Acellular Therapy: Potential Way of Treating Diseases Efficiently
Cellular organisms include human beings, bacteria, animals, and different plants. Among these, bacteria are referred to as unicellular organisms due to the presence of one cell in each bacterium.
On the other hand, human beings, animals, and plants are referred to as multicellular organisms due to the presence of numerous cells in each of them. The only thing which makes the organisms cellular or acellular is the cell’s presence in them. To understand the proper difference between them, life and cells must be described first.
According to biology, the widely accepted factors that define life are the order of the development and growth of the cell, metabolism, homeostasis, adaptation of the organism to the changes, and many more.
In the current time, with the advancements in genetic sequencing and microscopes, a lot has been getting discovered about the cells than before.
Modern cell theory says that whenever any cell is divided, its deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) also gets divided and passed to its offspring. Currently, acellular is one of the most promising therapies in the healthcare sector, being used for several medical purposes such as wound healing.
Acellular — Definition
When anything is referred to as an acellular, it means the organism is organic but has no cells and is non-living and lacks all the factors which define life (as discussed earlier in the article).
A few examples of effective acellular particles are viruses, some vaccines, biological products, and prions.
The common myth that most have about an acellular organism is that they are unicellular. But the fact is unicellular living organisms have single cells, whereas acellular organisms are non-living. So, both unicellular and acellular are two different things having two different meanings and characteristics.
Market Insight of Global Acellular Therapy
Cell-based therapies have constantly been evolving and helping in several applications in different diseases such as wound treatments, infectious diseases, and cancers.
As per the national center for biotechnology information (NCBI), there have been approximately 371 research papers published with a primary focus on cell-free therapy, exome therapy, or acellular therapy over the last 17 years.
The constantly rising interest and research related to cell-based therapy show the high possibilities for the acellular therapy market to grow in the coming future.
As per the BIS Research, the global acellular therapy market has approximately 20 industry-sponsored clinical trials estimating the possibility of exosome therapeutics as therapeutic agents for diverse medical illnesses.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, cell-based therapy is constantly being widely explored for several applications in the COVID-19 virus. Also, cell-based therapy can help to reduce organ harm, endothelial inflammation, and thrombus development in different organs such as the brain, liver, kidney, heart, and lung.
Acellular Microbes and How They Work
Acellular particles are carbon-based, highly ordered, and microscopic but not cellular. It is because the acellular particles have no cells in them, and unlike cellular, they cannot reproduce or pass the DNA to their offspring or daughter cells.
Let’s look at a few examples of acellular microbes and its effect:
- Prions
Prions refer to infectious proteins having no Ribonucleic acid (RNA), DNA, or any genetic materials in them. A prion is just a misfolded, defective protein attracting other cell functions for changing their shape and covering them like the prion.
Generally, the immune system of the human body fails to recognize the prions because they are created using the proteins of the same body.
With time, these prions cluster and start causing service dementia and neurodegeneration and start to destroy brain tissues. Prions are also responsible for causing diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob.
- Viroids
Viroids refer to the infectious particles of RNA created using a single RNA having no protein shell, DNA, or protective covering.
The particles of viroid replicate their RNA by controlling the plant cell machinery and passing interaction to make more copies of the RNA in a quick process known as rolling circle replication.
- Sarellite RNA
Sarellite RNAs, also known as virusoids or satRNAs are identical to viroids. However, they are not infectious until attached to a symbiotic aid virus.
Like viroids, satellite RNAs also infect the plants by controlling and commanding the cellular systems and pushing ribosomes to create more satellite RNAs by the process of rolling circle replication.
Conclusion
Acellular therapies can be used and applied to heal the human body from several diseases such as cancer. Healthcare experts are making use of this therapy to heal and rejuvenate joints that are dysfunctional or broken.
Also, this therapy can help to treat chronic diseases and other virus infections and diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s with great results from the therapy.
