Contents

**Preface XI**


#### **X** Contents

#### **Section 2 Stem Cells in Disease 109**

Chapter 7 **Stem Cell-Based (Auto)Grafting: From Innovative Research Toward Clinical Use in Regenerative Medicine 111** Bela Balint, Slobodan Obradovic, Milena Todorovic, Mirjana Pavlovic and Biljana Mihaljevic

Preface

lost/died cells by new normal cells.

safe manipulation.

cers (chronic myeloid leukemia).

logical property of them is not completely understood.

cells in an organ and start process of carcinogenesis.

marrow, due to environmental or immunologic dysregulation.

potentially applicable in regenerative medicine and also cancer treatment.

Stem cells have a prominent role in biology of normal life and also in pathogenesis of diseases. Life starts with generation of an embryo (the most primitive form of a stem cell) and goes through all of the embryonic and fetal stages of life. It forms all of the tissue and organs of a living organism and then has a role in maintenance of normal cellular composition of body. And finally these cells maintain body in a steady state of cell loss and substitution of normal

Nearly in every organ of body we have these cells, although location characteristic and bio‐

Despite of their role in normal life, these cells also have a prominent role in many diseases. Deficiency/depletion of these cells is very important in pathogenesis diseases. For example aplastic anemia (a fatal form of hematopoietic stem cell disease) is stem cell damage in bone

Cancer is also a stem cell disease. Genetic/metabolic abnormalities of tissue stem cells (or some times more mature progenitor cells) may disrupt normal proliferation of immature

Although clinical application of the best known stem cells (Hematopoietic stem cells) is pos‐ sible today and they are useful for treatment of many malignant and non-malignant disor‐ ders, clinical knowledge and application of these cells is in infancy. These cells are

For safe and effective application of these cells, we need better knowledge of their biology, their interaction with other cells (especially supporting niche cells), growth, maturation and also immigration of stem cells through body in normal and abnormal conditions. Also for clinical application we need to know their characterization, their separation methods and

This book is written to clarify some aspects of stem cell biology, their characteristics, assess‐ ment of damage to cells during ex vivo manipulation and also their role in a model of can‐

Institute for Oncology, Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation

Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

**Kamran Alimoghaddam, MD.**

