Baby Teeth To Fight Disease

[Murray Charters <mcharters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Baby Teeth To Fight Disease

April 04, 2004

BABY teeth could one day be worth much more than a visit from the tooth fairy ? 
with scientists confident they can
eventually be used to fight heart failure, Parkinson's Disease and bone cancer.

Researchers at Adelaide's Hanson Institute, a medical research centre attached 
to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, have
identified teeth as a good source of stem cells.

Stem cells can be developed into any type of specialised cell in the body, 
opening up potential uses in repairing
damaged organs, such as hearts, brains, kidneys or bone marrow.

The institute's director, Howard Morris, said teeth had several advantages over 
other sources of stem cells, most
notably that they could be obtained easily and without controversy.

"It's thought that the best stem cells come from embryos and that of course has 
all the ethical issues about harvesting
stem cells," Professor Morris said.

"Stem cells in adult tissues can be difficult to get or present in very small 
amounts."(Hanson Institute scientist)
Stan Gronthos ... has identified that pulp in teeth is quite a good source of 
stem cells and they are very amenable to
getting hold of.

"You lose a whole mouthful of them when you are a young child."

Professor Morris said the technology was still years away from being trialled 
on humans.

"We are still at the point where we are really identifying these cells in a 
test tube," he said.

"What's yet to be done properly is to put them into animals over a long period 
of time and then into humans, that
hasn't been explored."

But eventually it could mean organ transplants could be avoided.

"A heart and kidney transplant, you have to suppress your immune system through 
chemical treatment, which is not good,"
he said.

"But if it's your own tooth, it's your own stem cells.

"With the laboratory we could direct them onto various tissues.

"If a person has Parkinson's Disease, you could send the stem cells down the 
pathway to the brain cells and deliver
them appropriately to the patient."

A person's baby teeth could be put in storage when they fall out and used for 
medical purposes later in life, similarly
to what is sometimes already done with cord blood at the birth of a baby, he 
said.

SOURCE: The Australian, Australia


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