OF STEM CELL ADVANCES, FOUNTAINS OF YOUTH, AND SUICIDAL RABBITS
The news is full of the recent Yamanaka/Thomson stem cell experiments, dubbed Induced Pluripotent Stem (IPS) stem cells, or "reprogramming"
First of all, what is IPS?
Basically, 4 genes are placed inside a skin cell. According to two studies, one by Shinya Yamanaka and the other by Jamie Thomson, the skin cell is manipulated backward in the developmental cycle until it becomes young again, embryonic-like, a sort of cellular fountain of youth.
Is it embryonic-like, or Embryonic-lite?
IPS cells could be an exciting new tool for the cause of cure—or maybe not.
Personally, I am in favor of investigating any promising new tool, including this one. There are problems associated with it, such as the fact that 20% of the experimental mice developed cancer—but there may be ways to overcome that unacceptable risk.
What needs to be done is simple: Investigate, duplicate, replicate, test: perform the same rigorous examinations on which all good science is built: only then will we know.
If IPS works, wonderful.
If it brings more federal, state, or private funding, that would also be helpful—the amount of money invested in medical research of any sort is pathetically inadequate.
But should we, for this one possibility, abandon all other embryonic, SCNT and adult stem cell research already underway?
Should we (as Bob Klein said, in a recent interview) "bet the farm" on this one approach?
That reminds me of a story.
The Chinese tell of a farmer who had painstakingly plowed a clearing in the forest. It was hard work, (they could not afford a horse, and he had to provide the muscle power himself, dragging a sharpened stick through the soil) and every night he went to bed exhausted.
One day he was straining behind the plow, a rabbit appeared. Chased by a fox, the rabbit ran so fast it dashed its head against a tree-- and killed itself.
The family ate the suicidal rabbit, in a nice stew.
Next morning, the farmer went out to the fields—and sat down under the tree.
When his wife asked why he was not plowing, the farmer replied:
"I am waiting for the next rabbit."
If a lucky break—or breakthrough—
But we should not abandon the plow.
Supporters in every country should take pride in our continuing victories. Despite every obstacle the opponents have thrown up, embryonic stem cell science is moving forward.
( At the end of this column, I am going to reprint something I did a while back, listing some of the accomplishments of embryonic stem cells—we need to remember what has already been done.)
Time has not dimmed the memory of the day I held in my hand a laboratory rat which had been paralyzed, and which now walked again, thanks to human embryonic stem cells. That was
In the next few months, Geron takes that experiment to human trials. For the first time in the history of the world, there was a chance that paralysis might be defeated.
We should give up solid advances like that for a tantalizing possibility that will take ten to fifteen years to even fully test?
Can anybody spell d-e-l-a-y--?
And while we are on the subject, a couple points need to be clarified.
First, this morning's Washington Post contains an essay by Michael Gerson, a long-time opponent of embryonic stem cell research. The essay, called "Stem Cells, the
George Bush opposes embryonic stem cell research— setting excruciatingly narrow limits on funds for the emerging science, vetoing the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, attempting to throw SCNT researchers into jail-- how does he deserve credit for an advance made by embryonic stem cell researchers?
Embryonic stem cell experts developed the new cells. Shinya Yamanaka is a world-renowned ESCR expert—and Jamie Thomson is credited with having begun the field.
What inspired Dr. Thomson? He says it was the SCNT research of Ian Wilmut, which President Bush tried so hard to criminalize.
"(It) changed the way I thought about developmental biology," Thomson said in a recent interview for the New York Times, "Development was reversible."
Second, this advance in no way lessens the need for embryonic, adult, or SCNT research.
The world faces a veritable plague of incurable disease and disability. In
We are bankrupting ourselves, spending two trillion dollars last year on medical costs—that is as much as all federal income taxes put together—and 75% of that is from chronic disease or disability.
To solve this gigantic problem, we will need every tool we can cram in the toolbox.
A good toolbox, of course, contains more than just a hammer; we also need a set of socket wrenches, a level, a couple of screwdrivers, maybe a tape measure—and more.
In regenerative medicine, we cannot even know everything we need yet, because the science is just beginning. Maybe adult stem cells will turn out to be best for blood disease, or embryonic for spinal cord injury, or the new IPS "reprogramming" for heart tissue, or somatic cell nuclear transfer to make the vast quantities of cells that are needed—more likely a combination of all of the above-- what works is the answer.
As Dr. Yamanaka, co-inventor of the new cells, puts it: "New advances do not obviate the need for human embryonic stem cells … progress… would be indefensibly delayed if IPS cell research is pursued at the expense of further hES (human embryonic stem) cell research… Research into all avenues of human stem cell research must proceed together. Society deserves to have the full commitment of scientific inquiry at its service."
--Cell Stem Cell 1, October 2007, Elsevier Inc.
And now, a quick reminder: something to share…
EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH PROGRESS
Embryonic stem cell research is an amazingly new science, begun in 1998 by Dr. James Thomson of the
ALS: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's Disease: At the University of Wisconsin at Madison, scientists have turned hESC into motor neurons (nerves which carry messages between brain and body), offering possibilities for repairing damage caused by ALS, spinal cord injury, and other nerve-related disorders.
--Nature Biotechnology,
ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE: Until now, it was impossible to study the complete progress of this horrific disease, which robs sufferers of both memory and life. We do not know how or why or even exactly when it begins. With human embryonic stem cells, (hESC), however, we may be able to isolate the disease and observe its progress from inception to death on human tissue cells, not human beings. hESCs may also provide a new way to design better Alzheimer's medicines. Dr. Lawrence Goldstein of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, UCSD, is using hESC to test new ideas of how Alzheimer's disease develops, and how it might be treated.
--L. Goldstein, personal communication,
BIOLOGICAL PACEMAKERS: In
--
BLINDNESS: The major cause of blindness in Americans over age 60 is macular degeneration: the loss of retinal cells in the eye. Dr. Robert Lanza and Dr. Irina Klimanskaya of Advanced Cell Technology in
--Medical Science News,
CANCER: The speed at which cancer develops is a major obstacle in curing this devastating disease. At Kumamoto University in Japan, and Cambridge University in England, surface proteins were developed that could mark cancer stem cells, laying ground work for new drugs that may one day slow, or even turn off, tumor formation. Advancing understanding about cancer stem cells draws from knowledge gained about the growth and development of hESCs. This work will open the door to a day when cancer treatments may be truly curative.
--
CYSTIC FIBROSIS: Cystic fibrosis inflames the lungs, strangling CF patients in thick slimy mucous. Using hESCs, Dr. Stephen Minger of King's College,
--BBC News
DEAFNESS: The death of tiny hair cells inside the ear contributes to deafness for an estimated 28 million Americans. These cells do not naturally regrow. However, using hESC techniques, Dr. Stefan Heller of
--Proceedings of
DIABETES: At
--1.http://www.
--2. Beacon Journal,
GROWING HUMAN TISSUE: At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Dr. Robert Langer used embryonic stem cells to grow liver, cartilage, nerve tissue and blood vessels, all of which appeared to function normally when transplanted into mice.
--
HEMOPHILIA: At the
--Science Daily,
IMMUNE SYSTEM DISEASE:
PARKINSON'S:
SPINAL CORD INJURY PARALYSIS: Using hESCs, Dr. Hans Keirstead in the Roman Reed Laboratory at UC Irvine restored myelin insulation around damaged nerves, returning motion to partially paralyzed rats.—Journal of Neuroscience, accepted for publication,
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