Now that the debate seems to be over, what can we say about Bush’s policy and the long months it took for him to devise it? I think it is fair to look upon it as a model of how to deal with the complicated scientific and ethical dilemmas that will continue to confront political leaders in the age of biotechnology. Bush refused to accept the notion that we must choose between medical research and the principle of the dignity of life at every stage. He sought both to advance biomedical science and at the same time to respect the sanctity of human life. In the end he came to a moderate, balanced decision that drew a prudent and principled line. The decision was both informed and reasoned, based on lengthy study and consultation with people of widely divergent viewpoints. It was consciously not guided by public-opinion polls.
Commentary Link This well-written article gives the background on the embryonic stem cell decision. Of course, my problem with the decision is that it has not aged that well. Problems with contamination of the original approved lines restricted research and new developments could not be accomodated.
The President looked better after recent announcements allowing creation of embryonic stem cells that did not require destroying embryos. Everyone including me is rejoycing. But, these cells are not the cells I developed from. These cells do not show the beginnings of disease that will kill me later. Only embryonic stem cells can provide the material that gives answers to how humans really develop. Research in that area needs to continue.
Lets not be too quick in saying that cells developed for modified skin cells are the SAME as ESC. ESC cells that we know very little about no less. We may have to back up on that too.
An article in Commentary by former Bush Administration staffer Jay P. Lefkowitz is a very interesting read. It amounts to an inside story about how and why President Bush made his controversial stem cell funding decision that has caused "the scientists" and media so much heartburn.
Lefkowitz has written a well-thought-out article, but is much too kind to the President. Bush made a reasonable decision at the time he announced his embryonic stem cell approach, but times have changed. Science is demanding more stem cell lines. The President has not changed his policy.
Since his approach is based on a pro-life stance and not on the value of ESC at all, why would he change? If you believe that killing an embryo is the same as killing a human being, then why would you ever authorize murder? That is where the President stands personally, and this is a President that has great faith in his opinion being the final arbiter.
The jury is still out on this decision by the President but, be sure, the trials are being ran under other authorities and history will have an answer to this Presidential policy.
My bet is that it will reside in the trash can of discarded ideas.
After years of heated debate and painstaking research, 2008 is shaping up to be a critical year in the development of stem cell therapies.
And in the forefront is Columbia's Osiris Therapeutics, which has three final-phase human trials under way that it hopes will lead to approval of stem cell drugs.
Osiris is among the farthest along, if not the farthest, he said. Much of the Osiris action centers on Prochymal, a drug made from adult stem cells, which it is testing for a wide range of diseases.
Osiris from testing Prochrymal to treat gastrointestinal disorder, diabetes, heart attacks, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, radiation sickness and the rejection reaction that can result from a bone marrow transplant.
Osiris already has one product on the market, considered the first approved adult stem cell product. Called Osteocel, it has been used in more than 10,000 patients to stimulate bone growth -- for example, after a fracture -- since it was cleared for market in 2005.
The Sun is reporting that great strides will be made in 2008. If so, that is another example of a very quick development time frame.
His announcement could mark the beginning of the end for therapeutic cloning, on which tens of millions of pounds have been spent worldwide over the past decade. "I decided a few weeks ago not to pursue nuclear transfer," Prof Wilmut said.
Most of his motivation is practical but he admits the Japanese approach is also "easier to accept socially."
His inspiration comes from the research by Prof Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University, which suggests a way to create human embryo stem cells without the need for human eggs, which are in extremely short supply, and without the need to create and destroy human cloned embryos, which is bitterly opposed by the pro life movement.
Dailykos brought out an interesting problem today. Is using skin cells in the recent Japanese and Dr. Thompson technique cloning. I think ol' Kos has this one wrong. Genetic switches are thrown in the new technique. That doesn't sound like cloning to me.
Shenzhen, China. (SANEPR.com) November 7, 2007 -- Beike Biotechnology, (http://www.beikebiotech.com), the leader in stem cell applications for medical treatment, has announced that it has formally established a world-class laboratory facility for the research of cell reprogramming and gene engineering, through a joint agreement with the Shenzhen Graduate School of China’s renowned Tsinghua University. The lab will conduct research on stem cells, the nuclear transfer and reprogramming of cells, monoclonal antibodies known as “magic bullets” for treating disease and other scientifically exciting cell engineering innovations. The aim of the lab is to establish a global research hub that will hopefully someday provide breakthroughs in the way medical science seeks to treat diseases like cancer, Parkinson’s, and many other debilitating ailments.
Stem cells and other advanced biological techniques belong to the world. No effort to stop a line of research in any one country could hope to do anything but slow down the search for answers. If the answers turn out to be of benefit to mankind, Efforts to stand in the way of that benefit are bound to fail.
Of course adult stem cells were first discovered about forty years ago. All progress in curing humanity's many ailments is wonderful. Adult stem cells have great promise and have already given cures. ESC is only a few years old, less than ten. When both contestants have had an equal chance, we will see what great advances can be made. The almost joyful report of 'no results' for embryonic stem cells is not likely the be very satisfying in the end. Religious leaders and others who have demanded that ESC be abandoned and all the money spent on adult stem cells stand a great chance of playing the fool. We own it to ourselves to find out how embryonic stem cells function, what diseases they cause and what possible cures they can assist with.
