Oliver Smithies Makes a Good Point About Stem Cells

2007 Nobel Prize winner (for medicine) Oliver Smithies is an interesting guy. He has had a lengthy career in which he helped advance our understanding of genetics, and CNN covers some of it in an interview with Smithies.

The part I found most interesting came near the end of the interview, when Smithies talked about stem cells (which is not one of his areas of research, but I'd venture to say he knows more about them than I do):

Smithies describes life as being continuous since it began. Evolution has made it more complex, he explains, but even so, simple structures such as human eggs and sperm are alive. And so are fertilized eggs. So in his view, if they are not needed by couples trying to have children using in vitro fertilization, discarding these eggs kills them. In his view, using them to create embryonic stem cells keeps them alive.

I found that rather an interesting way of looking at the issue. As Smithies says, "I asked the ambassador to suggest to the president of the U.S. that we maybe have got this the wrong way round when we talk about when life begins in this respect. As far as embryonic stems cells are concerned, my position would be and my argument would be: When does life end?"

His point is well-taken, and one that should be considered in the debate about stem cells.

Researchers Discover Compound That Prods Stem Cells to Form Nerve Cells

Sometimes advances in science and technology are the result of happy accidents. Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center were attempting to discover small molecules that could prod stem cells to turn into heart cells, and in the process stumbled upon a new compound—called isoxazole-9, or Isx-9—that prods stem cells to turn into nerve cells. When exposed to Isx-9, nerve stem cells from rodent hippocampi clustered together and formed spiky appendages called neurites, which typically happens when nerve cells are growin in culture. The Isx-9 exposure also prevented the stem cells from developing into other tpes of cells, and was more potent than any other neurogenic substances ever researched at stimulating nerve cell development.

More work needs to be done with Isx-9, and much additional knowledge still remains to be gained. For example, scientists know that when mature nerve cells send chemical signals—called neurotransmitters—to stem cells, the stem cells begin to mature into nerve cells, but they do not know what biochemical pathways or genes are involved. Dr. Jenny Hsieh, who led the study, said, "The big gap in our knowledge is how to control these stem cells."

Incurable Disease Cured With Stem Cells

The Los Angeles Times reports that a two-year-old Minnesota boy, Nate Liao, was apparently cured of a previously incurable genetic disease through the application of stem cells from umbilical cord blood and bone marrow. The disease, epidermolysis bullosa, causes children to lack a protein called collagen type VII, which is important for skin and the gastrointestinal system.

Seven months after the stem cell treatment, Nate's body produces collagen type VII as it should. His skin has improved and he no longer has to eat pureed food. He can wear normal clothes and play with other children.

The technique—developed by Dr. Angela M. Christiano of Columbia University Medical Center—has since been used to treat Nate's older brother Jacob and will soon be used to treat a nine-month-old girl in Folsom, California.

Lab-Grown Meat Could Be Coming to a Grocery Store Near You

Slate has an interesting—and somewhat disturbing—article about artificial, lab-grown meat. Now, I like meat, and I'm all for things that can make it more eco-friendly and less expensive. But I'm just not sure about the idea of eating meat that was grown in a vat from stem cells.

According to the post, the current ranching and slaughtering process for beef means that for every pound of beef we consume, 36.4 pounds of carbon dioxide—the same amount as driving an average car 155 miles at 50 mph—are released into the atmosphere. Raising cattle is also horribly inefficient... it takes seven calories of grain to produce a single calorie of beef. By not having actual cows, we can eliminate waste products and free up a bunch of land that is being used for ranching right now.

However, the author of the article does make one mistake, when he suggests that we can free up the food needed for the cattle. Obviously, in order to grow protein (even in a vat) the labs will need to provide a source of glucose and amino acids. True, the process will likely consume fewer calories than actual cows, but not as little as you might think.

But I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of eating meat grown from a vat. They can probably produce something similar to beef in taste and texture, and probably even come reasonably close to the nutritional content. But we learn new things about our food all the time, and we often discover that, somewhere along the way, we've lost something that was fairly important. For example, it turns out that whole grains (like whole-wheat flour) are better for us than refined grains (like bleached flour). It would be fairly easy, I think, to make the same kind of mistake with synthetic meat.

Still, I'm willing to try just about anything once, and if I can get a fine filet for considerably less money than I'm currently paying, and with environmental benefits to boot, I'll have to really think about mixing some of this into my diet. It will be a while yet, however, as the technology is in its infancy and rather expensive. In the case of one Dutch team, the lab-grown pork would currently cost about $45,000 per pound.

Stem Cells Without Embryos

I've seen multiple reports in the past few days about lab work where scientists have turned adult tissue cells (usually skin cells from mice) into fully pluripotent stem cells, capable of differentiating into any type of cell in the body.

Three separate articles, according to the journal Nature, a fairly simple process can be used to reprogram skin cells into fully differentiating stem cells. What’s more, these reprogrammed skin cells can give rise to live mice, contributing to every kind of tissue type, and can even be transmitted via germ cells (sperm or eggs) to succeeding generations.

If this process can be applied to human cells (and so far, there's no proof that it can), it would be a major breakthrough for stem cell research. Those people who oppose embryonic stem cells on moral grounds--due to the destruction of embryos necessary for extracting the stem cells--will lose the basis for their arguments, allowing for greater research to be done than is being done now.

And let's face it, the potential for benefit from stem cells is probably greater than any other biomedical research being done today. Any single area of bio-technology that has potential for curing blindness, paralysis, certain forms of cancer, Parkinson's, and other diseases and disorders is an area of research we can't afford to not be investigating. Hopefully these breakthroughs will enable and encourage more research to be done in these areas.

