Church and State blog: Human Embryonic Stem Cells Reduce Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Human Embryonic Stem Cells Reduce Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms

Declan and I have been sleeping in the same place since Sunday (on Thursday night we returned to the porch we have been sleeping in since 3 November 2006 to find an unlocked trellis gate; and on Friday night the gate was locked). We are tucked away, about twenty paces from the side entrance of a public building, down some twelve steps. It is actually quite cold and windy so probably not suitable for the winter. There is not a single pub, bar or club in the area; nonetheless, last night at about 11.30pm three or four guys came out of a car, congregated under the roof of the paved enclosure and lifted the place for fifteen minutes; then they left.

They were so out of context we take it as a warning. Declan jokes that perhaps we should make a stand and sleep outside Wood Street police station (the nearest station) – see blog "A trellis gate is installed in the porch" for Declan's latest letter to the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights citing violation of Article 34 of the European Convention of Human Rights and requesting that the Court take this matter up with the Government (Article 34 establishes a duty on Convention states not to subject applicants to any improper indirect acts or contacts designed to dissuade or discourage applicants from pursuing a Convention remedy).

The majority of emails that I send to scientists and academics inviting them to sign Declan's petition to the UN on research cloning of embryos and stem cells are still going to spam boxes (or to cyberspace, see blog of 4 September "Obama: Yes to stem cells, funding"): yesterday I sent 127 and got three out-of-office-autoreplies; we also only got one signature.

Human embryonic stem cells reduce multiple sclerosis symptoms hESCs reduce multiple sclerosis symptoms

Israel's Hadassah University Hospital and Hadasit, the technology transfer company of Hadassah Medical Organisation, announced Monday that scientists at Hadassah University Hospital have discovered a new application for human embryonic stem cells. They have demonstrated for the first time that transplanted neural cells derived from human embryonic stem cells can reduce the clinical symptoms in animals with a form of multiple sclerosis. The findings of the study are published in an article titled "Neuroprotective Effect of Transplanted Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Neural Precursors in an Animal Model of Multiple Sclerosis" in the Scientific Journal of PLoS One (see the article here).

The data presented in the report are the result of a long-term collaboration between Benjamin Reubinoff, director of the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Center at Hadassah Hospital (and a signatory of Declan’s petition), and Tamir Ben Hur, director of the Neurological Department at Hadassah Hospital. Michal Aharonowiz and Ofira Einstein both from Hadassah, as well as Hans Lassmann from the University of Vienna also contributed. "Human embryonic stem cell-derived neural precursors were transplanted into the brains of mice with an experimental form of MS. The grafted human cells integrated in the mice brains and migrated towards the sites of inflammation. They suppressed the inflammatory process in the brain, and consequently protected the animals from demyelination and nerve cell extension (axonal) injury, which are the pathological hallmarks of MS," said Reubinoff.

MS is the most common disabling neurological condition affecting young adults. MS is caused by an inflammatory reaction of the patient's own immune system against the myelin sheath that envelops the nerve processes. The destruction of myelin leads to the degeneration and loss of nerve cells and permanent neurological disabilities. MS affects 2.5 million people worldwide.

"We believe that the encouraging therapeutic effects in the rodent model of MS justify moving ahead to clinical studies. We also anticipate that the anti-inflammatory effect demonstrated in the pre-clinical study may be combined in the future with the use of other human embryonic stem cell derived neural cells to repair the myelin in the brain," said Reubinoff.

The website of Hadassah Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Center states the following in respect of the potential of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research for transplantation therapy:

Given their unique properties, hESCs are expected to have far-reaching applications in the study of early human development, the development of new drugs, and regenerative medicine. Human ES cell lines can serve as a renewable unlimited donor source of specialized human cells for transplantation therapy.

Human ES cell-derived mature cells could potentially be transplanted to restore tissue function in a wide range of human diseases that are associated with loss of cell function.

These conditions may include neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, Multiple Sclerosis, cerebrovascular accidents, spinal cord injuries, as well as heart failure, diabetes mellitus, and others. The number of patients that potentially could benefit from transplantation of hESCs is overwhelming. For example there are over 16 million patients worldwide with neurodegenerative disorders, and over 120 million diabetic patients. Moreover, transplantation of genetically modified hESCs may allow the transfer and expression of foreign genes in target organs in the course of gene therapy.

While the promise of hESCs for cell and gene therapy is remarkable, further extensive research and development are required to exploit their potential for regenerative medicine.

An article dated 2 October 2007 in the Jewish Advocate, titled "Hadassah brings Stem Cell Summit to Boston", quoted Rafi Hofstein, president and CEO of Hadasit, as saying: "It is common knowledge that the medicine of the future will be based on stem cell-derived treatments." In 2000, the Hadassah University Hospital in Israel teamed with Monash University in Australia and the National University of Singapore to become only the second group in the world to develop human embryonic cell lines. "[The Hadassah University Hospital] in Israel is at the forefront of stem cell medical research," Hofstein said. "We believe we are doing the right thing and something of great importance." Research has been slowed, however, due to a lack of funding for U.S. researchers, according to Hofstein. He said Israeli researchers cannot fully collaborate with their American counterparts because the Bush administration has limited the amount of funding available through the National Institute of Health.