Science Daily — Athletes know that damage to a tendon can signal an end to their professional careers. But a consortium of scientists, led in part by University of Southern California (USC) School of Dentistry researcher Songtao Shi, has identified unique cells within the adult tendon that have stem-cell characteristics--including the ability to proliferate and self-renew.
The research team was able to isolate these cells and regenerate tendon-like tissue in the animal model. Their findings hold tremendous promise for the treatment of tendon injuries caused by overuse and trauma.
Stem cells seem to be leading to one opportunity and surprise after another during this decade. This ability to repair tendons is probably another major shift in the way medicine is practiced.
PHILADELPHIA -- Researchers at the University of Michigan Medical Center have, for the first time, identified human pancreatic cancer stem cells. Their work indicates that these cells are likely responsible for the aggressive tumor growth, progression, and metastasis that define this deadly cancer.
In the February 1 issue of Cancer Research, the researchers demonstrate that only 100 of these stem cells are needed to produce human pancreatic cancer in half of mice tested. They also found these cells are at least 100 times more tumorigenic than cancer cells that did not have one of three protein markers they believe to be associated with pancreatic cancer stem cells.
The findings could help advance development of new therapies for this cancer, which has a five-year survival rate of only three percent -- the worst prognosis of any major cancer, said the study's lead author, Diane M. Simeone, M.D., an associate professor of surgery and molecular and integrative physiology.
"The cells we isolated are quite different from 99 percent of the millions of other cells in a human pancreatic tumor, and we think that, based on some preliminary research, standard treatments like chemotherapy and radiation may not be touching these cells," said Simeone. "If that is why pancreatic cancer is so hard to treat, a new approach might be to design a drug that specifically targets pancreatic cancer stem cells without interfering with normal stem cell function."
Today, we lost the great Pavoratti to pancreatic cancer. Daily Kos went over his accomplishments and the affects of the disease. People kept saying that stem cell research could lead to some cure and that the death might spur more interest in research. I wasn't quite up to speed on what stem cells could do to work in this case. Well, the article above gives some good ideas about how that might work.
A shortage of human eggs has led two groups of scientists to appeal to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for permission to make hybrid embryos from human skin cells and animal eggs.
This process would deal with the problem of a shortage of human eggs.
The UK's fertility regulator is expected to give its seal of approval to research on human-animal hybrids in the UK. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) published its consultation on the proposed draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill yesterday, in which it said most people consulted were at ease with the creation of hybrid embryos.
The Bill paves the way for the creation of embryos composed of 99.9 per cent human, 0.1 per cent animal DNA. It prohibits "true" human-animal hybrids, but allows for so-called chimeras and cytoplasmic hybrid embryos. Any hybrid embryos would be allowed to divide for 14 days before being destroyed, and would not be allowed to be implanted into a womb.
The hope is that by using hybrid embryos, researchers can hone the techniques they need for research that requires human embryos, such as growing viable lines of stem cells.
England remains a center for advancement in biological research. With the federal government locked in disagreement like it is in the United States, we can be thankful for the effort being made by our cousins across the pond.
International Stem Cell Corp. in Oceanside said it has a kind of scientific solution to the ongoing ethical and legal challenges facing stem cell research.
A technology that derives stem cells from unfertilized human eggs, unlike human embryonic stem cells produced from fertilized eggs, is promising to land the company in the scientific spotlight.
It says its technology, called parthenogenesis, eliminates the need to use fertilized embryos and results in the creation of human stem cell lines that have the ability to differentiate into almost every type of cell in the human body.
This is particularly valuable to scientists who see the potential for repairing human tissues and for treating spinal cord injuries and other debilitating conditions.
ISC’s chief scientist is Dr. Elena Revazova, a Russian-born researcher who first discovered how to gather cells from unfertilized human eggs in the company’s Moscow laboratories
We can all hope for the success of this effort. It deals with the problem of supply in adult stem cell research and helps with the ethical problem of Embryonic Stem Cell research.
Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cardiovascular Research Center have discovered what appears to be a master cardiac stem cell, capable of differentiating into the three major types of cells that make up the mammalian heart. In their report appearing in the Dec. 15 issue of the journal Cell and receiving early online release, the scientists describe identifying these progenitor cells in mice, cloning single cells from embryonic stem cells, and showing that these cloned cells can differentiate into cardiac muscle, smooth muscle or endothelial cells.
"These cells offer new prospects for drug discovery and genetically based models of human disease. They also give us a new paradigm for cardiac development, in which a single multipotent cell can diversify into both muscle and endothelial lineages," says Kenneth R. Chien, MD, director of the MGH Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC) and senior author of the Cell paper. "They additionally suggest a novel strategy for the regeneration of cardiac muscle, coronary arterial and pacemaker cells." Chien also leads the cardiovascular program at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, one of the study's supporters.
This is a good list of some great things that are being done with adult stem cells. It is probably being used in the old and tired and wrong-headed argument that since adult stem cells are being successfully used in therapy embryonic stem cells are not necessary and take resources from successful techniques. This is a false idea generally. It also has the dangerous limitation that when embryonic stem cells are shown to provide theraputic value in some specific situations the ignorance of the argument can be pointed out.
Genetically modified animals play a huge role in helping researchers to understand the role of specific genes in human disease. Now, Paul Genever at the University of York, UK, and his colleagues are developing an alternative based on human tissue, that could cut the number of animals used in research.
