Innate Immunity and Regenerative Medicine

**257**

**Chapter 10**

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

Stem Cell Therapy and

Autoimmune Diseases

*and Kavitha Sankaranarayanan*

Regenerative Medicine in

*Bhuvaneshwari Sampath, Priyadarshan Kathirvelu* 

The role of immune system in our body is to defense against the foreign bodies. However, if the immune system fails to recognize self and non-self-cells in our body leads to autoimmune diseases. Widespread autoimmune diseases are rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and more yet to be added to the list. This chapter discusses about how stem cell-based therapies and advancement of regenerative medicine endow with novel treatment for autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, in detail, specific types of stem cells and their therapeutic approach for each autoimmune condition along with their efficiency to obtain desired results are discussed. Ultimately, this chapter describes the recent trends in treating autoimmune diseases effectively using advanced stem cell research.

**Keywords:** autoimmune disease, stem cell therapy, regenerative medicine, hematopoietic stem cell lines, mesenchymal stem cells, rheumatoid arthritis

Autoimmune disease [AID also called as autoimmune disorder] is a result of immunological imbalance and intolerance. In such a condition, an immune response is produced against the healthy tissues or substances present in our own body [1]. Though, there were roughly 67 autoimmune diseases known as per the reporting of American Autoimmune Related Disease Association [AARDA] in 1992 with 40 in suspicion, the number has grown to be in a range of 150 AID in 2016. With such a rapid incidence, AID has an impact on the social status and economy of the country too. With a mean age of onset at 65, AID targets the age group of 20–29 [2]. Gender-based studies continue to be a conundrum due to biased data reports and sexual dimorphism [3]. A series of events trigger AID, but the trigger that causes such a holocaust still remains unknown. Environmental factors, misregulation of immune system, and heredities are few common factors that influence AID out of the humungous list. Smoking, alcohol, industrial pollution, oral contraceptives, birth weight, breastfeeding, protein intake, geography, and socioeconomic status are some of the possible environmental triggers associated with AID. In case of misregulation of genes, the association of human leucocyte antigen (HLA) class II encoded HLA-DRB1-DQA1-DQB1 haplotype has been detected with several AIDs, including type 1 diabetes, Graves' disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.

#### **Chapter 10**
