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Cell therapy is an innovative medical approach that involves introducing living cells into a patient's body to treat or prevent disease. This cutting-edge treatment strategy uses cells to replace damaged or dysfunctional cells, deliver therapeutic substances, or stimulate the body's natural healing processes. Cell therapies can utilize various cell types, including stem cells, immune cells like CAR-T cells, or specialized cells engineered to perform specific functions.

The applications of cell therapy are expanding rapidly across multiple medical fields. In oncology, CAR-T cell therapy has shown remarkable success in treating certain blood cancers by reprogramming a patient's immune cells to recognize and attack cancer cells. Stem cell therapies are being developed for regenerative medicine applications, including treating heart disease, spinal cord injuries, and degenerative conditions like Parkinson's disease. Other conditions being targeted include diabetes (through insulin-producing cell transplants), autoimmune diseases, genetic disorders, and tissue damage from injuries or disease.

The process typically involves harvesting cells from the patient or a donor, potentially modifying or expanding them in a laboratory, and then administering them back to the patient through injection or infusion. While cell therapy offers tremendous promise, it requires careful patient selection, sophisticated manufacturing processes, and ongoing monitoring. Challenges include ensuring cell survival and integration, managing immune responses, and controlling costs. Despite these hurdles, cell therapy represents a paradigm shift in medicine, offering hope for previously untreatable conditions.