The team has already grown a 3D "tissue scaffold" from mesenchymal stem cells taken from human bone marrow, and is now trying to "knock out" individual genes in the stem cells, enabling them to discover the precise roles the missing genes play. Genever's team is just one of those to receive a grant from non-animal medical research charity the Dr Hadwen Trust, in Hitchin, UK.
The study, which was done on mice, shows that stem cells play a limited, but significant role in repairing damaged hearts. However, it remains unclear whether it is heart cells that are doing the repair, or cells from elsewhere in the body.
Richard Lee of the Harvard Medical School in Boston and colleagues genetically engineered mice so their heart muscle cells could be stained with a fluorescent protein.
Around 80 per cent of the heart muscle cells in young mice picked up the stain. As the mice aged, this level remained the same, which the researchers say demonstrates that heart muscle cells are not normally replaced in life.
However, when they induced heart attacks in the mice, the number of stained cells dropped to 70 per cent, suggesting that new muscle cells are formed in response to injury.
UCLA scientists have created a mechanism at the nanoscale to externally control the function and action of a protein.
“We can switch a protein on and off, and while we have controlled a specific protein, we believe our approach will work with virtually any protein,” said Giovanni Zocchi, assistant professor of physics at UCLA, member of the California NanoSystems Institute and leader of the research effort. “This research has the potential to start a new approach to protein engineering.”
The research, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, potentially could lead to a new generation of targeted “smart” pharmaceutical drugs that are active only in cells where a certain gene is expressed, or a certain DNA sequence is present, Zocchi said. Such drugs would have reduced side effects. The research, federally funded by the National Science Foundation, also may lead to a deeper understanding of proteins’ molecular architecture
The first applications Zocchi foresees for the new molecules are as amplified molecular probes. Currently it is difficult for scientists to study a single live cell and find what gene it is expressing, but with an amplified molecular probe, in principle one could inject the probe into a single cell and detect that the cell is expressing a particular gene, Zocchi said.
It seems to me that external switching of proteins could be weaponized into a very selective poison. Like all extremely powerful techniques, this one has the potential to kill.
The good news is that real, beating cardiomyocytes can be grown from undifferentiated stem cells, and large quantities of these cells with distinctly human characteristics can be obtained from human embryonic stem cells, as Mummery's talk proved. These differentiated cells will permit screens for drugs that bolster the numbers of cardiomyocytes produced and that help cardiomyocytes engraft and survive. Thus, although this progress may not signal the arrival of effective therapies, it may mark the true beginning of their development.
The good news is also that the real work of heart repair is beginning. The tough answers are beginning to come out. Now, we can suspect that varying results might be caused by mis-labeling cells. Now, we know that the heart is a difficult but not impossible place to use stem cells, and that stem cells can form heart cells.
The Article covers some of the road blocks, there seem to be many, to heart repair using stem cells.
Not only do hearts recover poorly after injury, the prevalence of and morbidity from heart damage is high. Not surprisingly, cardiac regeneration is seen as among the most important applications of stem cell research. But although cell replacement therapy, or the successful engraftment of stem cells, works for bone marrow transplantation, this kind of cell therapy will be much more difficult in solid organs, at least according to results, presented at the June 2007 meeting of the ISSCR. Indeed, not only does heart tissue fail to promote integration of transplanted cardiomyocytes, it may even provide a hostile environment.
A team of Canadian scientists identified 1,155 genes under the control of a single gene called Oct4, the master regulator of the stem cell state. Researchers developed a comprehensive definition of stem cells on a molecular basis such that stem cells keep their DNA packed in a flexible format, keep cell division tightly controlled, prevent signals that trigger death and repair DNA. “You could call this a 'theory-of-everything' for stem cells,” said Michael Rudnicki, senior scientist at the Ottawa Health Research Institute.
Newswise — Researchers at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at UCLA were able to take normal tissue cells and reprogram them into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells, the cells that are able to give rise to every cell type found in the body.
The work, done in mouse models, appears in the inaugural June 7, 2007 issue of Cell Stem Cell, published by Cell Press. UCLA researchers, working closely with stem cell scientists at Harvard, took mouse fibroblasts, cells that develop into connective tissue, and added four transcription factors that bind to special sites on the DNA. Using this process, they were able to turn the fibroblasts into pluripotent cells that, in every aspect tested, were identical to embryonic stem cells.
The implications for disease treatment could be staggering. Reprogramming adult stem cells into embryonic stem cells could generate a potentially limitless source of immune-compatible cells for tissue engineering and transplantation medicine. If the work can be replicated in human cells, it may mean that a patient’s skin cells, for example, could be reprogrammed to become embryonic stem cells. Those embryonic stem cells could then be prodded into becoming various cells types – beta islet cells to treat diabetes, hematopoetic cells to create a new blood supply for a leukemia patient, motor neuron cells to treat Parkinson’s disease.
University of Pittsburgh scientists said the resistant cells, called cancer stemcells, ultimately become the source of disease recurrence and eventual metastasis. But a team led by Assistant Professor Vera Donnenberg suggested effective chemotherapy must be able to target a small subset of cancer stem cells, which share the same protective mechanisms as normal lung stem cells.
Lanza redeemed the promise of his previous work by announcing a solution to the ethical problems at the 5th International Society for Stem Cell Research meeting. He told the audience his team had made embryonic stem cells from three human embryos that were now safely frozen away. These embryos should be viable since they were treated just the same as other biopsied embryos that go on to produce babies.
Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Massachusetts announced he has delivered on the promise made last year to produce ESC without harming the embryo. HUMMM
This is very exciting since it could eliminate extraction of blood vessels from a patient undergoing bypass surgury. It also could contribute to understanding the development of blood vessels.
While other species had been cloned, this is the first time primates have been. Since humans are primates, this puts human theraputic (as well as reproductive cloning) one large step closer.
June 18 (Bloomberg) -- Researchers at the University of Tokyo used stem cells from a mouse embryo to grow kidneys in mice lacking the organs, a step toward creating human body parts for transplant patients.
Scientists led by Hiromitsu Nakauchi at the university's Laboratory of Stem Cell Therapy injected embryonic stem cells into juvenile mouse embryos lacking a crucial gene needed to grow kidneys. Once implanted into the uterus, the embryos grew into fetuses with kidneys. Kidneys were grown in three mice. One had minor abnormalities. The others seemed normal, Nakauchi said.
Everything about Shinya Yamanaka's discovery was right—except for the timing. The 44-year-old Kyoto University stem-cell researcher had found a way to genetically reprogram an ordinary mouse skin cell to revert to the virtual equivalent of its embryonic state, in which it has the potential to grow into any kind of tissue. The finding was a promising first step toward the creation of stem-cell lines for near-miraculous medical treatments—and because Yamanaka did not use human embryos, his technique offered researchers everywhere a way to sidestep the ethical controversies that have dogged the field since its birth. But it was March 2006, just months after the South Korean stem-cell scientist Hwang Woo Suk—who had become an international sensation after claiming to have cloned a human embryo, a first—had been exposed as a fraud. As another Asian stem-cell scientist announcing a surprise advance, Yamanaka knew his peers would put him under the microscope. "I was very nervous," he recalls. A few weeks later at a scientific conference in Whistler, Canada, where he delivered his findings to an audience of international colleagues, "I could tell from their tone that many people did not believe me," he says.
Vindication came on June 7, when the rest of the scientific world caught up with Yamanaka. Two separate teams of stem-cell researchers affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and the University of California, Los Angeles published papers essentially confirming and refining Yamanaka's findings, while his own team released a new study that improved on his original research. The collective work—which one cloning pioneer compared to turning lead into gold—raises the possibility that scientists might one day be able to reprogram a patient's own adult cells to transform into human embryonic stem cells and then into heart, nerve or any other kind of tissue. That could give doctors the ability to repair or replace cells destroyed by disease or injury, without fear of immune-system rejection. Experts were quick to warn that significant hurdles remained before the technique might ever be used in people, but the sheer simplicity of Yamanaka's discovery—he found just four genes were required to reprogram the mouse skin cells—was cause for elation. "This is great science," says Alan Trounson, professor for stem-cell sciences at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. "It takes us a big step closer to reprogramming adult cells."
For years, many stem-cell researchers sought to accomplish that through nuclear transfer—transplanting an adult cell's nucleus into an egg that had been emptied of its own genetic material. This process is expensive and difficult, and so far no one has been able to pull it off in humans. Yamanaka never tried. Starting with a tiny team in 1999 at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology—he moved to Kyoto in 2004—Yamanaka focused on finding the genes that could persuade an adult cell to regress on its own to an embryonic state, without the messy mechanics of nuclear transfer. "I thought that since so many people in this field were concentrating on [nuclear transfer], I should concentrate on the opposite," Yamanaka says.
That maverick streak comes naturally to the driven Yamanaka. Many Japanese scientists, even the best ones, can seem detached and dreamy. Though he has only worked in academia, Yamanaka by contrast has the no-nonsense air of the hybrid researcher/entrepreneur, a type that plays a big role in American stem-cell science. "He used to be an orthopedic surgeon, so he has a good sense in connecting his research to a practical application," says Yoshiki Sasai, a stem-cell scientist at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe. "He's like a venture [capitalist]. He couldn't do big-scale research, so he narrowed his focus and gave everything to it."
Fluent in English—a rarity in Japanese science—Yamanaka worked in the U.S. in the early 1990s. He'll be spending more time in America later this year—he has accepted a post as a visiting scientist at the J. David Gladstone Institute in San Francisco. But his overseas travels will be limited. Yamanaka says he'll remain based in Japan because he doesn't want to pull his children out of high school. He has also been a father figure to younger colleagues—one that isn't afraid to share the credit. "He's a guiding teacher," says Kazutoshi Takahashi, an assistant professor at Kyoto and Yamanaka's first student. "Everyone in the lab gets the opportunity to have their names in big papers."
No one expected those opportunities to come so soon. Trying to discover the right combination of genes that would reprogram adult cells was a scientific fishing expedition in a deep ocean. In early 2004 Yamanaka had worked up a list of 24 possible genes he thought were instrumental in cell programming, and was ready to begin testing them. There was no guarantee any of the 24 suspects were the right ones, and when Yamanaka offered the experiment to one of his students, the researcher turned him down. "We knew the chance that the correct answer was in those 24 factors was very small," says Yamanaka during an interview in his cramped office on the second floor of Kyoto University Hospital. "It was a risky project, and you had to be very brave."
