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Reuters
June 14, 2008
Stem Cell Field Grows Despite Controversy
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Political controversy may have slowed the pace
of stem cell science, but the field is still promising enough to
attract many talented researchers, stem cell experts said on Saturday.
A meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in
Philadelphia this week attracted 2,500 delegates, something ISSCR
president Dr. George Daley finds encouraging.
"Despite the political opposition to parts of stem cell therapy, the
entire field has grown in a healthy way," Daley said in a telephone
interview.
Stem cells are the body's master cells, giving rise to tissues,
organs and blood. Scientists hope to harness their power to create a
new field of regenerative medicine, offering cures for diseases of
the brain, cancer and serious injuries.
Stem cells from bone marrow can reconstitute the immune systems of
patients with leukaemia and rare diseases, but other uses of the
cells are experimental.
The only controversial stem cells are those taken from human embryos.
Most stem cells have partially differentiated -- started down a clear
developmental pathway to becoming a blood cell or a muscle cell, for
instance.
Stem cells taken from balls of cells that develop days after
conception are far more powerful, giving rise to all tissues in the
body. President George W. Bush and some religious conservatives
oppose their use because they involve destruction of the human embryo.
The issue has led to annual battles in Congress, with Bush vetoing
legislation to require more federal funding of such research. Many
experts feared the field would wither, or that expertise would flee
to places such as Britain or Singapore that actively encourage
embryonic stem cell research.
Instead, it is flourishing, Daley said.
PENT-UP DESIRE
"There obviously has been a pent-up desire to do this work," Daley said.
The discovery last year of induced pluripotent stem cells -- ordinary
skin cells that can be transformed into something that looks very
much like an embryonic stem cell -- has 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," Daley said.
However, experts speaking at the conference agreed that work needs to
continue on stem cells from all sources, including embryonic stem cells.
Researchers learned how to make induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS
cells by studying which genes were turned on and off as embryonic
stem cells developed.
One big hurdle with iPS cells is that they can only be transformed by
using viruses to carry in new genes. Applications for adult stem
cells are limited because they do not live for long in the body.
"This will require serious work over quite a long time before we can
take it to the clinic," said Olle Lindvall of the University of Lund
in Sweden.
"Most of the experience we have in treating patients with cells has
involved short-term successes," added Ira Fox of the University of
Nebraska.
Researchers reported on progress in regenerating pancreatic cells to
treat diabetes, using stem cells in gene therapy and in creating new
nerve cells.
Others are studying the role of cancer stem cells in a range of
tumours. Los Angeles-based ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. reported
on an experimental a cancer stem cell vaccine aimed at treating
deadly brain tumours called glioblastomas.
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