Adult Stem Cell Research Leaving Embryos Behind
A few months ago, Dr. Thomas Einhorn was treating a patient with a broken ankle that wouldn't heal, even with multiple surgeries. So he sought help from the man's own body.
Einhorn drew bone marrow from the man's pelvic bone with a needle, condensed it to about four teaspoons of rich red liquid, and injected that into his ankle.
Four months later the ankle was healed. Einhorn, chairman of orthopedic surgery at Boston University Medical Center, credits "adult" stem cells in the marrow injection. He tried it because of published research from France.
Einhorn's experience isn't a rigorous study. But it's an example of many innovative therapies doctors are studying with adult stem cells. Those are stem cells typically taken from bone marrow and blood - not embryos.
For all the emotional debate that began about a decade ago on allowing the use of embryonic stem cells, it's adult stem cells that are in human testing today. An extensive review of stem cell projects and interviews with two dozen experts reveal a wide range of potential treatments.
Morley Safer reported for "60 Minutes" this summer on the rapidly increasing trend of "regenerative medicine," where cells in the human body are manipulated into regrowing damaged tissues.
Researchers have created beating hearts, ears and bladders using stem cells. Biotech companies and the Pentagon have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in research that could profoundly change millions of lives.
"60 Minutes": Growing Body Parts
Adult stem cells are being studied in people who suffer from multiple sclerosis, heart attacks and diabetes. Some early results suggest stem cells can help some patients avoid leg amputation. Recently, researchers reported that they restored vision to patients whose eyes were damaged by chemicals.
Apart from these efforts, transplants of adult stem cells have become a standard lifesaving therapy for perhaps hundreds of thousands of people with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood diseases.
"That's really one of the great success stories of stem cell biology that gives us all hope," says Dr. David Scadden of Harvard, who notes stem cells are also used to grow skin grafts.
"If we can recreate that success in other tissues, what can we possibly imagine for other people?"
That sort of promise has long been held out for embryonic stem cells, which were first isolated and grown in a lab dish in 1998. Controversy over their use surrounded the 2001 decision by former President George W. Bush to allow only restricted federal funding for studying them.
Proponents over the past decade have included former first lady Nancy Reagan and actors Michael J. Fox and the late Christopher Reeve. Opponents object that human embryos have to be destroyed to harvest the cells.
Embryonic cells may indeed be used someday to grow replacement tissue or therapeutic material for diseases like Parkinson's or diabetes. Just on Friday, a biotech company said it was going ahead with an initial safety study in spinal cord injury patients. Another is planning an initial study in eye disease patients later this year.
But in the near term, embryonic stem cells are more likely to pay off as lab tools, for learning about the roots of disease and screening potential drugs.
Observers say they're not surprised at the pace of progress.
As medical research goes, the roughly 10 years since the embryonic cells were discovered "is actually a very short amount of time," said Amy Rick, immediate past president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research. The group has pushed for embryonic stem cell research for about that long.
Hank Greely, a Stanford University law professor who works in bioethics and has followed stem cells since the 1990s, said: "Give it another five years and I'll be surprised if we don't have some substantial progress" beyond initial safety studies.
The Pro-Life Secretariat of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops continues to oppose embryonic work. Deirdre McQuade, an official there, said that compared to adult stem cell research, work on embryonic cells is proving "fruitless."
Adult cells have been transplanted routinely for decades, first in bone marrow transplants and then in procedures that transfer just the cells. Doctors recover the cells from the marrow or bloodstream of a patient or a donor, and infuse them as part of the treatment for leukemia, lymphoma and other blood diseases. Tens of thousands of people are saved each year by such procedures, experts say.
Advice on Finding Legitimate Stem Cell Clinics
But it is harnessing these cells for other diseases that has encouraged many scientists lately.
In June, for example, researchers reported they had restored vision to people whose eyes were damaged from caustic chemicals. Stem cells from each patient's healthy eye were grown and multiplied in the lab and transplanted into the damaged eye, where they grew into healthy corneal tissue.
A couple of months earlier, the Vatican announced it was funding adult stem cell research on the intestine at the University of Maryland. And on Friday, Italian doctors said they'd transplanted two windpipes injected with the recipients' own stem cells.
