Iran ranks 2nd in world in transplantation of stem cells

The announcement was made by Professor Ardeshir Ghavamzadeh, the head of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) Hematology-Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation Research Center who won the world's top researcher award in Thalassemia and cancer treatment in 2012. "Iran ranks the second in the world in treating thalassemia and transplanting stem cells," professor Ghavamzadeh told FNA. Ghavamzadeh, who won the Distinguished Service Award from the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research in 2012, also reiterated that 85% of thalassemic people in Iran are fully cured and return to their normal lives if their disease is diagnosed at early stages. In recent years, Iran has made giant progress in stem cell science and is now revered as a world pioneering country in the area. Iran has also taken wide strides in other areas of medical science as well and is now producing unique drugs and medication for several types of cancer and AIDS. Iranian Health Minister Marziyeh Vahid Dastjerdi announced in 2011 that Iran has already applied stem cell method for curing different diseases, and added that her ministry supports further achievements in the field. Dastjerdi said that more than 100 diabetic, six MS, and 10 cerebral patients have been treated through stem cells method. Stem cell research is one of the most promising research areas in modern biomedicine. However, due to moral and ethical debates, it remains a controversial issue in many regions of the world.