Why Embryonic Stem Cell Research?
As I wrote in the previous blog “Bishop: Oppose embryonic stem cell research”, applications of human embryonic stem (hES) cell research will be central to the website that I will build for our campaign in support of hES cell research and therapeutic cloning, also known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) – together with the institutes, labs and people involved. According to a recent report by the nonpatisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan, many scientists believe that hES cells have the potential to benefit medicine in many ways, including helping scientists understand the complex events that occur during early human development, testing and screening new medications, and providing therapies for previously incurable diseases. Albeit there is much to learn about how to grow and control ES cells and prevent them being rejected, before they are likely to be widely used.
Potential Benefits. Studying ES cells may give scientists a better understanding of early human cell development and the role that genes play in that development. This is an area of research where adult stem cells cannot replace the potential of ES cells. Studying early cell development may help scientists understand how genetic mutations affect normal cell development; how infectious agents invade and attack human cells; how genetic and environmental factors are involved in the development of birth defects, cancer, and other diseases; and what happens to cells during normal aging. A better understanding of these processes may suggest new strategies for therapy.
ES cells may be useful in testing new medications much in the same way that cancer cell lines are currently used to screen potential anti-tumor drugs. ES cells may provide a valuable source of human cells for drug testing without risking the health of animal or human test subjects. Further research may allow scientists to produce cell lines with certain genetic qualities in order to test potential treatments. ES cells could also help scientists to identify and understand the effects of toxic substances found in drugs, food, and the environment. ES cells are viewed as important to testing medications and toxins because they are easier to grow and maintain in the laboratory than adult stem cells. If realised, this potential benefit would likely make drug discovery more efficient and cost effective.
ES cells have potential for use in cell-based therapies. ES cells are believed to have more potential than adult stem cells because of their pluripotency, their capacity to become virtually any other kind of cell. ES cells can be controlled and differentiated into specific cell types and offer the possibility of a renewable source of replacement cells and tissues to treat diseases and injuries, including 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. For example, in patients with Type I Diabetes, the cells of the pancreas that normally produce insulin are destroyed by the patient’s immune system. Scientists have made progress transforming ES cells into insulin-producing cells. Geron reported in 2007 that hES cells could be transformed into the pancreatic cells that produce insulin, offering the potential to treat diabetes. On 23 October, Cellartis, which specialises in hES cells, announced a collaboration with Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk to program stem cells to turn into insulin-producing beta cells that can be used for the treatment of diabetes.
The Big Issue is a magazine sold by homeless people throughout the UK on registered street pitches. As I wrote in the blog of 17 November, our Big Issue pitches have been terminated (see blog of 11 November “Letter of complaint to the chair of The Big Issue Foundation Charity”) and I have had to adapt my blogs because we are restricted to the free 3-hour maximum computer use per day at Idea Store Whitechapel library that our local council imposed on each of our membership cards on 1 February. Declan tells me that the litmus test for a successful blog is one that I will revert to myself for information as soon as I have a laptop to build our campaign website.
The blog of 1 November “Can a cell have a soul?” includes a brief description of what this website will contain: the subsection “Embryonic stem cell research”, for example, will be broken up into the associated subsections “Science”, “Law and Policy”, “Ethics” and “Applications”. “Applications” will lay out the range of research possibilities created by ES cells, so it will be divided into the three areas of potential benefit cited above: provisionally named “Early cell development”, “Drug discovery and toxicity studies”, and “Treatments and cures”.
“Treatments and cures”, for example, will include “Heart disease”, “Neurodegenerative disease”, “Diabetes” and “Cancer”. For a way to develop the navigation menu I have Greenpeace International – see here; also the homepage will be loosely based on theirs. We are hopeful that stem cell scientists, researchers and physicians in the field of biomedical research, as well as bioethicists and law professors who study issues surrounding embryonic and other stem cell research, may be willing to advise us – the ultimate aim in this regard would be to have a scientific advisory board that would be supplementary to our Board of Trustees and Honorary Associates.
The role of ES cell research in economic development will also be addressed in “Applications”. For example, drugs giant Pfizer is to spend $100m to research stem cells, reports Pharmalot. Over the next five years, Pfizer Regenerative Medicine will be co-located in the biotech hubs of Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States and Cambridge, UK. It will work with both ES cells and adult stem cells to treat heart disease, diabetes, cancer and vision loss common among the elderly (see Pfizer statement). According to the website for the 2008 World Stem Cell Summit, regenerative medicine and stem cell technologies are projected to become a $500 billion industry over the next 20 years.