But these developments only hint at what's being explored in experiments across the United States.
Much of the work is early, and even as experts speak of its promise, they ask for patience and warn against clinics that aggressively market stem-cell cures without scientific backing.
Some of the new approaches, like the long-proven treatments, are based on the idea that stem cells can turn into other cells. Einhorn said the ankle-repair technique, for example, apparently works because of cells that turn into bone and blood vessels. But for other uses, scientists say they're harnessing the apparent abilities of adult stem cells to stimulate tissue repair, or to suppress the immune system.
"That gives adult stem cells really a very interesting and potent quality that embryonic stem cells don't have," says Rocky Tuan of the University of Pittsburgh.
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Einhorn drew bone marrow from the man's pelvic bone with a needle, condensed it to about four teaspoons of rich red liquid, and injected that into his ankle.
Four months later the ankle was healed. Einhorn, chairman of orthopedic surgery at Boston University Medical Center, credits "adult" stem cells in the marrow injection. He tried it because of published research from France.
Einhorn's experience isn't a rigorous study. But it's an example of many innovative therapies doctors are studying with adult stem cells. Those are stem cells typically taken from bone marrow and blood - not embryos.
For all the emotional debate that began about a decade ago on allowing the use of embryonic stem cells, it's adult stem cells that are in human testing today. An extensive review of stem cell projects and interviews with two dozen experts reveal a wide range of potential treatments.
Morley Safer reported for "60 Minutes" this summer on the rapidly increasing trend of "regenerative medicine," where cells in the human body are manipulated into regrowing damaged tissues.
Researchers have created beating hearts, ears and bladders using stem cells. Biotech companies and the Pentagon have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in research that could profoundly change millions of lives.
"60 Minutes": Growing Body Parts
Adult stem cells are being studied in people who suffer from multiple sclerosis, heart attacks and diabetes. Some early results suggest stem cells can help some patients avoid leg amputation. Recently, researchers reported that they restored vision to patients whose eyes were damaged by chemicals.
Apart from these efforts, transplants of adult stem cells have become a standard lifesaving therapy for perhaps hundreds of thousands of people with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood diseases.
"That's really one of the great success stories of stem cell biology that gives us all hope," says Dr. David Scadden of Harvard, who notes stem cells are also used to grow skin grafts.
"If we can recreate that success in other tissues, what can we possibly imagine for other people?"
That sort of promise has long been held out for embryonic stem cells, which were first isolated and grown in a lab dish in 1998. Controversy over their use surrounded the 2001 decision by former President George W. Bush to allow only restricted federal funding for studying them.
Proponents over the past decade have included former first lady Nancy Reagan and actors Michael J. Fox and the late Christopher Reeve. Opponents object that human embryos have to be destroyed to harvest the cells.
Embryonic cells may indeed be used someday to grow replacement tissue or therapeutic material for diseases like Parkinson's or diabetes. Just on Friday, a biotech company said it was going ahead with an initial safety study in spinal cord injury patients. Another is planning an initial study in eye disease patients later this year.
But in the near term, embryonic stem cells are more likely to pay off as lab tools, for learning about the roots of disease and screening potential drugs.
Observers say they're not surprised at the pace of progress.
As medical research goes, the roughly 10 years since the embryonic cells were discovered "is actually a very short amount of time," said Amy Rick, immediate past president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research. The group has pushed for embryonic stem cell research for about that long.
Hank Greely, a Stanford University law professor who works in bioethics and has followed stem cells since the 1990s, said: "Give it another five years and I'll be surprised if we don't have some substantial progress" beyond initial safety studies.
The Pro-Life Secretariat of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops continues to oppose embryonic work. Deirdre McQuade, an official there, said that compared to adult stem cell research, work on embryonic cells is proving "fruitless."
Adult cells have been transplanted routinely for decades, first in bone marrow transplants and then in procedures that transfer just the cells. Doctors recover the cells from the marrow or bloodstream of a patient or a donor, and infuse them as part of the treatment for leukemia, lymphoma and other blood diseases. Tens of thousands of people are saved each year by such procedures, experts say.
