Adult Stem Cell Research
a Proven Success without Ethical Dilemma
Where RTLCNM Stands
The Right To Life Committee of New Mexico (RTLCNM) supports the use of
stem cells for medical purposes, as long as the stem cells are not
taken from an embryo, which then causes that human life to die. There
has not been one cure ever established using Embryonic Stem Cells
(ESCs), but there have been tumors and death from using these types of
cells.
Ethical Debate
At the heart of the moral and ethical debate is the source for
embryonic versus adult stem cells. ESCs come from a human embryo a few
days after fertilization, requiring death of the embryo. New sources
for Adult Stem Cells (ASCs) are continually being found in human body
tissues, and cause no harm to the donor.
Embryonic Stem Cell Hopes
ESCs can divide for a year or more in a laboratory without becoming
specialized cells, while most adult stem cells cannot. ESCs have the
ability to become all the different types of cells in the body
including those needed for fetus development.
Because of these two characteristics it is thought that, with enough
research, ESCs can be manipulated into creating replacement organs and
used in treating diseases.
This hope has many pressing for public taxpayer-funding. The field has
already received $2 billion in research funds in the U.S. alone reports
Lifesitenews.com in an article quoting bioethics attorney Wesley J.
Smith referring to Rockefeller Institute reports. Despite funding and a
decade of worldwide research, ESC research has yet to bear any
treatment successes. Rather, ESC research is plagued by ethical and
technical challenges:
destroying human life
causing tumors
immune system rejection
patent disputes
Adult Stem Cell Realities
The past 40 years of adult stem cell research is building solid results
that alleviate human suffering, treat 73 diseases and also show
potential for one day creating replacement organs. Using a newly
discovered technique, ASCs have the ability to become all the different
types of cells in the body, except those needed for fetus development.
This technique called "Reprogramming" neither creates, nor destroys, a
human embryo. It was named Breakthrough of the Year 2008 by the
scientific journal Science.
"In 20 years' time, the most common surgical operations will be regnerative procuedures to replace organs and tissues damaged by disease with autologous [self-grown] tissues and organs from the laboratory. We are on the verge of a new age in surgical care." --Prof. Martin Brichall of University of Bristol, England
Dr. Oz to Oprah and Michael J. Fox "The stem cell debate is dead." April 2, 2009 from Science Matters
In this YouTube video Dr. Oz on Oprah estimates we are single-digit years away from a cure for Parkinson's Disease using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) because they are not as prone to cancer (as embryonic stem cells are) and contain the patient's genes (eliminating need for immunosupressant drugs).
"The Audacity of Hype: Embryonic Stem Cells Wasting Taxpayer Lives and Wasting Taxpayer Dollars"
A Feb. 12, 2009 policy lecture was hosted by Family Research Council with this link to a copy of the presentation to be used in conjunction with the lecture.
Overview:The Obama administration has promised to spend more money on
embryonic stem cell research and promote more human embryo destruction,
and the FDA has now approved the first experiments using embryonic stem
cells in patients. The new President has stated that he wants to
promote science, but he must have meant political science. The focus on
embryonic stem cells emphasizes unethical and poor science, least
likely to help patients, and wastes both human lives and dollars. If we
are concerned about the patients first, adult stem cells are already
saving lives and hold the real promise for treatments and impacting
health care. Come hear the real facts on the science and the difference
between hype and hope.
Who:Dr. David Prentice, Senior Fellow for Life Sciences, Center for Human Life and Bioethics at Family Research Council.
When: Thursday, February 12, 2009 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Where: FRC Headquarters
801 G Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
A Stem Cell and Cloning Glossary is available to download [PDF] and the lecture study guide is also available to download [PDF] as a supplement to the lecture. (This lecture is recommended for Grades 6 and up.)
‘Reprogramming’ Named Breakthrough of the Year 2008
(from http://isscr.org/public/boty.html)
Each December, the scientific journal Science celebrates key scientific advances of the past year, laments the year’s biggest breakdown, and makes predictions for the year to come. This year, ‘reprogramming’ was named Breakthrough of the Year.
The term reprogramming has been coined to describe the derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells, where a cell with a specialized function (for example a skin cell) is ‘reprogrammed’ to become pluripotent, that is, able to form all cell types of the body. Reprogramming can also be used to describe the conversion of one type of specialized cell to another type of specialized cell.