Fortunately, Yamanaka had one student who was brave—or at least, knew when to say yes to his boss. Takahashi spent endless hours screening the candidate genes. "Perhaps this is not something Kyoto University should know, but I worked 365 days a year," Takahashi laughs. Using retroviruses to deliver the genes into mouse skin cells, Yamanaka and Takahashi eventually narrowed the number down to four active genes that triggered the transformation.
That the process proved so straightforward shocked Yamanaka. Scientists had assumed that reprogramming would likely require a complex arrangement of far more genes. "We were very surprised," he says—and with the Hwang debacle on their minds, "we were very worried." Yamanaka had another researcher repeat Takahashi's work, and when they published in the journal Cell in August 2006, he took the unusual step of including every last bit of lab data in the supplementary section of his paper. Still, Yamanaka's results weren't fully accepted until his work was replicated by others—the gold standard of scientific proof.
Now that Yamanaka has helped show science the path, the race is on to discover the researcher's holy grail: a way to reprogram adult cells in human beings. The Japanese pioneer finds himself at a disadvantage. Scientists in the U.S. and Europe can draw on deeper reserves of money and talent. U.S. states such as California and Massachusetts are spending billions of dollars on stem-cell research, hoping to lay the groundwork for development of new medical industries. In contrast, Yamanaka's lab at Kyoto is relatively basic, and the Japanese government has only recently begun channeling real funding into the field. "There is a lack of understanding about how important this research is among government people, and Japanese in general," he says.
For Yamanaka, the temptation exists to flee to greener pastures. But he says that he intends to stay in Kyoto for now, where his discoveries can directly benefit Japan. Besides, his small lab jumped to an early lead, and Yamanaka hints that they may have more breakthroughs in store. "I think that this year or next year we could see [reprogramming] in human cells," he says. "I really believe it could come from our lab." If it does, Yamanaka won't have to worry so much about the skepticism of his fellow scientists.
Glycobiology Research and Training Center and Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego 92093-0687, USA.
Human embryonic stem cells (HESC) can potentially generate every body cell type, making them excellent candidates for cell- and tissue-replacement therapies. HESC are typically cultured with animal-derived 'serum replacements' on mouse feeder layers. Both of these are sources of the nonhuman sialic acid Neu5Gc, against which many humans have circulating antibodies. Both HESC and derived embryoid bodies metabolically incorporate substantial amounts of Neu5Gc under standard conditions. Exposure to human sera with antibodies specific for Neu5Gc resulted in binding of immunoglobulin and deposition of complement, which would lead to cell killing in vivo. Levels of Neu5Gc on HESC and embryoid bodies dropped after culture in heat-inactivated anti-Neu5Gc antibody-negative human serum, reducing binding of antibodies and complement from high-titer sera, while allowing maintenance of the undifferentiated state. Complete elimination of Neu5Gc would be likely to require using human serum with human feeder layers, ideally starting with fresh HESC that have never been exposed to animal products.
GENE therapy meets stem cells. That is the wave of the future, if the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy in Seattle is any guide. There was a palpable buzz around efforts to correct diseases by targeting therapeutic genes to stem cells already resident in the body.
Clinical trials are on the horizon for treatments for diabetes and a group of fatal neurodegenerative conditions called lysosomal storage diseases. Meanwhile, gene therapists are also using their skills to make "improved" stem cells for regenerative therapies (see "Stem cell enhancement"). "If you look at what is happening today and what is in the pipeline, I think genetic modification of stem cells is going to be a major theme," says Luigi Naldini of the San Raffaele Telethon Institute of Gene Therapy in Milan, Italy.
"People are excited about the potential of stem cells, but most approaches are not leveraging them to their maximum potential," says Madhusudan Peshwa of MaxCyte in Gaithersburg, Maryland. "We're not getting into the driving seat and getting the cells to do what we want them to do."
Many teams have attempted to use adult stem cells in regenerative medicine - to repair damaged tissue after a heart attack, for example -but their efforts have been hampered by problems such as cells dying before reaching their target or not differentiating into the correct cell type.
Now researchers are waking up to the idea of genetically modifying stem cells to enhance their natural attributes and gain a new level of control over them. In the case of heart attacks, stem cells from both skeletal muscle and bone marrow have been shown to repair tissue damage to some degree, either through differentiating into heart muscle cells or releasing chemicals that stimulate existing cells to repair the damage. To make this process more effective, Marc Penn at the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, genetically engineered bone marrow stem cells to produce triple the normal amount of a signalling factor called SDF-1. This is an "SOS signal" also released by damaged heart cells after an attack and is thought to recruit repair cells to the damaged area.
"The idea is to try and restart natural signals that initiate repair," says Penn. When the cells were injected into rats' hearts after a heart attack, the team saw a 70 per cent reduction in heart cell death, compared with rats given unmodified stem cells (The FASEB Journal, DOI: 10.1096/fj.06-6558com).
Genomics is a relatively new term that describes the study of all of a person's genes including interactions of those genes with each other and the person's environment. Genomics involves the scientific study of complex diseases such as heart disease, asthma, diabetes and cancer because they are caused more by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Genomics is offering new possibilities for therapies and treatment of some diseases, as well as new diagnostic methods. The major tools and methods related to genomics studies are bioinformatics, genetic analysis, measurement of gene expression, and determination of gene function.
