Although embryonic stem cells are totipotent, adult stem cells have the
advantage that they could be obtained from a person with diabetes to treat
his or her own disorder without the problem of genetic incompatibility
The therapy, known as autologus haematopoietic stem cell transplantation,
has been shown to have benefits to people with a range of autoimmune
diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohns diesease
Although stem cells have the potential to treat a wide range of human disorders,
there is still a long way to go before they can widely used to treat patients.
Doctors need to be able to produce stem cells that; make sufficient cells of th
desired cell types, are accepted by a fully integrated into the recipients tissue,
function well for the whole life of the recipient, cause no harm to the recipient