Embryonic Stem Cells for Vascular Repair

Advanced Cell Technology announced today in a story printed in Nature Methods that the company has developed a method for treating vascular damage using human embryonic stem (hES) cells.

The researchers directed the stem cells into becoming what they believe are hemangioblasts, the blood vessel precursor cells, although other teams will have to replicate this for it to be accepted. When injected into the body, these hemangioblasts were capable of locating the damaged tissue and repairing it.

"When injected into the bloodstream, they homed to the other side of the body and repaired damaged vasculature within 24 to 48 hours," Robert Lanza, M.D., Vice President of Research & Scientific Development at ACT, said. "For example, we injected the cells into mice with damaged retinas due to diabetes or other eye injury. The cells (labeled green) migrated to the injured eye, and incorporated and lit-up the entire damaged vasculature. The cells are really smart, and amazingly, knew not to do anything in uninjured eyes."

When the cells were injected into animals that had damage to their retina due to diabetes or ischemia-reperfusion injury (lack of adequate blood flow) of the retina, the cells homed to the site of injury and showed robust reparative function of the entire damaged vasculature within 24-48 hours. The cells showed a similar regenerative capacity in animal models of both myocardial infarction (50% reduction in mortality rate) and hind limb ischemia, with restoration of blood flow to near normal levels.

This research shows great promise for treating a variety of injuries and illnesses. We'll have to wait to see how the politics and ethics of using hES cells plays out. Hopefully, someone will find a way to duplicate these results using adult stem cells.

New Promise for Diabetes Treatment Using Stem Cells

A new research study treated fifteen young diabetics in Brazil, all suffering from Type I diabetes, with stem cells drawn from their own blood. Though too early to call it a cure, the procedure has enabled thirteen of the young people, who have Type I diabetes, to live insulin-free so far, some as long as three years.

"It's the first time in the history of Type 1 diabetes where people have gone with no treatment whatsoever ... no medications at all, with normal blood sugars," said study co-author Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern University's medical school in Chicago.

While the procedure can be potentially life-threatening, none of the 15 patients in the study died or suffered lasting side effects. But it didn't work for two of them.

Larger, more rigorous studies are needed to determine if stem cell transplants could become standard treatment for people with the disease once called juvenile diabetes. It is less common than Type 2 diabetes, which is associated with obesity.

Read the full article by AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner here.

PTO Invalidates Three Human Stem Cell Patents

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has invalidated three patents covering human stem cells that were issued to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. This is good news for anyone who hopes to develop treatments for illnesses and injuries based on human stem cells, because the three patents have been blamed for slowing research in the highly visible field of regenerative medicine.

The PTO ruled the discovery of embryonic stem cells from primates--including humans--was not worthy of patent protection because scientists had used similar methods to isolate embryonic stem cells from mice and other mammals, and described the cells' potential for producing medical therapies.

It's too early to say for sure what affect this is going to have, because these results are still preliminary. WARF's attorneys have two months to respond to the concerns; if they don't succeed they can take the case to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. If the patents are not reinstated, the foundation can file a claim in court.

When I hear more about the results of the legal proceedings, I'll post them here.

Study Shows Stem Cells Useful for Treating Brain Diseases

According to a study reported in Nature Medicine, a test conducted recently on mice by researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research shows that stem cells can be used to treat degenerative brain diseases.

For the study, the scientists implanted human stem cells (both embryonic and fetal) into the brains of mice inflicted with the equivalent of Sandhoff disease (which is similar to Tay-sachs). The stem cells spread through the brain, taking the place of neural cells killed by the disease.

The researchers noted no problems associated with the stem cell treatment. No tumors formed, the mice did not "reject" the foreign cells, and the treatment seemed to reduce inflammation.

The treated mice lived 70 percent longer than untreated mice. The disease eventually came back, but the researchers believe they could keep it at bay by giving booster injections of the stem cells to take over the functions of the mutated natural brain cells.

Stem Cells from Amniotic Fluid

A study led by the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have reported that the stem cells they drew from amniotic fluid donated by pregnant women hold much the same promise as embryonic stem cells.

The researchers were able to withdraw the stem cells from the amniotic fluid without harm to mother or fetus and turn their discovery into several different tissue cell types, including brain, liver and bone. It is uncertain at this time whether the amniotic stem cells will be capable of differentiating into all types of cells, but research is continuing.

If these amniotic stem cells are capable of full differentiation, like embryonic stem cells, then there will no longer be a need to harm embryos to generate stem cells for use in research and potential therapies. It could also mean that many more stem cells are available for therapies than would be by harvesting from discarded embryos.

In my opinion, this could be the major health sciences news story of the year, and it comes in early January. Stem cells hold the potential for treating so many devastating illnesses that anything we can do to increase availability--especially if it means doing it ethically--is a good thing.

Read the whole story HERE.

New Method for Forming Tissues from Stem Cells

Bioengineering researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh and stem cell biologists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have combined to create a new system for helping stem cells grow into complex tissue systems.

The research involves laying a foundation of nurturing proteins on a glass slide, which was then coated with a pattern of proteins specific to the type of tissue they were trying to create. Muscle-derived adult stem cells were added on top of the protein pattern, and derive into tissue. In this case, the stem cells derived into bone-like cells. A control group, not grown on the specialized protein pattern, derived into muscle-like cells.

Usable therapies are likely decades away, using this technique, but this research is an important first step.