Scientists have created embryonic stem cells in mice without destroying embryos in the process, potentially removing the major controversy over work in this field. Embryonic stem cells are special because they are pluripotent, meaning they can develop into virtually any kind of tissue type. They therefore offer the promise of customized cells for therapy.
The work, which appears in the June 6 online issue of Nature, was led by Rudolf Jaenisch, a member of the Whitehead Institute and a professor of biology at MIT. His colleagues on the work are from Whitehead, MIT, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Harvard Medical School.
Somatic cell nuclear transfer ("therapeutic cloning") offers the hope of one day creating customized embryonic stem cells with a patient's own DNA. In this process, an individual's DNA would be placed into an egg, resulting in a blastocyst that houses a supply of stem cells. But to access these cells, researchers must destroy a viable embryo.
Now, Jaenisch and colleagues have demonstrated that embryonic stem cells can be created without eggs. By genetically manipulating mature skin cells taken from a mouse, the scientists transformed these cells back into a state identical to that of an embryonic stem cell. No eggs were used, and no embryos destroyed.
"These reprogrammed cells, by all criteria that we can apply, are indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells," says Jaenisch.
MADRID - The lower house of the Spanish Parliament voted in favor of a bill on biomedical research that authorizes therapeutic cloning.
The measure, which expressly prohibits reproductive cloning, was supported by all the parties in that chamber with the exception of the main opposition conservative Popular Party.
The link shows how questions in public debate are framed and what effects that framing has on the outcome. The quote gives an example from the recent vote in Congress on ESC funding.
1) Last week, as the House was preparing to vote on legislation that would overturn Bush's limits on funding for embryonic stem cell research, studies published at the journals Nature and Cell Stem Cell reported that mouse skin stem cells could be turned into a pluripotent stem cell with all the characteristics of an embryonic stem cell. Coverage of the studies appeared on the front page of the Washington Post and other newspapers across the country.
Though the research teams connected to the two studies urged Congress to pass the legislation, Catholic and pro-life groups were quick to frame the event as offering a "middle way compromise," adding that moving ahead with embryonic stem cell research was no longer necessary. Others argued, as in this op-ed appearing at the Chicago Tribune, that a conspiracy was afoot to censor the promise of adult stem cell research
Ian Wilmut, who made history when he cloned Dolly the sheep in 1996, is now calling on scientists to inject human DNA into animal egg cells as a workaround to ethical and legal roadblocks. His commentary appears in Nature Reports Stem Cells, an online stem cell resource created by the journal Nature.
Add incontinence to the list of conditions that might one day be treated with stem cells. An Austrian study, presented at the American Urological Association meeting in Anaheim, looked at 184 people with stress incontinence. The researchers took blood and muscle cells from the patients' arms, and from these isolated fibroblasts and myoblasts -- stem cells that make connective tissue and muscle. The stem cells were grown in the lab for six or seven weeks, and then injected back into the participants' urethras and urethral sphincters. A year after treatment, 80% of the people were cured of incontinence, and the results did not appear to fade over time, USA Today reports. The newspaper quoted other experts who said the findings needed to be duplicated in other studies before stem cell injections could be considered as a treatment option for urinary incontinence.
Spinal cord injuries Geron Corp., based in Menlo Park, Calif., expects to be the first U.S. company to test an embryonic stem cell treatment in a clinical trial. The company has successfully injected neural cells - derived from animal embryonic stem cells - into mice with spinal cord lesions. The neural cells repaired the myelin, or coating around the nerve cells, allowing the nerve cells to function. "Which means," said spokesman David Schull, "a paralyzed rat can walk." He added: "We expect to complete the [investigational new drug] filing with the [Food and Drug Administration] by the end of year. The plan is to enter the clinic in 2008."
G. Russell Reiss, a cardiothorasic surgeon at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City, has federal approval to try injecting bone marrow stem cells into the hearts of patients with coronary artery disease. Preliminary studies have shown the cells can improve heart function after heart attacks, he said. While doctors once believed stem cells turned into heart cells, replacing damaged ones, it now appears that they play more of a support role, excreting chemicals near the injury and assisting in repair.
All cells in the body have exactly the same genetic makeup. Scientists still don't understand what makes a skin cell different from a brain cell. Embryonic stem cells could be the key to solving this puzzle and to the treatment of diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes. In 2005, Eggan managed to get around those problems by "smooshing" adult skin cells with embryonic stem cells. The resulting cells acted like embryonic stem cells, not adult cells.
After a long and heated debate in the state parliament, Victoria has become the first state in Australia to allow therapeutic cloning. This puts the state ahead of most of the world. More developments to follow.
Conversations with History, the Berkeley program, presents an excellant interview on the management and politics of science as well as the history and current development of embryology. A video link is provided for those wishing to view this excellant program.
Stem Cells and Public Policy was authored by Richard Hayes of the Center for Genetics and Society in collaboration with Pete Shanks and Marcy Darnovsky, under the direction of Leif Wellington Haase of The Century Foundation.
This 88 page paper has mamy tables and charts addressing different aspects of the stem cell question. It appears to be quite professional and a good source of information. I have not read it yet but plan too.
