Stem cell transplantation in immuno-hematologic and infectious diseases

Table 1 The table below shows the difference between pluripotent and oligopotent stem cells, listing various diseases they can treat

Pluripotent stem cells	Oligopotent stem cells
They can differentiate into any type of cell in the body	They can self-renew and differentiate into hematopoietic stem cells
The functions of the original cells are difficult to achieve	Non-controversial, accepted distinctly by patients
Immunogenicity i.e., immunological mismatch of the stem cells to the body is a major problem	Mainly found in bone marrow
Can be differentiated into endoderm, ectoderm, mesoderm, allowing a wide range of use in treatment. High rates of genetic instability increase tumorigenicity	Differentiate into red and white blood cells and platelets. Can also result in hematopoietic malignancy
Used to treat heart diseases e.g., long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome, cardiomyopathies etc. muscle disorders, diabetes, kidney diseases, cystic fibrosis, spinal cord injury and many more	Used to treat: Malignancies e.g., leukemia, lymphoma, neuroblastoma, Ewing sarcoma, choriocarcinoma and phagocyte disorders. Congenital diseases e.g., lysosomal storage disorders, mucopolysaccharidoses, glycoproteinoses, ataxia telangiectasia, Di George syndrome, severe combined immunodeficiency, aplastic anemia etc.

Table 2 The table below shows different stem cell types and their pros and cons

Stem cells	Pros	Cons
Fetal cells	Safe and effective for transplantation	Tissue availability. Ethical issues
Embryonic stem cells	Pluripotent, have stable karyotype and can differentiate into a wide variety of cells. Autologous transplant so less risk of GVHD	Over proliferation can cause tumor formation. Ethical concerns. High rate of rejection. Limited supply and availability
Pluripotent stem cells	Reduces ethical issues. Lower rejection risk since used as specific therapy	High risk of tumor formation i.e., teratoma. High risk due to reprogramming. Hard to make standard therapy
Reprogrammed stem cells	Low tumor formation risk. Lower rejection risk. Reduced ethical issues. Undergoes simple formation process	Low efficiency. Not deeply understood due to lack of enough studies. Hard to standardize
Adult stem cells	No ethical issues	Restricted potentials

Adopted from Pereira et al[101]. GVHD: Graft-vs-host disease.