Stem Cell Research Breakthroughs

Watching Sci-Fi movies from the 1940s and 1950s (a genre favored by my husband), I've often laughed at the plots, which frequently involve a scientist or group of scientists performing some drastically insane, inhumane experiment on humans or animals involving injection of animal cells into humans and vice versa--experiments that no scientist in his right mind would ever perform.

After researching information for an article on stem cell research breakthroughs, I'm not laughing. Of most concern, after examining both sides of the debate regarding embryonic stem cell research versus adult stem cell research, is the omission of facts in this battle.

Embryonic Research-About Curing People or Getting Rich?

Those who oppose embryonic stem cell research give some very damning evidence against continuing support of embryonic stem cell research, not the least of which is that this research is a lot less about finding cures, than it is about scientists patenting research and experiments to earn hefty fees.

As there is only so much research money to go around, when taxpayer money is diverted to embryonic stem cell research, rather than studying adult stem cells-which have been proven to save lives and repair injuries-the real cures that might have been found will be delayed or perhaps never found.

One holder of many important ES-cell-research patents charges $75,000 to more than $250,000 per license, plus annual payments and royalties, The Wall Street Journal reports. "They clearly see this as the goose that lays the golden egg," an ES-cell researcher told the paper. The Stem Cell Research Organization stated that in the campaign to promote funding for embryonic stem cell research, political hype often substitutes for the scientific facts. (Embryonic Research Driven by Greed, not Science) Or as one scientist noted "whoever has the gold, gets to spin the story." (Why Adult Stem Cell Research Gets Downplayed by the Media)

Mirage of Medical Wonderland

Perfect candor should rule in stem cell research. This requires that the scientist himself clearly establish the moral limits of his activity and declare what the consequences of research with embryonic stem cells really are. In the process, no one can escape the fact that, should one wish to use embryonic stem cells for "therapeutic purposes," the very techniques will be developed that will also be used for the cloning of human beings, the making of human-animal hybrids, the manipulation of germ lines, and the like-thus for everything other than therapeutic purposes.

Any cover-up or hypocrisy in this matter will very quickly reflect upon the research as a whole. (The Case for Adult Stem Cell Research)

Although the public is often promised miracle cures, it could be decades before embryonic stem cells can be used to treat any disease. Even then, these may not be successful.

Problems with Embryonic Stem Celsl

Can cause cancer or teratomas. Teratomas, mostly benign, are a weird kind of tumor that many times includes hair and teeth inside the tumor and can grow as large as a football! These teratomas have been found in the brains of subjects injected with embryonic stem cells.

Embryos currently frozen in fertility clinics offer nothing like the inexhaustible supply of stem cells some claim.

Getting stem cells to make many different cell types in the lab, and getting them to make real treatments for people, are very different things.

Most scientists agree that from a biological standpoint, life begins at conception. The ethical question, however, is about whether every life is equal. Embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning raise all kinds of ethical questions.

Genetic problems with cloning.

Diversion away from methods that could save lives such as: Umbilical cord blood stem cells can now help suffering patients with six dozen illnesses, and show promise in treating many more. Due to a lack of national coordination and funds for cord blood banking, 4 million samples of cord blood are discarded in hospital nurseries every year a tragedy that Washington-area Channel 4 News calls "throwing away the future." (The "Political Science" of Stem Cells)

(If you would like to donate an umbilical cord, contact the Marrow Donor Program, which maintains a Web page on donating cord blood at http://www.marrow.org/HELP/The National MDonate_Cord_Blood_Share_Life/ index.html, (Donate Umbilical Cord Blood) and the International Cord Blood Society at http://www.cordblood.org/ (Cord Blood Banking Benefits)

Rejection problem: Your body naturally attacks foreign cells, even ones that might help you. So cell recipients must permanently use dangerous immunosuppressive drugs. (Embryonic Research Driven by Greed, not Science)

The Ethics of Stem Cell Research

The Declaration of Independence states "All men are created equal." It seems paradoxical that the American left, while supporting embryonic research, can portray themselves as the champions of human equality. Does not this support of embryonic research contradict their stance as champions of human equality?

To destroy another life for the very slim chance of saving a life in the future is not observing the "all men are created equal" statement in the Declaration of Independence. Even University of Wisconsin scientist James Thomson, the creator of the first human ES-cell line, says treatments and cures could be decades away. (Embryonic Research Driven by Greed, not Science)

Adult Stem Cells Already Saving Lives

On the other hand, adult stem cells (AS cells, meaning any naturally found stem cell not from embryos), have been used for many years to save lives and repair injuries. These cells are far easier to direct to become the desired cell type (for example) bone-marrow transplants. More recently, AS cells have treated illnesses including cancers, autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease, immunodeficiency disorders and neural degenerative diseases.

Plus, AS cells are often self-donated-eliminating rejection problems (though AS rejection even from outside donors has turned out to be relatively minimal). (Embryonic Research Driven by Greed, not Science)

Adult Stem Cell Breakthroughs

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Researchers originally found promise in embryonic cells (ES) mainly because they thought only ES cells could be converted into all types of mature cells. Two years ago, scientists discovered how to make "induced pluripotent stem cells" from human-skin cells. These are just as flexible as embryonic ones - but, as with AS cells, have neither the health drawbacks nor the moral problems associated with the embryonic variety. (Embryonic Research Driven by Greed, not Science)

UC Irvine Researchers Identify Targeting Mechanism in Transplanted Cells Which Provides Blueprint for Engineering Stem Cell-Based Therapies

How do stem cells know where in the body they should go? UC Irvine researchers Tom Lane and Kevin Carbajal of the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center found the answer with the body's immune system.

