Scientists grow blood from embryonic stem cells

Declan didn’t stop at all yesterday: he visited the local Bishopsgate police station three times; wrote to The Big Issue head office (The Big Issue is a magazine sold by homeless people on registered street pitches); wrote to the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights (see below); and, finally, at 10.15pm, he stopped a guy from probably causing us some nasty injury in the porch we have been sleeping since 3 November 2006. This guy clearly had no intention of causing injury to himself, because as he was taking his final running steps – Declan doesn’t know if he intended to come down on us both, or if it was just on me (I sleep on the outside so that Declan can sleep with our well-tied bags on the inside) – he and his two giggling mates ran off when Declan sat up.

The majority of emails I am sending to scientists and academics inviting them to sign Declan’s petition to the UN on therapeutic cloning are still being delivered to spam (see previous blog). On Wednesday I sent a total of 142 emails and only received 19 out-of-office autoreplies: 88 emails to The School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol (13 autoreplies); 37 emails to the Institute for Ageing and Health at Newcastle University (0 autoreplies); and 17 emails to the MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases (6 autoreplies).

Yesterday I went for the US, and since the University of Wisconsin Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Center is a host to the 2008 World Stem Cell Summit next month, I didn’t look any further. I sent 55 emails followed by 63 emails to the University of Wisconsin Institute of Aging. Out of the total of 118 emails I received 5 autoreplies (from 20th, 66th, 79th, 86th, and 107th emails). The names and email addresses of 105 scientists from the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley have already been added to Declan’s database and they will be sent tomorrow.

Scientists grow blood from embryonic stem cells

On Wednesday an article in The Times, titled "Transfusion breakthrough as human blood grown from stem cells", reported that vials of human blood have been grown from embryonic stem cells for the first time during research that promises to provide an almost limitless supply suitable for transfusion into any patient. Stem-cell-derived blood would also eliminate the risk of transmitting the pathogens that cause hepatitis, HIV and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) through transfusions. Scientists behind the advance said that it has huge therapeutic potential and could easily become the first application of embryonic stem-cell research to enter widespread clinical use. Robert Lanza, of Advanced Cell Technology in Massachusetts, who led the experiments (and is an early signatory of Declan’s petition to the UN), said: “Embryonic stem cells represent a new source of cells that can be propagated and expanded indefinitely, providing a potentially inexhaustible source of red blood cells for human therapy. The identification of a stem cell line with O negative blood type would permit the production of compatible ‘universal donor’ blood.” A spokeswoman from the American Red Cross says the breakthrough is "an important step towards the possibility of growing transfusible red blood cells in the laboratory".

The cells were produced from four embryonic lines, one supplied by the government, two made by Advanced Cell, and one from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. To create the red blood cells, Lanza and his collaborators at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and at the University of Illinois in Chicago exposed cultures of human ESCs to a sequence of nutrients and growth factors. This turned them first into hemangioblasts, which are precursors to blood cells, and then into mature red blood cells. While a few red blood cells have been created from embryonic stem cells before, the team is the first to mass-produce them on the scale required for medical use. They also showed that the red cells were capable of carrying oxygen, and that they responded to biological cues in similar fashion to the real thing. Independent scientists welcomed the work. Alex Medvinsky, a blood stem cell expert at the University of Edinburgh, said: “The problem with relying on donated blood is that there are always shortages. The ability to generate red blood cells in very large numbers would be a very big thing.”

At least 546 elective surgeries in the US were delayed in 2004 because of short blood supplies, reported Bloomberg.com on Tuesday. New York issued an urgent appeal for blood donors in 2006 when supplies fell dangerously low, and last year the American Red Cross issued a similar alert for New Jersey and parts of Pennsylvania. The US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, the Defense Department's research and development office, is encouraging new ways to generate blood for use on the battlefield. At a workshop last year, defense scientists described their desire to develop an “in-theater culture system” to produce fresh red blood cells to treat injured soldiers. Using embryonic stem cells for this purpose has been hampered by President George W Bush's policy, which restricts government funding for research to designated existing lines of cells, Lanza said. None of the Bush-approved colonies of stem cells are from embryos with O-negative blood, the universal donor blood type, which is ideal for civilian and military applications, he said.

An alternative source of safe, fresh blood would be good news for patients and hospitals, said Louis Katz, past president of America's Blood Centers, a Washington-based group of private collection companies. “A robust supply of red blood cells is a great thing,” Katz told Bloomberg.com in a telephone interview. “I don't care if it comes out of a vat or a donor.” Surely stopping scientists and academics from signing Declan’s petition to the UN can only contribute to the slowing down of progress toward the day when stem cells will lead to cures.

For the record, this is the email letter Declan sent yesterday afternoon to the Registrar of the European Court, Erik Fribergh (the previous email letter of 16 August to Fribergh can be found here):

Subject: Heavey v. the United Kingdom (Application no. 22541/07)

Dear Mr Fribergh

I refer further to my second request for priority of 4 July 2008 under Rule 41 of the Rules of Court, for consideration as supplementary to my initial application of 8 September 2007. Under "Necessity of Expedition", this request for priority states as follows:

An urgent expedition is necessary in this instance because of the violations of the applicant's human rights already existing and are likely to be even greater. The right that has been violated is the right to private and family life as established under Article 8 by the applicant being assaulted in the porch he shares with his wife, having been robbed of all their money and documents, and his concern that his wife may be forced into begging.

In respect of my wife being "forced into begging", please find enclosed copy of my email letter of today's date to The Big Issue Outreach Manager, Mr Paul Joseph.

As explained in previous applications, my wife and I survive on the streets of London by selling The Big Issue, a magazine sold by homeless people on registered street pitches, and I have lodged numerous written complaints with The Big Issue Head Office in respect of my wife and myself being walked off our respective pitch by other street traders, including, inter alia, Big Issue vendors. The Court will note from my email and attachments of 16 August that not only may my wife be forced into begging (a criminal offence in England), but debadged by The Big Issue for so doing.

I can confirm that this afternoon a copy of the attached correspondence was filed as part of a City of London Police Intelligence Report on Big Issue vendor 4012 (on 14 August, Mr Joseph wrote: "This vendor now has an out of date badge, and he will not be issued with another one, therefore technically he is debadged"), who has been consistently harassing my wife since Wednesday of last week as she has been attempting to sell The Big Issue on her pitch.

I respectfully request that the Chamber or its President decide to give priority to my application.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey

And this is the attachment, Declan’s letter yesterday morning to the Big Issue outreach manager:

Subject: The Big Issue

Dear Mr Paul Joseph

On 13 August you stated the following regarding Big Issue vendor 4012 and his harassment of my wife on her Big Issue pitch at the George pub on Liverpool Street:

I am sorry to hear about this situation. We have already received a complaint about the same vendor begging. He has a trainee badge but will not be issued a permanent badge or supplied with magazines. I will also endeavour to speak to local police so that if they catch him they can confiscate his badge.

I can confirm that this morning at 8.10am this vendor was questioned by PC 840C of Bishopsgate police station while selling this week's edition of The Big Issue on my wife's pitch (for 45 minutes, before he stepped into my wife's pitch, he had been selling his Big Issues about her as she was attempting to sell hers). PC 840C informed my wife that he could not confiscate the vendor's badge because the Big Issue head office was closed and he had no access to the Intel Report containing a copy of the aforementioned email from you of 13 August.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey

cc Intel Report