[Cell transplant and regenerative stem cell therapy].

The derivation of the first human embryonic stem cell lines as well as the notion of the unexpected plasticity and potential of the adult stem cells has significantly impacted the biomedical research. Many of the tissues long believe to lack any regenerative capacity has demonstrated otherwise. Patients alike physicians expectations for treatment of incurable diseases have also fuelled this field and in occasions have led to unrealistic expectations. In the next pages I review some of the tissue specific stem cells that have been used either in preclinical models or even in clinical research. Despite the effort of numerous investigators, more questions that answers remain in the field of cell therapy and only careful and independent -not biased- research will allow us to translate some of this findings into clinical application.