Their study not only identifies an important targeting mechanism in transplanted stem cells but also provides a blueprint for engineering stem cell-based therapies for multiple sclerosis and other chronic neurological diseases in which inflammation occurs. Results appear in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers used adult neural stem cells to treat mice with a disease similar to MS that destroys myelin, the protective tissue coating on nerves, causing chronic pain and loss of motor function. Adult neural stem cells have shown the ability to change -- or differentiate -- into oligodendrocytes, the building blocks of myelin, and repair or replace affected tissue.

In the mice, inflammatory cells -- reacting to the virally induced nerve damage -- were observed activating receptors on the adult neural stem cells. These CXCR-4 receptors, in turn, recruited chemokine proteins called CXCL-12 that guided the stem cells to specific sites. Chemokines are produced in acute and chronic inflammation to help mobilize white blood cells.

As the stem cells migrated through the central nervous system, they began to transform into the precursor cells for oligodendrocytes. Latching onto their repair sites, they continued the differentiation process. Three weeks after the initial treatment, 90 percent of the cells had grown into fully formed oligodendrocytes.

Chris Schaumburg and Joy Kane of UCI and Dr. Robert Strieter of the University of Virginia participated in the study, which received support from the National Institutes of Health and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. (Immune System Helps Transplanted Stem Cells Navigate in Central Nervous System)

New Treatments Against Degenerative Disease

Scientists have overcome a key barrier to the clinical use of stem cells with a technique which transforms regular body cells into artificial stem cells without the need for introducing foreign genetic materials, which could be potentially harmful. The research, published in Stem Cells, suggests that cells taken from a patient's eye can be "reprogrammed" to replace or restore cells lost to degenerative diseases. (Reprogramming a patient's eye cells may herald new treatments against degenerative disease)

Breakthrough Reveals Blood Vessel Cells Are Key to Growing Unlimited Amounts of Adult Stem Cells

Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Regenerative Medicine (MGH-CRM) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have developed a new type of human pluripotent stem cell that can be manipulated more readily than currently available stem cells. As described in the June 4 Cell Stem Cell, these new cells could be used to create better cellular models of disease processes and eventually may permit repair of disease-associated gene mutations. (Breakthrough Reveals Blood Vessel Cells Are Key to Growing Unlimited Amounts of Adult Stem Cells)

Note on Research Patents

The patents, covering a lot of work on human embryonic stem cells, are owned by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). WARF does not charge academics to study human stem cells but does charge commercial users. WARF sold Geron Corp. exclusive rights to work on human stem cells but later sued Geron Corp. to recover some of the previously sold rights. The two sides agreed that Geron Corp. would keep the rights to only three cell types. In 2001, WARF came under public pressure to widen access to human stem-cell technology.

These patents were in doubt due to a request for review by the US Patent and Trademark Office filed by non-profit patent-watchdogs, The Foundation for Taxpayer Consumer Rights and the Public Patent Foundation, as well as molecular biologist Jeanne Loring of the Burnham Institute. According to them, two of the patents granted to WARF are invalid because they cover a technique published in 1993 for which a patent had already been granted to an Australian researcher. Another part of the challenge stated that these techniques, developed by James A. Thomson, are rendered obvious by a 1990 paper and two textbooks.

The outcome of this legal challenge was particularly relevant to the Geron Corp. at the time as it could only license upheld patents. (Stem Cell)

However, in a transcript dated June 13, 2010 from Seeking Alpha, a Geron scientist stated, "Frankly, the WARF patents and that license were critical to us at the start of our work 10 years ago, but really is no longer so, especially given its expiration in five years. So the takeaway message here is that Geron is really the go-to guy for hESC licensing, not WARF." (Geron Corporation (GERN) Q1 2010 Earnings Call April 30, 2010 12:00 pm ET)

Summary

The stem cell-research is an example of the, sometimes hard, cost-benefit analysis ethics scientists needs to do. Stem Cell pros and cons must be valued carefully. When planning to investigate a phenomenon, you cannot defend a study ethically if the cost is higher than the benefits. The analysis needs to include human/animal discomfort, environmental issues, material costs/benefits and economy. (Stem Cell Research Pros and Cons)

Sources

Breakthrough Reveals Blood Vessel Cells Are Key to Growing Unlimited Amounts of Adult Stem Cells, ScienceDaily 7 March 2010. 8 June 2010, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304184542.htm

Cord Blood Banking Benefits, http://www.cordblood.org/

Donate Umbilical Cord Blood, http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Donate_Cord_Blood_Share_Life/index.html

Geron Corporation () Q1 2010 Earnings Call April 30, 2010 12:00 pm ET, http://seekingalpha.com/article/209723-geron-corporation-q1-2010-earnings-call-transcript

Immune System Helps Transplanted Stem Cells Navigate in Central Nervous System, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100601162300.htm

Michael Fumento, Embryonic research driven by greed, not science, (original title: "the great stem-cell-research scam), New York Post, July 15, 2009, copyright 2009 the Independent Journalism Project, http://www.fumento.com/biotech/gre, atstemcell.html

New type of human stem cell may be more easy to manipulate, June 8, 2010, http://www.physorg.com/news195236700.html

Reprogramming a patient's eye cells may herald new treatments against degenerative disease,http://www.physorg.com/news175458227.html

Stem Cell Research Pros and Cons, http://www.herdaily.com/health/4138/stem-cell-research-pros-and-cons.html

Wolfgang Lillge, M.D, The Case for Adult Stem Cell Research, http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/winter01/stem_cell.htm

The "Political Science" of Stem Cells, http://www.stemcellresearch.org/polisci/index.html

Wesley J. Smith, Why Adult Stem Cell Research Gets Downplayed by the Media, http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/smit/smit_06adultstemcell.html