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Q. Have Stem Cells been used for Treatment?

From , former About.com Guide

Updated: July 21, 2006

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A. There have been a number of breakthroughs. It is believed that one of them came as long ago as 1968 when Dr Robert Good, at the University of Minnesota, performed the world's first bone marrow transplant on a four month old boy. It is believed that the stem cells in the bone marrow grew and created specialized immune cells needed to fight the inherited disease the boy had. Bone marrow treatment are currently the only type of stem cell commonly used to treat human diseases.

More advanced techniques of "harvesting" human stem cells are now used to treat leukemia, lymphoma and several inherited blood disorders. Treatments for diabetes and advanced kidney cancer have also been shown to have great clinical potential

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