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Stem Cell News
Adult Stem Cell Research Should Be First Priority
According to Experts
By Tom Strode, Baptist Press, August 1, 2007
Promoters of non-controversial adult stem cell
research say that priority funding should be directed
not towards destructive embryonic experiments but
adult stem cell research given the promising results
that have been achieved with the latter.
To testify to the effectiveness of adult and other
non-embryonic stem cell research, a bioethics
specialist, researchers, and patients joined in a news
conference in Washington. Legislation to give
priority to adult stem cell research was introduced by
two members of the House of Representatives the same
day as the promotion in Washington.
Reps. Dan Lipinski, D.-Ill., and Randy Forbes, R.-Va.,
introduced the Patients First Act, H.R. 2807.
With the ability to develop into all of the
different cell types in the body, embryonic stem cells
are considered to be "pluripotent".
But since the extraction of embryonic stem cell
results in the destruction of an embryo, most pro-life
advocates are opposed to this type of research.
Additionally, experiments have been plagued by the
development of tumors in lab animals, and embryonic
stem cell research (ESCR) has yet to treat any disease
in human beings.
With the ability to form many, but not all, of the
body's cell types adult stem cells are considered to
be "multipotent". These cells are also
referred to as non-embryonic stem cells.
However, the donor is not harmed in the extraction
process of adult stem cells. And the same
flexibility as embryonic stem cells has been exhibited
by some types of adult stem cells in recent years.
"Even the scientific community unfortunately
has tended to ignore the potential of adult stem
cells, especially in relation to patients," said
David Prentice, senior fellow for life sciences at the
Family Research Council, in the July 26 news
conference.
"There are at least two dozen examples of
adult stem cells showing this flexibility but without
some of the problems associated with embryonic type
stem cells, problems with tumor genesis or getting the
right type of cell for treatment," Prentice told
reporters. "There are now thousands of patients
whose health has improved, maybe not in all cases a
cure, although in some it is."
"The bottom line is: If we're considering
patients first, it's the adult stem cells that are
really the most promising" now, he said.
"Pluripotent stem cells have been found in
amniotic fluid, placenta, testicular tissue, umbilical
cord blood, nasal tissue and bone marrow, among other
sources," Prentice said.
According to Do No Harm, a coalition promoting
ethics in research, non-embryonic stem cells have
produced treatments for a minimum of 73 conditions and
diseases. Prentice said that such cells are
currently being used in about 1,400 clinical trials.
Stephen Sprague, 58, of New York said at the news
conference he was privileged to be "one of the
very early, early examples of the power of adult stem
cells in cord blood."
Apparently dooming him to an early death, no none
marrow match was found when he was diagnosed with
leukemia 12 years ago. But as result of using
stem cells from umbilical cord blood, he has been
leukemia free for 10 years now.
"Ten years ago, nobody ever thought this would
work on an adult, particularly a full-sized
adult," Sprague told reporters. "There is
some mother and her now-10-year-old daughter walking
the streets of New York who did what mothers didn't do
10 years ago, and she donated her daughter's cord
blood to a public cord blood bank. They will never,
ever know what they have done for me and for my
family."
Other notable recoveries presented at the
conference were:
-- Doug Rice, 61, who was told he only had three or
four months to live without a mechanical heart after
bing diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Since
receiving an injection of stem cells from his blood in
a January 2006 procedure in Thailand the resident of
Washington state has improved dramatically.
-- Jaider Abbud, a Brazilian dental surgeon
diagnosed at the age of 26 last year with juvenile
diabetes. He is no longer taking insulin after
receiving an infusion of his own stem cells in a trial
last year.
Also testifying to the success of adult stem cells
were:
-- Amit Patel, a Pittsburgh, Pa., cardiothoracic
surgeon and adult cardiac stem cell researcher whose
treatments with stem cells from bone marrow have
resulted in patients "still doing well" four
years later, in contrast to a control group receiving
standard care that is not doing as well.
-- Julio Voltarelli, a Brazilian researcher whose
clinical trial using stem cells from blood resulted in
13 of 15 Type 1 diabetes patients being free of
insulin use.
Forbes and Lipinski said in a news release that the
Patients First Act is designed to advance stem cell
human trials and research that show benefits in the
near future.
"It also is to promote the development of
"pluripotent" stem cell lines without
destroying human embryos," they said.
"The issue of embryonic stem cell research has
become divisive, and when there are cures and human
lives at stake, divisiveness is not a luxury we
have," Forbes said in a written release. The
legislation attempts "to devote our energies and
our resources on the common goal shared by both sides
of the embryonic stem cell debate -– curing and
treating patients," he said.
The National Cord Blood Inventory, which collects
cord blood units and makes them available for doctors
searching for matches for patients, received $11
million in funds after House approval on July 18th.
Prentice commended this action.
On June 20th, President Bush voted to block federal
funds from being used in embryonic stem cell research.
But the Senate is expected to attempt to override his
veto of the bill that would have bolstered research
using embryos. Providing funds for research
using stem cells procured from embryos stored at in
vitro fertilization clinics, the Stem Cell Research
Enhancement Act was also vetoed by President Bush last
year. The president's 2001 rule permits funds
for embryonic research only on stem cell lines already
in existence at the time of the announcement of the
policy.
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