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There are many types of stem cells. These types are;

  • Tissue-Specific/Adult/Somatic Stem Cells​​

  • Embryonic Stem Cells (ES)

  • Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS)

  • Cancer Stem Cells

Types of Stem Cells
Tissue-Specific Stem Cells

Tissue-specific stem cells are also known as adult stem cells or somatic stem cells.

Adult stem cells are naturally found in the human body. They are undifferentiated cells that are found within specific differentiated tissues that can renew themselves or generate new cells that can replenish dead or damaged tissue. 

These stem cells are on the path to becoming a cell from the tissue in which they reside, and they cannot form other cell types. Because they cannot mature into every cell type, they are tissue-specific and not pluripotent, hence the name of the cell, "tissue-specific." Scientists have also found stem cells in the placenta and in the umbilical cord of newborn infants, and they can isolate stem cells from different fetal tissues. The cord blood cells that some people bank after the birth of a child are a form of adult blood-forming stem cells.

Source: C-1, C-2 

Embryonic Stem Cells (ES)
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS)
Cancer Stem Cells

Embryonic stem cells come from pluripotent cells. This means that they are not committed to becoming a cell from a specific tissue, but they can become any number of cells.

These cells only exist with in the first five days of human embryonic development and are difficult to obtain. When the embryo young enough to contain these cells, it it called a blastocyst, and is an empty sphere filled with these stem cells.  

ES Cells are harvested from the interior of a blastocyst that has been fertilized via in vitro and donated once the genetic donors have given consent to the research, and are not derived from eggs fertilized and implanted in a female human’s body.

Sources: C-1, C-2, C-3

Induced pluripotent stem cells are created from any somatic cell and modified to behave similarly to an embryonic stem cell, thus gaining pluripotency.

Viruses are currently used to infuse the pluripotency inducing genes into somatic cells, which is potentially dangerous and need additional testing and trials before it can be used to treat humans.

Even though extra research and experimentation is required, iPS Cells are useful instruments for medicinal drug development and modeling of diseases, and research scientists hope to use them in transplantation medicine.

Sources: C-1, C-3, C-4

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Cancer stem cells are a type of cancer cell, and they can self-renew themselves similar to a stem cell.

So far, it seems as if these cells are more harmful than beneficial, since they allow cancer to progress and expand, creating tumors instead of healthy organs and tissues.

Scientists hope to use these stem cells to further cancer research and create more effective cancer treatments to cancers that are more difficult to eradicate and destroy with current and common cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy.

Since cancer stem cells are thought to be a source for all cancer cells, scientists are working on ways to destroy them in hopes that it will completely rid patients of cancer.

Sources: C-1, C-5, C-6

An Adult Neural Stem Cell Differentiating Into Specific Brain Tissue Cell Types. It Cannot Differentiate Into Other Non-Neural Cell Types.

Image Source: CI-1

The Process of Isolating Embryonic Stem Cells From A Blastocyst And Growing Them In A Dish.

Image Source: CI-2

The Process of Modifying Somatic Cells and Creating iPS Cells

Image Source: CI-3

An Illustration of the Cancer Stem Cell Hypothesis, Stating that Cancer Stem Cell-Targeted Cancer Therapy Would Be More Effective Because It Would Not Allow The Stem Cells To Survive And Cause A Tumor Regrowth.

Image Source: CI-4

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