Current Approaches in Stem Cell Production

Ars.Gor. Irem MATUR, Prof.Dr. Suna SOLMAZ Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can self-renew themselves and can differentiate to specialized cells. These undifferentiated cells have the ability to convert to many specialized cell types in the body or under appropriate laboratory conditions. Nowadays, stem cells are one of the most exciting fields in biomedical studies and interest about using them in regenerative medicine and studies in this field increases day by day. The distinctive features of stem cells are being capable of self-renewing themselves and differentiating to specialized cells and stemness. These cells are able to divide recurrently and during dividing, they both generate specialized cells and renew themselves. Because these cells have cellular and molecular markers, they are noticeably different from other cells. This feature is called stemness. Stem cells are classified as totipotent, pluripotent and multipotent related to their differentiation capability. The most capable stem cell types are embryonic stem cells. There are also adult stem cells. There are so many data about cancer cells that they derive from stem cells because of the abnormal proliferation and differatiation. Understanding the mechanisms of proliferation and differentiation of stem cells could make therapeutic implications of cancer and the other diseases possible. Key words: