FROM LAB TO CLINIC

It will take some time before we will see these therapies in use, according to Gu. “Medicine is an evidence-based field. It will have to pass through certain stages from animal studies then finally clinical research and trial. For that, we need patients to sign up for clinical trial to test the efficacy of the treatments. So far, a lot of work have been done on animal models and in a few human cases too, which show that it works.”

There is no harm in signing up for clinical testing says Gu. “While many studies are still under research/trial and not yet approved by FDA, for the individual patient, there are many new treatments developed. The good thing about stem cell is its not harmful, it is not chemotherapy which can rapidly kill the patient. At the moment, people are more concerned about its effectiveness, rather than safety. So we need more patients to see if the treatments really work.”

Until that day, discoveries of the potential of stem cells is continuously unfolding. Gu shares that just recently a paper has been published on retinal cell generation, which can return one’s eyesight. “It’s gradual but it is happening. I would say in the next five to 10 years, we will be able to treat a lot of difficult diseases and that cell therapy will the future of medicine.”

Prof Gu Yuchun (pix) is the Chair in Molecular Physiology and Director of Aston-ALLIFE Regenerative Medicine Institute, Aston Medical School, Aston University. After studying to be doctor at Nanjing Medical University, he furthered his studies, acquiring a Master of Medicine in Clinic Science and later a PhD in cellular physiology. Gu says it was his mother’s cancer diagnosis that drove him to enter the field of stem cell research. He is also a Professor in Molecular Pharmacology in Peking University in Beijing.