But it didn’t all happen in 2008. Mouse iPS cells were first described in 2006. Then following reports of human iPS cells from three research groups, ‘Reprogramming’ placed as first runner-up to breakthrough of the year in 2007. In 2008, the rapid extension of this technology has pushed reprogramming into the number one spot.
In 2008, two groups reported making disease-specific iPS cell lines for at least 10 different diseases, providing scientists with new tools to study the molecular basis of disease, new systems for drug screening, and one day perhaps, a way to repair and replace damaged cells and tissues. A study using similar techniques to reprogram pancreatic exocrine cells to the beta cells of the pancreas (those damaged in type I diabetes) highlighted the potential of the reprogramming process in specialized tissue.
More from Science
View a video from Science looking back over the work that led up to this exciting recognition of Reprogramming in 2008. The video features ISSCR Board Members Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University and George Daley of Harvard University, alongside Science's Gretchen Vogel.
Video on May 2008 Adult Stem Cell Research Gains
View a one-and-a-half minute video from Lifesitenews.com on May 1, 2008 that reports on adult stem cell research gains as of that date.
Adult Stem Cell News June through January 2009 Articles in The Stem Cell Research Report (www.stemcellresearchreport.com)
Phase II Clinical Trials for DCM Chronic Heart Failure Underway (Jan. 2009)
More than five million Americans, and half a million more each year, suffer from chronic heart failure. One type of severe heart failure is dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), where 60 percent of patients die within five years. For many DCM patients, a heart transplant has been the only option. Now Aastrom Biosciences, Inc., in Ann Arbor has developed Cardiac Repair Cells (CRCs). A minimally invasive surgery pioneered by Dr. Amit N. Patel at the University of Utah School of Medicine injects these amplified autologous bone marrow stem cells back into a patient's heart through a small incision in the left side of the chest. Phase II clinical trials of this technique are underway at five sites around the nation, including The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, and the University of Utah School of Medical in Salt Lake City.
Autologous Stem Cells Used for Whole Organ Transplant (Jan. 2009)
A 30-year-old Columbian woman is the first patient to receive a whole organ transplant using the patient's own stem cells. Doctors at England's University of Bristol took adult stem cells from the patient's bone marrow to create cartilage tissue to form a new windpipe to replace her airway that had been irreversibly damaged by tuberculosis. Dr. Paolo Macchiarini of the University of Padua, Italy, removed the woman's left main bronchus and replaced it with the new tissue engineered graft.
Some Hearing Loss May Be Reversed Using Adult Stem Cells (Dec. 2008)
Italian Research Team Used Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSC) to Treat Cochlear Damage. A team at Oregon Health and Science University developed a technique for regenerating sensory "hair" cells in cochlea, which when damaged or lost due to aging, noise exposure, genetic defects, and certain drugs causes irreversible hearing loss.
iPSC Research Suggests Promise for Understanding Process of ALS and for Drug Screening (Dec. 2008)
Researchers from Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Columbia University directed induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from skin biopsies of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patients to differentiate into motor neurons, the brain cells destroyed by ALS. Examining defects of ALS patient motor neurons at cellular and molecular levels can lead to learning how motor neurons die, and then how to save them as well.
Stem Cells from Autologous Cord Blood Help Toddlers Recover from Cerebral Palsy, Stroke (Oct. 2008)
Two experimental treatment successes raise hope for improved treatment of cerebral palsy using cord blood stem cells. Five days after an infusion of his own cord blood cells, a one-and-a-half-year-old boy who could not sit up, crawl or clap is waving and saying "Mama." Doctors think that by age 7 he may have no signs of cerebral palsy. A Colorado girl who suffered a stroke in utero causing cerebral palsy and paralysis on the right side of her body received treatment at Duke University in late May. Two days later she could say words she had never been able to say before. Now she is able to walk and climb, using both of her arms and legs.
Adult Endometrial Stem Cells May Treat Critical Limb Ischemia (Oct. 2008)
A research team with Indiana University vascular surgeon Dr. Michael Murphy as lead author found endometrial regenerative cells (ERCs), stem cells obtained from menstrual blood, can restore blood flow and limb functionality in animal models with advanced peripheral artery disease. In humans, the loss of blood flow to a major limb, critical limb ischemia, leads to approximately 100,000 amputations each year in the U.S. According to Murphy, ERCs are advantageous because they do not require genetic matching and can be injected easily without complex equipment.
