RESEARCH - Team produces large amounts of embryonic-like stem cells from umbilical cord blood

[Guest guest]

Advance made in stem-cell debate

By Joyce Price

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

August 20, 2005

A team of Texas and British researchers says it has produced large amounts

of embryoniclike stem cells from umbilical cord blood, potentially ending

the ethical debate affecting stem-cell research - the need to kill human

embryos.

The international researchers said the cells - called

cord-blood-derived-embryoniclike stem cells, or CBEs - have the ability to

turn into any kind of body tissue, like embryonic stem cells do, and can be

mass-produced using technology derived from NASA.

" It looks very promising, " said Dr. Randall Urban, an endocrinologist at

the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He stressed more

research has to be done.

In a report published in the August issue of the journal Cell

Proliferation, Dr. Urban and researchers at Kingston University in England

described how they turned the CBEs into human liver tissue.

Scientists believe the ability to replicate tissue could lead to the

development of ways to replace organs as well as treat life-threatening

diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, which have been the

focus of stem-cell research.

" It will be important if it's true, and I hope it's true, "

Jennings, executive director of Harvard University's Stem-Cell Institute,

said yesterday. But he said " many questions " need to be answered.

Those questions, he and other scientists said, include whether CBEs will

function properly and what their life span will be.

Politically, the team's findings offer hope to pro-life opponents of

using federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, which requires the

destruction of human embryos. They say such research has been hyped and is

far from proven. They've regularly called for more umbilical-cord-blood

research.

In 2001, President Bush set a policy limiting federal funding to

research on a group of embryonic stem-cell lines already in existence at

that time - estimated to be 78 lines - a move many scientists argue has

stifled the search for cures.

Dr. Urban said he sees a need for both adult and embryonic stem-cell

research, but recognizes the objections of the pro-life community. In

contrast, he said, " cord blood is normally discarded tissue " after birth, so

there are no ethical concerns.

In addition to the moral questions surrounding their use, embryonic stem

cells are rare. The Texas and British researchers point out that cord blood

is an attractive source for stem cells, given that 100 million babies

globally are born each year, 4 million in the United States alone.

The researchers' findings come less than a month after Senate Majority

Leader Bill Frist surprised Capitol Hill by endorsing a bill to make more

embryonic stem-cell research eligible for federal funding, breaking with Mr.

Bush, who has said he would veto the legislation.

Mr. Frist, a physician, expressed qualified support for House-passed

legislation that allows federal funding for an unspecified number of new

lines of stem cells derived from embryos left over at in vitro fertilization

clinics. Senate action on the stem-cell issue is still being worked out.

Prentice, senior fellow for life sciences for the Family Research

Council, which advocates cord-blood and other adult stem-cell research that

does not require destruction of embryos, said the research sounds " real

exciting. "

Mr. Prentice said it is especially interesting because it comes just two

weeks after scientists at the University of Pittsburgh announced they have

discovered a type of cell in the human placenta that also shares the ability

of embryonic stem cells to regenerate a wide variety of tissue.

Publication in a medical or scientific journal is the usual forum to

announce a medical discovery. But publication of the Pittsburgh research has

been delayed while the university sought patent protection for its

discovery.

http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050820-122747-2\

417r

Not an MD

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org