Short answer: no. “Stem cell” is a category, roughly the way “vehicle” is a category. A bicycle and a cargo ship are both vehicles. That fact will not help you much if you need to cross an ocean.
They differ in how many things they can become
- Some stem cells can develop into a very wide range of cell types.
- Some can develop into several related types within a tissue family.
- Some are quite restricted and mainly renew one particular kind of cell.
They differ by source
Cells from bone marrow, fat, cord tissue, and reprogrammed adult cells behave differently, respond to different conditions, and are studied for different purposes.
They differ by how they were handled
Two samples from the same source can end up meaningfully different depending on how they were isolated, whether they were expanded in number, how they were stored, and how long they spent in transit. Process is not a footnote.
Why the marketing shorthand is a problem
Collapsing all of this into two words makes it easy to imply that the established history of one kind of stem cell somehow applies to a completely different kind. It does not. Evidence attaches to specific products used in specific ways — not to a category name.