Glossary

When a new subject is being learned, many patients will learn also new terms. Next we defined some of the most used ones:

Adult stem cells: Non-embryonic, non-differentiated stem cells. These Stem cells can be found, among others tissues, in bone marrow, fat tissue, umbilical cord blood, etc. (Also identified according to differentiation capability: multipotent, totipotent and pluripotent). All the non-embryonic stem cells are considered adult stem cells.

Allogeneic: Refers to the procedure where the donor is a different person from the receiver, reason why it is necessary to take care of tissue compatibility in order to avoid Graft-Versus-Host-Disease.

Autologous: Refers to the procedure where the donor and receiver is the same person, reason why the compatibility is a match.

Bone marrow stem cells: Adult stem cells obtained from bone marrow.

Cell therapy: Refers to treatments based on regenerative medicine to repair damaged or destroyed tissue.

Cord blood stem cell: Adult Stem Cell obtained from umbilical cord blood collected at time of birth. These UCB stem cells are on the move from the liver (where blood production takes place during the fetal life) to bone marrow (where blood production takes place after birth). It is commonly used for treatments of leukemia and other blood diseases on children, most cases have been on siblings.

Differentiation: Process by which a stem cell acquires characteristics of a specialized cell line and becomes specific tissue cell.

Embryonic stem cell: Stem Cell obtained from a fertilized egg (blastocyst) after a few days of fertilization and before cell differentiation. Embryonic Stem cells are Totipotent, which means they can differentiate into any kind of tissue cell of the fetus.

Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP): GMP are quality standards. It guarantees products and processes are following and complying highest standards of quality and specifications of that product or process.

Hematopoietic stem cells: Stem cells committed to blood cells (red cells, white cells, platelets).

HLA (Human Leukocyte antigen): Human histocompatibility test, where immunological system markers of a person are determined. By this system our body recognizes own cells from foreign cells/tissue. HLA tests are meant to find tissue compatibility between people. When 6 markers are a match between two people, is said they have perfect compatibility. For transplants/treatments perfect match is required, but there are exceptions where 5/6 and up to 4/6 compatibility could be used acceptable depending on the patient, the disease and the source of stem cells being used.

Mesenchymal stem cell (Also known as stromal): Group of bone marrow stem cells not committed to blood cell production. Mesenchymal stem cells are capable to multiply and different themselves in different types of cells.

Multipotent stem cell: Stem cells that could differentiate into more than one type of cellular lines.

Plasticity: Ability/flexibility of a stem cell to differentiate into other types of cell lines.

Pluripotent stem cell: Are stem cells that could differentiate into almost any type of cellular lines.

Progenitor stem cells (or Unipotent stem cell): Are stem cells that could differentiate into a single type of cellular line. At the end of a long chain of cell division are "fully differentiated" cells, such as a liver cell or lung cell, which are permanently committed to specific functions of that tissue. It leads to the recovery of the tissue and they act as a repair system for the body. And they stick with the same organism throughout the life of it.

Regenerative medicine: Treatment where stem cells are induced to differentiate into specific cells type required to repair damaged or destroyed tissue.

Stem Cells: Primary cells able to multiply themselves (indefinitely) and to differentiate into cells of specific types.

Stem Cell CD34: Hematopoietic Stem Cell with specific molecular structure showing a surface marking differentiator (CD refers to Cluster Differentiator and number 34 refers to type of marker showed by true stem cells).

Tissue engineering: Refers to construction of new tissue based on stem cells. Tissues such as skin or cartilage could be produced outside the body and be transplanted later to the patient.

Totipotent stem cell: Are stem cells that could differentiate into all body cell types and are able to form a viable complete organism. An example would be the cells of a fresh fertilized egg.