Stem cell controversy may have end in sight

[mangxema]

Not because either side stopped caring... we just fudged the system.

In an unprecedented feat of biological alchemy, researchers have turned human skin cells into stem cells that hold the same medical promise as the controversial embryonic stem cells.

Scientists believe stem cell research will be able to cure numerous diseases and regenerate failing bodies. The new technique, however, doesn't require the destruction of embryos, or use human eggs or cloning. Thus, it sweeps aside the ethical objections to stem-cell research.

Even in a field accustomed to breathless proclamations of breakthroughs, the research -- published Tuesday in two papers appearing in the journals Cell and Science -- has provoked wonder among many scientists. They say the advance is more significant to medical research than last week's announcement that scientists had cloned the first monkey embryo.

"It's a new era for stem cells," said Robert Lanza, chief science officer of Advanced Cell Technologies, a cloning company in California. "It's the holy grail. It's like turning lead into gold."

...

If the new method proves successful, "we can disconnect the whole stem cell debate from the culture war, from battles over embryo politics and abortion rights," said Marcy Darnovsky, associate director of the Center for Genetics and Society.

Both teams of researchers -- one led by Kyoto University's Shinya Yamanaka, the other by the University of Wisconsin's Junying Yu -- used a virus to add four new genes to skin cells.

Normally, skin and other adult cells are locked into their biological fate. Scientists say the cells have "differentiated." But the genes turned back the cells' clocks, or dedifferentiated them, restoring them to an unprogrammed state.

"Nobody knows exactly what happens, but when we introduce the genes, it basically changes gene expression inside the cell, and that changes the fate of the skin cells," Yu said. "Some eventually turn into stem cells."

Thus transformed, the reprogrammed cells became pluripotent, or capable of becoming nearly any cell type in the human body. Embryonic stem cells are also pluripotent. Researchers say pluripotent cells will someday be used to cure degenerative diseases, grow new organs and even replace limbs.

Lanza tempered his enthusiasm with a warning that it's too soon to know whether cell reprogramming will provide medical benefits.

"This is early-stage research. We should not abandon other areas of stem cell research. It's by no means certain they'll differentiate in the same way as a normal embryonic stem cell," he said.

Yamanaka and Yu must now learn to guide their cells' development. So far, the reprogrammed cells have been successfully turned into heart, muscle and brain tissue.

Because adding new genes may cause unsafe mutations, the researchers must also figure out how to make the new genes delete themselves during cellular division. But they believe the hardest part is behind them.

"It could take years, but compared to identifying the deprogamming genes, we consider this much less of a problem," said Yu.

From Wired

 

[Keshik]

Is it just me, or is it funny how this article is getting few views and comments?

 

[ori]

there is nothing controversial about good news


its been long in the making - though since one of the two groups publishing this published last year that they managed the same feat in mice its not as surprising as the article claims

 

[Kozmos]

Technology just kicked moralists in the face. Again.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

On the contrary. It showed a way that "moralists" get what they wanted.

Good news, and I wasn't even greatly opposed to ESCs.

 

[ori]

Technology just kicked moralists in the face. Again.

Actually no - this is a very different approach from the one that has been in discussion all along. This approach does not involve acquiring mass amounts of human eggs, nor does it involve creating human embryos.
Technology just proved moralists' point: no need to kill human embryos

 

[Keshik]

Actually no - this is a very different approach from the one that has been in discussion all along. This approach does not involve acquiring mass amounts of human eggs, nor does it involve creating human embryos.
Technology just proved moralists' point: no need to kill human embryos

Truuuuuuuue.

 

[Kozmos]

People seem to misunderstand me. I meant that technology cannot be stopped no matter how hard they try. But I'm still glad we're killing unborn babies to piss them off anyway.

 

[Mandeville]

Except that these cells can only exhibit some similiarities and will probably take infinitely longer to develop then stem cells would have.

 

[ori]

Except that these cells can only exhibit some similiarities and will probably take infinitely longer to develop then stem cells would have.

There are so many unresolved problems with embryonic stem cells - that I disagree strongly.
In the end we will probably end up with using both, but the broad claim that embryonic stem cells are better in all respects cannot be substantiated. There have been a few years more in research with embryonic stem cells than with stem cells from reprogrammed cells, but if the focus turns to those cells quite a few of the current problems will probably be solved soon.
Others like the oncogenic risk may or may not be solvable but embryonic stem cells have similar problems and have not yet been shown to perform the miracles some scientists hoped/promised years ago

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

On the contrary. It showed a way that "moralists" get what they wanted.

I think it rather shows that moralists are chronic complainers that are unwilling to risk the "lives" of a few embryos for the betterment of ALL mankind.

Or that technology people are sick of their chronic naysaying.

But if you see the need to allow the further suffering of mankind just so a few embryos aren't killed, be my guest. That is your right. Even if I don't like it, I still respect it (though I may cut it down some ).

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

That's not at all what I meant, actually.

 

[GoodGame]

From what I've read, the net value of this is that stem cell research will proceed fully funded now, but improvements in medical treatments aren't any more likely without embryonic cell research. The problem is the new technique has potential to introduce carcinoma's in a patient if used----would be a pyhrric victory to get a vital organ transplant from this technique, only to have it give you a metastastic cancer.

Basically this is a victory for science, and a perhaps a thumb in the nose against the select few religious persons who actively hate scientific pursuits.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Well, not really; thinking there are ethical problems with ESC research isn't quite the same as actively hating scientific pursuits.

 

[George2816]

People seem to misunderstand me. I meant that technology cannot be stopped no matter how hard they try. But I'm still glad we're killing unborn babies to piss them off anyway.

Fetus not equal to unborn kids

 

[Kozmos]

Fetus not equal to unborn kids

Tell it to them.

 

[El_Machinae]

What's especially nice about this is that it allows a person-specific cell line to be generated. It's coupling the benefits of Embryonic Stem Cells along with a breakthrough in cloning.

I'm not surprised, dedifferentiation has been a hot topic for quite awhile.

But it's another step in the path to my claim that "a properly nurtured skin cell can become a person"