One such approach is the transplantation of autologous hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from peripheral blood following their expansion outside the body (EE-PB-HSPCT).
Despite its rather formidable name, the underlying idea is refreshingly straightforward: the procedure relies on the patient’s own cells, which are drawn from the blood, prepared under laboratory conditions, and then applied within a defined cell-therapy protocol.
Why Do Stem Cells Spark Such Curiosity?
So much of the interest comes down to what these cells can actually do. Stem cells carry a striking range of biological properties — they talk to neighboring cells, pitch in when tissue needs rebuilding, and have a hand in steering all sorts of regulatory machinery across the body.
Once the stem cells have been harvested from the patient’s blood, they undergo ex vivo expansion — a process in which their number is multiplied within the laboratory. This step makes it possible to assemble a sufficient reservoir of cellular material for subsequent use.
Harvesting and Preparing the Cells
The source of the cells is the patient’s own blood. What gets pulled from it are CD34+ stem cells — a thoroughly studied cell type that has long been a workhorse in cellular medicine and transplantology.
From there, the cells head into a cultivation stage in the lab. The environment is fine-tuned on purpose: enough to grow their numbers, but never at the cost of the functional traits that make them useful in the first place.
And here’s where regenerative medicine has shifted its gaze in recent years — it no longer fixes on the cells in isolation. How they’re prepared matters just as much, and so do the substances and signaling molecules the cells quietly put out as they go about their business. Among these, exosomes have recently drawn particular attention — microscopic particles through which cells trade information with one another. They are thought to help carry biological messages from cell to cell and to influence the processes tied to tissue repair and immune regulation. This is precisely why modern cellular technologies treat the body as a single, interwoven system, where what matters is not only the cells themselves but the dialogue between them.
Which Conditions Most Often Bring Patients In for a Consultation?
Most of the people who come in to discuss cell therapy are living with neurological, autoimmune, or chronic illness, and they are looking for something more — added treatment options, a better quality of day-to-day life.
The strongest responses to cell therapy have shown up in patients with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, the aftereffects of Guillain–Barré syndrome, transverse myelitis, cerebral palsy (CP), peripheral nerve injuries, and polyneuropathies.
Encouraging results have also been seen in some forms of dementia, in Alzheimer’s disease, in autism spectrum disorders (autism among them), and in macular degeneration, diabetic foot, and chronic ulcerative skin lesions. Autologous exosomes, for their part, have performed well in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, ankylosing spondylitis, and fibromyalgia.
Every case is weighed on its own. Whether cell therapy fits, and what it might realistically achieve, is something the physician decides only after going through the patient’s medical records and test results.
A Consultation with Professor Hüseyin Yurdakul in Batumi
At the multidisciplinary medical center SILK Medical in Batumi, Professor Hüseyin Yurdakul sees patients — a Doctor of Medicine, PhD in medical genetics, and a specialist in cellular technologies and regenerative medicine. The professor brings more than 20 years of experience in medical genetics, is the author of scientific publications, and has taken part in international research projects.
The first step is an online consultation, during which the physician reviews the patient’s medical records, existing diagnoses, and test results, while weighing whether modern cell-therapy methods might suit that particular case.
Where the indications support it, Professor Hüseyin Yurdakul travels to Batumi for an in-person consultation at the SILK Medical multidisciplinary medical center.
For many patients, this is a chance to hear from a specialist with international expertise in cell therapy and regenerative medicine, and to explore the modern approaches that might be considered in their own particular situation.
