Stem cell therapy is gaining popularity in India to treat a wide variety of medical conditions including Leukaemia, Thalassemia, damaged cornea and severe burns. Describe briefly what stem cell therapy is and what advantages it has over other treatments ?
Approach · directive: “describe / what advantages”
What it asks · Say briefly what stem cell therapy is and list its advantages over conventional treatments.
It asks 2 things — answer each
- Describe briefly what stem cell therapy is
- What advantages it has over other treatments
Open with · Definition plus data: stem cells are unspecialised cells that renew themselves and can become blood, skin or corneal cells; with 10,000–15,000 babies born with thalassaemia major every year (NHM), India has a large stake in therapies that repair rather than manage.
Cover
- What it is: stem cells from bone marrow, cord blood, tissue or lab-reprogrammed cells (induced pluripotent stem cells, 2012 Nobel Prize to Gurdon and Yamanaka) are given to replace or repair damaged cells and tissues.
- Uses: blood stem cell transplant treats leukaemia and thalassaemia; limbal stem cells restore the cornea; cultured skin cells help in severe burns.
- Advantage: it repairs or replaces damaged tissue, so it can cure conditions that drugs only manage.
- Advantage: using the patient's own cells lowers rejection risk, and it eases dependence on scarce donor organs and repeated transfusions.
- Advantage: it opens a route for diseases with few options, such as certain blood, eye and spinal disorders, with fewer long-term drug effects.
- Cautions: the ICMR-DBT National Guidelines (2017) permit only haematopoietic stem cell transplant for blood disorders as therapy; everything else is investigational, allowed only within approved clinical trials.
Close with · Stem cells promise regenerative medicine, but the road from bench to bedside must run through registered trials and ICMR's evidence-based status reviews, so that hope is not sold by unproven clinics.
Add value (verified)
- NHM guidelines: about 10,000–15,000 babies with thalassaemia major are born in India every year.Guidelines on Hemoglobinopathies in India — National Health Mission, MoHFW ↗“About 10,000 -15,000 babies with thalassemia major are born every year.”
- The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Gurdon and Yamanaka for reprogramming mature cells to pluripotency.The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 — Summary, NobelPrize.org ↗“was awarded jointly to Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent"”
- National Guidelines for Stem Cell Research 2017: only bone marrow/haematopoietic transplant for blood disorders is permitted therapy; all else only in clinical trials.Stem Cell Treatment — PIB, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (2018) ↗“only bone marrow/hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for blood disorders (including blood cancers and thalassemia) is permitted use of stem cells”
- The 2017 guidelines describe haematopoietic stem cell transplantation as the well-established therapy with defined indications.National Guidelines for Stem Cell Research 2017 — ICMR-DBT ↗“the well-established hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) with clearly defined clinical indications”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2017, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 223words · Minimalist IAS
Stem cells are unspecialised cells that renew themselves and can become blood, skin or corneal cells. With 10,000–15,000 babies born with thalassaemia major every year (NHM), India has a large stake in therapies that repair rather than manage.
What stem cell therapy is
- Sources: bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, tissue, or adult cells reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells, the discovery behind the 2012 Nobel Prize to Gurdon and Yamanaka.
- Method and uses: cells are infused or grafted to rebuild damaged tissue: haematopoietic (blood) stem cell transplant for leukaemia and thalassaemia, limbal cells for the cornea, cultured skin for burns.
Advantages over other treatments
| Condition | Conventional care | Stem cell route |
|---|---|---|
| Thalassaemia | lifelong transfusions | one-time marrow transplant |
| Damaged cornea | donor graft | patient's own limbal cells |
- Cure, not control: it replaces lost tissue, so it can cure what drugs only manage.
- Lower rejection: the patient's own cells avoid immune rejection and lifelong immunosuppressants.
- Less dependence: on scarce donor organs and repeated transfusions that bring infection and iron overload.
Cautions
- Regulation: the ICMR-DBT National Guidelines (2017) permit only haematopoietic transplant for blood disorders as therapy; all else is investigational, allowed only in approved clinical trials.
Stem cells promise regenerative medicine, but the road from bench to bedside must run through registered trials and ICMR's evidence-based status reviews, so that hope is not sold by unproven clinics.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
