There’s a lot of talk about regenerative therapy, and it stems from the topic of stem cells called exosomes.
In order to really understand exosome therapy, one has to bear in mind what doctors have been trying to accomplish within the last decade. Exosomes (the treatment) are being heralded as the next frontier of self-therapy. They are tiny vesicles that are released by all types of cells and found in abundance in bodily fluids. Exosomes allow cells to communicate with one another without being in direct contact. Their major role is to carry the information they hold and deliver signals between specific cells.
Exosomes & Stem Cells
Exosomes were discovered about thirty years ago. Doctors realized cells communicated by taking a piece of the cell membrane and sending them out as small packets. Exosomes are able to be delivered to other cells because they are contained in a cell membrane. What’s really important, however, is what is inside of an exosome. They can carry messages regarding inflammation, anti-inflammation, repair, growth, whatever message that needs to be sent, good or bad. Doctors were concerned about this at first.
When it came to using stem cells especially when it came to transferrable use, the FDA was concerned about the risk of cancer. This is because when you take another cell from someone else and transfer it to another person, if the environment is incorrect, there is a high risk of developing cancer.
However, there is a group of dedicated people that take stem cells from an adult and genetically modify them. During this period, due to the fact that it is a stem cell, it is secreting exosomes into the fluid around it. It secretes all of the nutritional delivery systems, and so doctors realized if they were able to concentrate that and take all of the cells out, they would be essentially left with a “super juice” for healing. Due to the fact that this “super juice” doesn’t have cells in it, it cannot carry the cancer.
Another thing: one thing the cells do not secrete is pro-inflammatory chemicals because you can’t have inflammation when trying to heal tissue. When they learned that they could take these exosomes and put them into a person, they realized because they were so purified they could go into IV and it wouldn’t cause any potential harm to patients.
Example Research
An example were patients that were balding. They were going through balding in which the hair follicle was dead. They took the exosome “super juice” and injected it into the scalp, and within weeks, hair started to grow back. However, the exosome’s potential for growth was only for 24 to 48 hours, so they believed they would have to continuously repeat the treatment. However, it continued to alert other nearly cells to grow hair, and so hair began to grow on the scalp in places that it wasn’t even injected in. In other words, a healthy cell could tell nearby cells to become healthy by secreting exosomes.
Additionally, exosomes are cheaper than stem cells to utilize. If we are able to use exosomes to improve the health of the general system, then we can determine if people only need exosomes before having to go to the more expensive option of using stem cells. Also, in doing so this way, the stem cell can already be introduced to a more healthy environment than a body without exosomes, thus increasing the effectiveness of treatment.
Current & Future Uses
Currently, exosomes are seeing lots of use in the field of cosmetic treatment, with plastic surgery, men’s enhancements, and other treatments. However, there can be use for it neurologically, such as to combat Alzheimers disease. When it comes to stem cells, it can take months to see results. However, with exosomes, it could be within weeks before results start to show themselves.
The future of exosomes seems to be leaning towards their use in conjunction with stem cells.
Currently, there problem with exosomes and stem cells is a new rule outlined by the FDA called the “Five Thirty-One Rule”. This states that all exosomes and stem cell product companies have to be registered with the FDA. This might make it so many companies cannot afford the application to provide this to consumers, however, the good thing is that the purity of exosomes will be assured to patients.
In order to assess if patients need exosomes, stem cells, or a combination of both, there are factors that are looked at. One is neurotrophic factors. They are factors that deliver nutrition to the neurological system. There are three. One is called synapsome, the second is brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and the last is nerve growth factor. Doctors have noticed that people who cannot heal have an 88% chance that they are experiencing a disruption in one of those factors. It meant that they did not have proper delivery of nutrition in order to heal. In this instance, either exosomes or stem cells are needed in order to help the patient.
Exosome & Regenerative Therapy are being used now, and hopefully even more in the future to help with not just cosmetic treatments, but other life-threatening illness as well.
