body.  

After fighting cancer, the next challenge being studied is how to modify and stop diseases that affect the body. Major medical problems that have definite potential to be solved are diseases like diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. These diseases are problems when the body is fighting itself. In diabetes, the pancreas stops producing insulin while in rheumatoid arthritis the body damages the joints. These diseases are well understood, and thus leading to strategies to reverse these problems. For diabetes, stem cells are being turned into pancreas cells that produce insulin. Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease of inflammation, and stem cells are being turned into cells that stop the inflammatory process.

Stem Cells and Pain

Pain is much more complex than many of the first targets stem cells are working toward helping. Pain is generated from many structures, and there are multiple locations in the body are involved. Damaged or dysfunctional muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints, discs in the spine, and nerves are just a few of the problems. Not one single issue is present but many problems usually co-exist. A single solution to pain will be much more difficult. The most difficult problems will be those where pain comes from multiple sources and the brain short circuits on the signals, where central sensitivity to pain occurs. When a primary single problem can be isolated, then the potential for a solution may become feasible.

Back and neck pain have become early targets for trying to find solutions with stem cells. Discs in the spine often become painful, and reasons may include degeneration, tears, and disc herniation. Surgery can remove a herniated disc fragment, but it does not repair the disc damage. Stem cells may be able to repair the disc and return the disc to normal structure at some point in the future. Another solution may be to use stem cells to repair nerves that have been damaged. Stem cells are starting to be used to help treat spinal cord injuries, but success in this area has not yet been fruitful.

One third of the population suffers from some sort of chronic pain. Creative thought and solutions have been slowly developed in many areas of medicine. One of the biggest problems in medicine is pain. In the United States hardly anything is being spent on the research to understand pain and develop new solutions to pain. All the current focus is on the treatment of drug addiction. This country needs to start looking at the cause of pain and its solutions in order to prevent problems with addictive drugs. Stopping the prescription of opioid pain medications does not solve the problem of pain, and only has a limited effect on the problems of addiction. Creative thinking and research may lead to solutions that solve pain, and stem cells may be a new secret weapon in the future.