Assessing the value of autologous and allogeneic cells for regenerative medicine.

The advantages and disadvantages of autologous and allogeneic human cells for regenerative medicine are summarized. The comparison of relative advantages includes: ease and cost of treating large numbers of patients, the speed of availability of therapy and the differing complexity of the development pathways. The comparison of relative disadvantages deals with issues such as variability of source material, the risks of cell abnormality and of viral and prion contamination, and the sensitive issues surrounding use of embryo-derived cells. From the comparisons, several potentially decisive issues are drawn out, such as possible immune response and teratoma formation, the impact of patents and the virtues of hospital versus industry-centered development.