Britain Opens National Stem-Cell Bank

POTTERS BAR, England — Britain opened the first national stem cell bank Wednesday to promote research into therapies using the master cells from human tissues including embryos.

"The government is committed to stem cell research because we believe it has tremendous potential. We expect to bring breakthroughs in the understanding and treatment of disease," Health Minister Lord Norman Warner said at the official opening.

Britain was the first nation to authorize the cloning of human embryos for research.

The bank was established at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control at Potter’s Bar, 12 miles north of London. Located on a quiet country lane, its mission is to store, characterize and grow cells, and distribute them to researchers around the world.

The first two human embryonic stem cell lines – strings of identical cells – to be deposited in the bank were developed separately by researchers at King’s College London and the Center for Life in Newcastle, England.

Professor Alison Murdoch, from the Newcastle center, said the central database would facilitate fast research work and ensure that all stem cells used for that research are sourced ethically.

The bank will also accept stem cells from fetal and adult sources, allowing for research into possible treatment of conditions like diabetes, cancer, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

"Stem cell research is still at a very early stage," said Dr. Glyn Stacey, the manager of the bank. " It is very important that there is a facility which can be in a position to provide ready access to good quality, well characterized stem cells."

Regulations on cloning and stem cell research vary across Europe, and around the world. The European Parliament last year voted to ban the creation of human embryos for research and to restrict stem-cell research. The policy is not binding, however; a European Union policy would require the agreement of member governments.

Stem cells can potentially grow into any type of human tissue. Scientists believe they could potentially be used to treat a wide range of human diseases. Stem cells can be found in adults, but scientists believe they may not be as versatile as those found in embryos.

Extracting the cells from embryos created by cloning using a cell from a patient would in theory ensure the cell transplant is a perfect match, bypassing the problem of the immune system’s rejection of transplants.

The remains of such cloned early embryos would be discarded after the stem cells were removed, but they could theoretically develop into a human if the stem cells were not removed and the intact embryo was implanted into a woman’s uterus.

"Stem cell research has great potential to alleviate suffering," Warner said. "Therefore we believe that research on human embryo stem cell lines should go ahead in countries like the U.K. which have achieved national consensus and have put in place strong regulatory regimes."

Stacey said bank officials were still considering whether researchers would be charged for access to the stem cells.

"We could distribute free of charge or could charge per ampul as the commercial bodies do," he said. "In reality, we will probably choose something between those two. We don’t want to be a mail order company."

LIFE, an anti-abortion charity, said it was opposed to the new stem cell bank, adding that using human embryos as a tissue source was "unethical, unnecessary and dangerous."

"The practice of creating human embryos for destructive research is immoral for two reasons," LIFE spokesman Patrick Cusworth said. "First, it reduces human life to little more than a pharmaceutical product and secondly, it holds out false hopes of cures for sufferers of debilitating conditions."

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On the Net:

UK Stem Cell Bank, http://www.nibsc.ac.uk/divisions/cbi/stemcell.html