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Use of bone marrow-derived cells for regenerative medicine in Cuba

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 51, page 134 (2016)Cite this article

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The Cuban population, like others in North America and Western Europe, is aging. Incidences and prevalences of degenerative diseases such as cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes and stroke are increasing. However, Cuba faces a somewhat unique medical challenge compared with these regions. On the one hand, we have a highly-developed medical education system with about 6.7 physicians/1000 population, a rate more than twice as high as the United States (2.4/1000) and the United Kingdom (2.7/1000).1 For example, Cuba provides more medical personnel to the developing world than all the G8 countries combined including about 19 000 physicians.2 We also have highly-developed biomedical research institutions with world-class scientific centers such as the Finlay Institute for Vaccines Research and Production, the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM) and the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) and the Latin America School of Medicine (ELAM). However, we lack economic resources for advanced medical interventions. Although our health-care expenditure as percent gross domestic product (GDP, 8.8%) is comparable to most Western European countries, it is far less than the United States (17.1%). More importantly, our per capita GDP ($18 796 USD) is much lower than the United States ($53 042 USD) and Western European countries (about $50 000 USD).3 Consequently, per capita expenditure on health care in Cuba is only about one-third of Western European countries and of the United States. Because of this limitation we have had to develop innovative approaches to deliver newly-evolving health-care interventions such as regenerative medicine.

Our focus that in regenerative medicine is on using adult stem and progenitor cells rather than some more complex techniques such as induced pluripotent stem cells. Bone marrow from adults contains diverse cells including hematopoietic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, endothelial progenitor cells, side-population cells, multi-potent adult progenitor cells and very small embryonic-like stem cells.4 Consequently, we developed a simple method for obtaining bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells as a source of stem cells for cell therapy.

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Acknowledgements

Prof. Robert Peter Gale (Imperial College London) kindly reviewed the typescript.

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  1. Cuban Group of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells, Ministerio de Salud Pública, Instituto de Hematología e Inmunología, La Habana, Cuba

    P Hernández

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  1. P Hernández
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Correspondence to P Hernández.

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Hernández, P. Use of bone marrow-derived cells for regenerative medicine in Cuba. Bone Marrow Transplant 51, 134 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2015.200

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