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group is the 3rd largest political group in the European Parliament. Speaking before the ALDE Conference "Secularism and Religions in the European Union" in the European Parliament (28-29 August), ALDE Group Leader Graham Watson (UK, LibDem) stressed that the Catholic Church has the right both to spread its word and to lobby governments with its points of view on matters like abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. But Watson believes that "for policy makers reason has to be the basis. Faith should not underpin policy-making."

Church and State

MAYOR OF LONDON RSI PROPERTY
DAY 406 IN A WEEKLY PERIODIC TENANCY
SUBJECT TO A SECTION 21 NOTICE

(SEE PARA. 3 BELOW)

1. Our 308 Honorary Associates include 20 Nobel Prize laureates. Declan and I are engaged in a project that deals with the publication of issues significant to social policy in a number of key areas, e.g., climate change, population, futurism, atheism, and free speech. Established as Network for Church Monitoring, a non-profit company limited by guarantee, our main publication, found at the website, Church and State, calls attention to subjects, not the least which have been critical of the interaction between religious and secular institutions. We have been the target of numerous threats and actions, e.g., the former resulting in threats to Declan's life, and the latter, which have led to vandalism. The various incidents are on record with the police and other official agencies.

2. There are no less than 63 Nobel Prize laureates on the Church and State website from 20 Honorary Associates, eight articles, nine book excerpts and 33 petition signatories. (For example, one Nobel laureate signed our Nobel petition in support of human embryonic stem cell research and gave us permission to excerpt from one of his books.) Our list of associates also includes 18 US National Medal laureates, and six Turing Award laureates (the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in computer science). We have published one article and excerpted from the books of seven members of the British House of Lords. And there are 31 knighted professors on the site from 13 Honorary Associates, one book excerpt and 21 petition signatories. These figures are despite the never-ending assault on our email (this link reveals the targeting of our emails to, among others, a close colleague in Washington, DC as well as space advocates and Nobel laureates).

3. This is Day 406 for us living under the threat to life of a 'no fault' eviction by Peabody Trust.[1] We live in a Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) property. Peabody's appalling new terms of tenancy have forced us into an unstable weekly periodic tenancy that poses a threat to Declan's life and inhibits our ability to exercise our rights. Declan accumulated quite a history with the Housing Ombudsman Service before he received the Ombudsman's decision not to investigate a referral from Lyn Brown MP on jurisdictional grounds. The Ombudsman was asked to consider whether or not our tenancy has been renewed like for like; and whether, if not, it should be in light of the landlord having accused us of not signing a like-for-like agreement. The Equality and Human Rights Commission will not accept a referral of discrimination from Ms Brown, the Commission's helpline (EASS) having grossly distorted the complaint against Peabody. We no longer have pro se access to the courts (see next paragraph).

4. This eviction matter came before District Judge Ruth Fine at the Central London County Court on 30 June 2020, when both counsel for St Mungo's (the charity in effective control of our tenancy) and Declan presented their positions. Declan lost the case and was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs. A publishing colleague in America cleared these costs within 24 hours of my blog post about this hearing for strike out on a related issue that was the essence of the claim, i.e., that St Mungo's would take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of the Mayor of London's RSI programme. Within a week of the hearing, St Mungo's had agreed to take this phone call for us both, the Court having ruled that they were not obliged to do so despite our circumstances. This time we escaped bankruptcy (counsel for St Mungo's asked for £3,407.50 in costs), but consider that to seek pro se access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us. Declan currently has before the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman the decision of the Information Commissioner that allows St Mungo's to continue processing coercive support plans without our knowledge or consent and that also poses a threat to his life.

5. When it comes to traffic, we have had 10.7 million hits in the past three years on Facebook; however, I left the platform on 13 March 2021 for one year rather than risk being banned for life. It is indisputable that with any sort of level playing field Church and State would have far exceeded 2.5 million hits last year. In addition to a large variety of blocks without explanation, Facebook had so severely restricted our Page's distribution by October 2020 that it was almost as good as an unpublished page.[2] Currently, we are up to their 85th block since 1 December 2015, and as usual without an explanation. This block records as one half of their 3rd double block in the first five weeks of this year that lasted 60 days. Our traffic has also been curtailed by over 2.5K blocks on access to Church and State since 26 July 2016, including 29 full distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since 17 May 2019 that have lasted for as long as 54 hours at a time.[3] About 70% of our hits are from Americans.

"This is precisely the hard hitting kind of response needed to clarify the unfair way Facebook is treating your highly reputable site." Don Collins, Founder, International Services Assistance Fund, Washington DC

Last updated: 26/06/21

_________________________

[1] Once a fixed term has elapsed, the landlord has the option to seek eviction even if the tenant has upheld their obligations in full (though of course the landlord must still apply for and obtain a county court order).

[2] 17/10/20: We have permission to publish this ISAF letter of 30 September to Facebook COO Sheryl Samberg. Facebook has so severely restricted our Page's distribution since 4 September that it's almost as good as an unpublished page

[3] Since October 2019, we have been defining a full DDoS attack as having such a high volume of up to 4-minute blocks on access to Church and State that we don't bother recording them all.

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Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Human Embryonic Stem Cells Reduce Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms

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