No stem cell therapy for autism: NMC directs clinics to not use unproven treatments

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has asked all hospitals to restrict the use of stem cell therapy to limited diseases, exempting Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

In line with the Supreme Court, the advisory cautioned doctors to not use unproven methods to treat autism spectrum disorder.

It clarified that stem cell therapy can be used for only 32 diseases which are listed by the ministry of health and family welfare based on guidelines laid down by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Among the 32 diseases are mostly blood or immunity disorders.

Any stem cell therapy administered to a condition outside the list will demand a strict legal action, the commission said in its warning.

Stem cells are special cells that can transform into any other kind of cells, however, adult stem cells have a limited capability.

Not a degenerative condition

Autistic people may act in a different way to other people, the National Health Service (NHS) has said.

People with autism have difficulty in communicating with other people, avoid eye contact, engage in repetitive behaviours, feel differently and sometimes process information in different ways.

Experts call it a neurodevelopmental condition as opposed to a degenerative disease, with autistic people having differences in the brain structure and in these parts communicating with each other.

As per a study, the brain’s outer layer seems to vary in thickness among people with autism, also the white matter tract (corpus callosum) joining the two hemispheres has reduced volume among the affected.

These changes don’t make autism a progressive condition, rather a brain which functions differently.

Autism is a spectrum condition as the signs can vary from person to person, each having a peculiar expression.

Stem cell therapy and autism

The ingredients for a stem cell therapy is the awareness of tissues affected by the disease and the right kind of stem cells to be applied.

Both answers remain unanswered for autism, studies have found out.

If a disease is caused by nerve cell degeneration, finding a stem cell that could replace or regenerate the nerve cells is needed. This is uncertain in case of autism which has cellular complexity but no observed degeneration. 

As per reports, most experts don’t have enough answers on what cells need to be replaced in autism or whether it needs a cure or just acceptance as a neurodivergence condition.

With no proven benefits of the stem cell therapy in autism, this treatment may become unnecessary and expensive.