New York State to Fund Stem Cell Research -- Holden 2007 (402): 4 -- ScienceNOW: "New York State has finally entered the stem cell arena with the intention of becoming a big-time player second only to California. The state will put $100 million into the research in fiscal year 2008, and stem cell supporters expect the number ultimately to reach $1 billion over a decade"
Nation - Wire Posted on Mon, Apr. 02, 2007 reprint or license print email Digg it del.icio.us AIM Feds to toss 3 stem cell patents By PAUL ELIAS AP Biotechnology Writer SAN FRANCISCO --Federal regulators said they are preparing to toss out three key patents related to human embryonic stem cells, a move that could ease concerns over commercial control of the nascent work. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, an arm of the University of Wisconsin that controls the school's patents, owns the patents and has 60 days to respond and seek to change the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's ruling, issued Friday. The ruling was made public Monday by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and the Public Patent Foundation, which challenged the validity of the patents."
Online NewsHour: Extended Interview: Irving Weissman -- July 2005 PBS: "Dr. Irving Weissman, a Stanford University professor and cofounder of the biotech company StemCells Inc., is working on inserting human nerve cells into mice to investigate how human brain cancers form. The following is an extended interview with Weissman."
While Dr. Weissman is difficult to read, the interview is very exciting. It brings up brain stem cells, testing for cancer brain stem cells and the proper ethical steps for proceeding.
: "Optimists such as David Harris, professor of immunology at University of Arizona and chief scientific officer at one of the nation's largest private cord-blood banks, Cord Blood Registry of San Bruno, Calif., believe adult stem cells will be widely used in the next three to five years to heal burns, skin ulcers and bone fractures that don't mend on their own.
The predictions of others are more tempered. Scientists at the forefront of the work acknowledge they have taken only the first steps down a long road toward the goal of regenerative medicine. Growing tissue from stem cells outside the human body is a challenge at which scientists have had virtually no successes, Wagner says. And even efforts to show that adult stem cells can generate a variety of different tissues have fallen short, says Stanford University's Dr. Irving Weissman, whose success at isolating the adult stem cells in blood gave birth to the field in the late 1980s."
This quote lays out the state of the art in stem cell research. It also refers to Dr. Weissman, an important researcher I had missed.
How could we create functioning parts of an embryo without the whole? By turning off one of the genes that guide embryo formation. Hurlbut's first choice is the human equivalent of cdx2, the gene in mice that directs the formation of the placenta. Without cdx2, the embryonic mouse cells divide but fail to take the shape of a mouse. The plan would be to follow the recipe for cloning—put the nucleus of a body cell into a gutted egg cell—but turn off cdx2. Then, once the cell begins to divide, reactivate the gene, too late to organize the embryo but early enough to make stem cells.
: "mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), a type of progenitor cell that most commonly originates in the bone marrow. In this study, lead author Vibha N. Lama, M.D., M.S., and her research team found that the MSCs in lung transplant patients are not derived from bone marrow, but rather that they reside � sometimes for many years � in the lungs. The researchers also found that these cells have the capacity to differentiate into"
Mesenchymal Stem Cells found in the lungs are different from those found in blood.
Federal, state laws inhibit embryonic stem cell research: "Stephen Rapundalo, executive director of MichBio, a life sciences trade association geared towards driving industry growth, believes narrow stem cell legislation could be hampering commerce in Michigan."
This Wayne State University newspaper article lists all the roadblocks Michigan is placing in the way of modern biology. I find it very unlikely that this state will be a leader in that field.
Stem Cells Determine Their Daughters' Fate: "From roundworm to human, most cells in an animal's body ultimately come from stem cells. When one of these versatile, unspecialized cells divides, the resulting 'daughter' cell receives instructions to differentiate into a specific cell type. In some cases this signal comes from other cells. But now, for the first time, researchers at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Embryology have found a type of stem cell that directly determines the fate of its daughters. "
Substances and structures that determine the fate of stem cells are being found almost daily. This article reports on how Intestinal Stem Cells (ISC) have a structure to receive information on whether they should become enterocytes or enteroencocrine cells.
University of Wisconsin scientist James Thomson made the comments during a speech Feb. 8 in Lake Delton, Wis., to the Wisconsin Newspaper Association's annual convention, the Associated Press reported. In 1998, Thomson's team became the first group to grow human embryonic stem cells in culture, sparking a controversy over the use of embryos in stem cell research that continues to this day."
While Dr. Thomson is correct in not building false hopes for immediate cures, others will use this statement as justification for not doing embryonic stem cell research. Embryonic stem cell research will reveal key points about human development. It will probably be a key information provider for regenerative medicine and for the development of targets for drug research. If no cures ever came from ESC research, we would still need to do it.
”And it struck me very powerfully at that point, that the Roe v. Wade approach has so cheapened the value of human life that someone could think it’s not a moral issue to destroy embryos that have been created solely for the purpose of research, and I said to my chief of staff, and that’s been 2 1/2 years ago, I said to her, ’I want to make it very clear that I’m pro-life.”’ "
Mitt Romney is no friend of ESC when he uses this approach. He is tying abortion and ESC together. ESC is challanged by this link. Obviously, those supporting ESC should not support him.
San Diego, CA) -- Four of the nation's leading biomedical research institutions have joined hands to form the San Diego Research Ethics Consortium to support the ethical conduct of science in stem cell and other research programs. The Consortium's first ethics conference will be held at the Salk Institute on April 6.
Bloggers can be a major part of the discussion of stem cell reseach
It is always difficult to pick out the intellectual dishonesty in a presentation. I believe that if embryonic stem cells could be duplicated by adult stem cells then one or the other of them wouldn't exist. They must have different functions. Probably, those functions are vital. What do you think?