Advice on Finding Legitimate Stem Cell Clinics
But it is harnessing these cells for other diseases that has encouraged many scientists lately.
In June, for example, researchers reported they had restored vision to people whose eyes were damaged from caustic chemicals. Stem cells from each patient's healthy eye were grown and multiplied in the lab and transplanted into the damaged eye, where they grew into healthy corneal tissue.
A couple of months earlier, the Vatican announced it was funding adult stem cell research on the intestine at the University of Maryland. And on Friday, Italian doctors said they'd transplanted two windpipes injected with the recipients' own stem cells.
But these developments only hint at what's being explored in experiments across the United States.
Much of the work is early, and even as experts speak of its promise, they ask for patience and warn against clinics that aggressively market stem-cell cures without scientific backing.
Some of the new approaches, like the long-proven treatments, are based on the idea that stem cells can turn into other cells. Einhorn said the ankle-repair technique, for example, apparently works because of cells that turn into bone and blood vessels. But for other uses, scientists say they're harnessing the apparent abilities of adult stem cells to stimulate tissue repair, or to suppress the immune system.
"That gives adult stem cells really a very interesting and potent quality that embryonic stem cells don't have," says Rocky Tuan of the University of Pittsburgh.
- no previous page
- next
1/2
Popular in Health
- "Clouds" singer known for viral hit dies from osteosarcoma
- Mysterious respiratory disease infects 7 in Ala., 2 dead
- Skin cancer self-exam: What to look for (PHOTOS)
- Molecule may be able to block cocaine addiction
- Emergency face transplant successfully performed in Poland
- Miami face-chewing victim still recovering one year later
- Experimental asthma drug helps untreatable patients in study
- Disney pulls show that makes fun of gluten-free child
I believe that once this news get's out this could help change the way we look at health care in this country. This treatment could take a lot of hard-ship out of some many family's with medical cost. It could take up to three shots because of the laws in the united states. At the cost of about $50,000.00 I will be walking again, and let me tell you that will be cheaper then the medicine that other doctor's want me to take. And the worst thing is the medicine does not, has not and will not make me walk ever again. I have raised some of this cost myself and will keep working to have more raised. As this treatment as of now is not covered by any health insurance company's.
I can only hope you can see how big this could be. It has worked with different ailments such as Heart, Lung's, Blindness and even Cancer. Just think how many life's can be saved and not putting the Great American Family in so much debt. Please get a hold of Dr Grekos or Myself at the contact's listed below.
Regencoyte Dr Grekos
9500 Bonita Beach Rd.
Bonita Springs Fl.
1-239-333-1239
regenocyte.com
or
William (Bill) Orr
1445 Beau Ridge Dr.
Aurora IL. 60506
1-630-849-1394
rockranger9@sbcglobal.net
Thank You
William Orr
Gods love EVERYONE not just the people who claim the righteous and will kill to show it.
Stem cell research has a long way to go, but shows promise. MY body my rights. Women (and girls as young as 11 years) are not just petry dishes for the conservative breeders, rapists, and child molesters.
Oh don't forget the rapist has rights to vistitation of the unborn child he just forced some women to have!!
They will find another convenient excuse to kill the unborn.
I don't like any presidents I can remember. But Bush's idiot decision needed to be rescinded, if only to help the ailing.
Well, ever since Bush made an executive order stopping all federally-funded stem-cell research from using more than the existing 17 lines, I've been waiting for anyone to turn that idiot move around. I was pleased when Obama reversed the decision in his first week.
There's been plenty of private money going into embryonic research and some federal money made it's way there also.
Face it. It doesn't work.
Things are turning around...
With Blessings,
Jesus
Repeat after me: ?Science, gooooood.?
I guess you were too busy putting down people that have faith to actually take time to read the article.
Embryonic stem cell research will never work. There is plenty of financing for embryonic. It will not work. All it does is destroy life."
How so? Most often, it's zygotes which do not attach which are harvested. Might as well research them rather than just throw them away.
And those zygotes I mentioned aren't viable, genius.
We've heard the political dogma from you -- I prefer in this area to defer to the opinions of MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS with up to date knowledge in the field.
LOL! 'I defer to the opinions...' LOL!