Stem Cell Research Progressing Despite Obstacles
Posted on: Sunday, 15 June 2008, 00:05 CDT
The promising field of stem cell science is attracting plenty of talented researchers, experts said Saturday, despite the controversy surrounding the industry.
"Despite the political opposition to parts of stem cell therapy, the entire field has grown in a healthy way," said Dr. George Daley in an interview with Reuters. Daley is president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), which drew 2,500 delegates to its meeting in Philadelphia this week.
Stem cells are the body's master cells, and are characterized by their ability to differentiate into a wide variety of cell types. Scientists have harnessed the promise of stem cells to create a new field of regenerative medicine, which they hope will provide treatments and cures for cancer, diseases of the brain and serious injuries.
For example, stem cells obtained from bone marrow can regenerate the immune systems of patients with leukemia and rare diseases, in addition to other experimental uses of the cells.
The controversy surrounding the industry involves stem cells obtained from human embryos, which develop days after conception. These stem cells are believed to be far more powerful that those that are partially differentiated and already progressing down a clear developmental pathway to becoming a muscle cell or blood cell, for instance.
The opposition to embryonic stem cells by some is because they involve the destruction of a human embryo. The contentious issue has led to ongoing political debate and disagreement in Congress, with President George W. Bush vetoing legislation that would mandate funding of stem cell research.
Many feared the move would either diminish the field or cause experts to flee to places such as Singapore or the UK where embryonic stem cell research is actively promoted.
Instead, Daley said the field is flourishing.
"There obviously has been a pent-up desire to do this work," he said.
The introduction last year of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, normal skin cells that can be transformed into something very similar to an embryonic stem cell, has truly energized the field, Daley said.
"Now that the technology is easy and free of any political complications, you have got hundreds of new scientists jumping in and calling themselves stem cell biologists," he said.
However, experts speaking at the conference agreed that work with stem cells from all sources, including embryos, needs to continue.
Researchers discovered iPS cells by studying which genes were turned on and off during the development of embryonic stem cells. But one of the key obstacles in using iPS cells is that they can only be transformed using viruses to introduce new genes. Also, adult cells are limited because they do not survive long in the body.
"This will require serious work over quite a long time before we can take it to the clinic," Olle Lindvall of Sweden’s University of Lund told Reuters.
"Most of the experience we have in treating patients with cells has involved short-term successes," added Ira Fox of the University of Nebraska, during a Reuters interview.
Progress was reported in creating new nerve cells, regenerating pancreatic cells to treat diabetes and stem cell based gene therapy. Other scientists are examining the role of cancer stem cells. For example, ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd., based in Los Angeles, announced its experimental cancer stem cell vaccine aimed at treating a type of lethal brain tumor called glioblastoma.
Source: redOrbit staff and wire reports
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