I have been taking part in a very interesting discussion in comments on the Tennessean. It deals with when the beginning of human live occures. One of the key issues is IVF, invetro fertilization. I have been surprised to learn that about 400,000 embryos are frozen in the United States currently and that one percent of babies born in Isreal are from IVF. Those arguing against ESC skip the problem of these embryos. They put it off by offering embryo adoption and by frozen storage. Neither is a solution.
HHMI News: Defining a Niche that Regulates Stem Cells: "Researchers have discovered a set of regulatory cells that governs the behavior of stem cells in the fruit fly Drosophila.Researchers have discovered a set of regulatory cells that governs the behavior of stem cells in the fruit fly Drosophila."
Stem cell niches are the surrounding cells that enable the proper functionning of the stem cell itself. The concept has been around since at least 2000 but I hadn't heard of it so I present it here.
Right Web | Profile | Ethics and Public Policy Center: "The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) is one of several policy institutes established by neoconservatives to promote the increased role of religion in public policy. Other closely interlinked institutes include the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD), Empower America, and Institute on Religion and Public Life. Also closely connected to these institutes are the religious programs at Freedom House and the American Enterprise Institute, whose program officers sit on the boards of these neoconservative institutes and whose programs often coincide."
This link is for background work on neoconservative views
A Middle Ground for Stem Cells - New York Times: "But that does not mean the stem cell debate is about when human life begins. It is a simple and uncontroversial biological fact that a human life begins when an embryo is created. That embryo is human, and it is alive; its human life will last until its death, whether that comes days after conception or many decades later surrounded by children and grandchildren. " Human Life Begins at Conception-Not
Yuval Levin, a former member of the President's Bio Council, does a great job of jumping to a conclusion. No, I don't believe human life begins at conception. I had to change my mind after Ian Wilmut did such a good job in his book Dolly in explaining how gradual that process of fertilization is. When the sperm enters the egg, there is a fifteen minute period of repacking that changes the sperms DNA to enter the next stage. Eight hours after penetration, the two strands of DNA that will become the next step of the fertilized egg still haven't joined. I've got a lot more to learn about this gradual process. DNA from the fluid in the egg can become involved in the new DNA strands in the Nucleus. Those genes are not in postion at the moment of fertilization.
There is a new science of genomics that deals with the effects of substances in the area surrounding the DNA. These substances change the fundamental nature of what the cell will become. A fertilized egg can become one, two or even more identical siblings. That doesn't happen until several days after fertilization.
Yuval Levin, you need to do a deep study of modern biology. Then come back to us again.
MercuryNews.com | 01/18/2007 | Genes linked to aggressive cancer cells: "The fact that the same set of genes -- a unique genetic signature -- arises in cells that create several different cancers also suggests there are some fundamental properties of cancer that are shared by various types of tumors. Dr. Michael Clarke and his team at the Stanford University School of Medicine also learned how these troublemaking stem cells interact with adjacent cells, causing tumors to grow faster."
Finding a common link between different cancer types is very exciting
This is the beginning of another promising line of research. It is also another path to follow and story to tell. Thats why reading about stem cell research is so interesting.
The gene helps sperm combine DNA with the egg's DNA Scientists have found the gene responsible for controlling a first key step in the creation of new life. "
This gene helps explain fertilization. It is relevent to the beginning of human life.
I'm continuing to take my fight to the opposition. I have been making my case in the Tennessean for the last several days. Good opposition causes good thinking. You can find the link at
Once in a while, an exceptional article comes along that explains stem cell research in clear and simple terms. The linked article is one of them. Clear metaphors are used to show how stem cells work. Explainations are giving for likely benefits, and both sides of the issue of stem cell research briefly explained. If you read this article, you will enjoy it.
Scientists use amniotic fluid as a source of stem cells: "In addition to being easily obtained, amniotic stem cells can be grown in large quantities, because they typically double every 36 hours. They do not require guidance from other cells for their development, and they do not produce tumors, which have proven to be a problem with some other types of stem cells. "
Since these cells can reproduce in large quantities, they would be very useful as a replacement for adult stem cells in some situations. Adult stem cells are not easy to obtain in quantitiy.
I wonder what function these stem cells are filling in the amniotic fluid. No one has mentionned that.
Dr. Atala says these cells produce Many cell types. Many is not all. They do not appear to be embryonic stem cells or to have equal functions.
Wisconsin Advanced Technology Advocates, Inc.: U of MN adult stem cell research shows promise for transplant therapies: "University of Minnesota stem cell researchers, together with collaborators at Stanford University, have successfully used adult stem cells to replace the immune system and bone marrow of mice, offering the promise of new therapies for people in the future. With this advance and other recent discoveries, the researchers are winning over previous skeptics."
This advance provides an avenue for immune system replacement
The world of blogging is constantly changing and, of course, my knowledge of what to do and how to do it is getting better too. Google docs and spreadsheets are able to be used to generate blog content. That interests me. This is my first try at that.
This article from the NIH explains where stem cell research is making progress in CHD. It summarizes many of the research reports seen on the net. ESC repair of heart damage would make it possible to generate enough cells to be useful in a clinical situation. Adult stem cells can repair hearts too but obtaining enough of them for practical use isn't possible now.
