Good News Bad News - Therapeutic Cloning of Stem Cells

 09/30/03 Update

http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/09/29/government.cells.reut/index.html

(Only copied cause these things have a habit of disappearing over time)

Govt. funds controversial stem cell work

Monday, September 29, 2003 Posted: 4:46 PM EDT (2046 GMT)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Saying the research offers huge potential, the U.S. government announced three small grants on Monday for researchers to examine human embryonic stem cells.

Work using the cells is controversial because opponents say it is unethical to work on human embryos, however tiny. President George W. Bush agrees and has strictly limited federal funding for the work to batches of cells that existed as of August 2001.

The National Institutes of Health announced it was giving $6.3 million over three years to three centers to work on their stem cells -- the University of Wisconsin's WiCell Institute; the University of Washington Seattle and the associated Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; and the University of Michigan Medical School.

"America's scientists need powerful tools to find better ways to diagnose and treat health problems," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said in a statement.

"Understanding the biology of stem cells can help fill in the blanks about what causes cells to misbehave in disease."

Stem cells taken from tiny embryos just a few days old have the potential to form any kind of cell, tissue or organ in the body.

Scientists hope to learn how to direct their development, with the eventual aim of personally tailored treatment for patients with a range of diseases from juvenile diabetes to Parkinson's. The cells could also treat spinal cord injuries, cancer and heart disease.

Several types of stem cells can be used, but researchers believe embryonic stem cells are the most flexible. Now they must be made using cloning technology, but the hope is that by studying embryonic stem cells, scientists can figure out how to take any old cell and make it perform the same magic.

"What gives stem cells their unique property to self-renew? When, how and why does a stem cell decide to differentiate, becoming another kind of cell?" NIH director Dr. Elias Zerhouni asked in a statement.

"There is so much basic research we must conduct before we can unlock the potential of these cells and fulfill their promise," he added.

Supporters of stem cell research say federal funding is vital to keep the work in the public domain and make sure that ethical constraints are followed.

The researchers receiving the grants include the University of Wisconsin's James Thomson, one of the discoverers of human embryonic stem cells.

http://www.nih.gov/news/stemcell/execsummary.pdf Stem cell definition from NIH - Start here if you want to understand stem cells and how they potentially apply to disease cure.  It clarifies most of the misconceptions.

http://www.aaas.org/spp/cstc/issues/stemcells.htm Very thorough report on the current status of Stem Cell Research from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Includes the President's August, 2001 decision, ethical issues, who supports and doesn't support and why.

http://www.nih.gov/news/stemcell/  Official NIH Stem Cell Research Page

Good News: 

There is a very interesting article in the December 3, 2001 issue of U.S. News regarding "Therapeutic Stem A company called Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) has accomplished what some experts are calling "the hugest medical breakthrough (in medical history)of the past half century - an accomplishment that could cure many diseases of aging and provides hope for people (with immune related diseases). Unlike existing stem cell lines, stem cells created through cloing would provide a patient with a fresh supply of cells with his or her own genetic code" - (hence less concern for transplant rejection). 

Now for the bad news: "it's a long way from cures in animals to human therapies. ACT's Michael West estimates that treatments for the average person are still at least 10 years awaY."

Source 

http://www.usnews.com/utils/search Search on First Human Clone - Very interesting article you can purchase for $2.00 on line. I have the mag and will quote additonal points in the What's New area of the website.