Adult Stem Cells May Aid in Healing of Bone Fractures (Sept. 2008)
UNC-Chapel Hill researchers found that the broken bones of animals injected with adult stem cells healed three times stronger than those who did not receive the injection giving hope to treating osteoporosis and brittle bone disease more effectively than with conventional treatments like multiple surgeries with bone auto-grafts and artificial prosthetic materials.
Advance may cut risk of cancer when using iPSCs (Sept. 2008)
Researchers at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have come closer to a procedure for generating iPSCs in a therapeutically safe manner by replacing c-Myc (known to cause cancer when over-expressed) and its retrovirus with Wnt3a (a "naturally occurring signaling molecule") in the current process of using retroviruses to transfer four particular genes into adult stem cells' DNA thereby reverting the cells to an embryonic-like state.
Children with Graft vs. Host Disease Benefit from Lifesaving Adult Stem Cell Treatment (July/August 2008)
Research firm Orisis Therapeutics, Inc. based in Columbia, Maryland received FDA approval to expand access to its treatment program for Prochymal, a preparation of mesenchymal stem cells derived from the bone marrow of healthy adult donors, which has successfully treated patients with Graft vs. Host Disease (a life-threatening complication that develops in bone marrow transplant patients) who did not respond well to conventional steroid treatments.
Adult Stem Cell Treatment Restores Sight to Nearly-Blind Patients (July/August 2008)
Researchers at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, England, transplanted stem cells from tissue donors to restore partial sight to six patients. Their eyesight was thought to have been irretrievably lost due to injuries to their limbal cells from accidental chemical burns or aniridia, a rare genetic disease. Nine additional patients who underwent the procedure in late 2007 have not yet had their recovery assessed.
Adult Stem Cells Used in Diskectomy (June 2008)
Spinal surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Kleiner used autologous stem cells (a patient's own adult stem cells) during a diskectomy, a procedure to remove a herniated disk, performed at Centennial Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado to promote cellular recovery of the damaged tissue, to prevent further degeneration of the disk, and to offer long-term pain relief and decreased risk of needing additional back surgeries.
Fatal Genetic Skin Disease Treated with Bone Marrow Stem Cells (June 2008)
Minnesota physicians injected a 2-year-old New Jersey boy with marrow and cord blood stem cells from his healthy, tissue-matched brother to effectively treat a genetic skin disease that is consistently fatal. Four months after treatment the boy's body is producing the collagen type VII, the protein lacking in recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), which causes extremely delicate skin and leads to malnutrition or infection or an aggressive fatal skin cancer by early adulthood.
Recent Web articles
23 Jan 2009 - US Approves 1st Stem Cell Study for Spinal Injury (PhysOrg)
07 Jan 2009 - Converting Adult Somatic Cells to Pluripotent Stem Cells Using a Single Virus (Science Daily)
29 Dec 2009 - Scientists Succeed through Stem Cell Therapy in Reversing Brain Birth Defects (PhysOrg)
07 Aug 2008 - Research to Advance with New Human Stem Cell-Based Models (MedPage Today)
07 Aug 2008 - Skin Cells Produce Library of Diseased Stem Cells (Reuters)
31 July 2008 - Fruit-Fly Study Adds Weight to Theories about Another Type of Adult Stem Cell (PhysOrg)
24 July 2008 - Australia: Stem Cell Therapy Plan for Placentas (Sydney Morning Herald)
22 July 2008 - Scientists Identify Cells for Spinal Cord Repair (PhysOrg)
19 July 2008 - Cells from Humans Grow Blood Vessels in Mice: Study (Reuters)
11 July 2008 - Cord Blood Helping Baby with ‘Bubble Boy’ Disease (USA Today)
10 July 2008 - Muscle Stem Cell Advance Hailed (BBC)
10 July 2008 – Stem Cell Transplant a Lifesaver for Ryan (West Australian)
Stem Cell Basics and Successes From 2001 to 2005
Read the article on Lifesitenews.com entitled "What the Media Won't Tell You About Stem Cell Research" that covers stem cell basics and lists adult stem cell research successes from from June 2001 through August 2005.
