Scientist Hopes For Stem Cell Success

Ed Bradley Talks To A Scientist At Forefront Of Stem Cell Research

(CBS) 
Scientists say the pace of research has been slowed down by President Bush’s 2001 ban on the use of federal money to create new lines of embryonic stem cells. Researchers need those new stem cells to expand their work, because the existing lines are at least five years old and may have been weakened over time, limiting their value. However, extracting new stem cells destroys human embryos, which the president strongly opposes.

"How do you deal with people who feel that what you're doing is morally, ethically wrong, because in a sense you're destroying life to save life?" Bradley asked Dr. Hans Keirstead.

"I don’t feel what I’m doing is morally wrong. I think the use of human embryonic stem cells is an ethical and responsible thing to do with tissue that would have been destroyed in the discards of a fertility clinic," Keirstead replied.

"But there are people who would say that that is life," Bradley said.

"So, let's use it instead of discarding it. Why discard it? If you think that that is a holy thing, then value it, treasure it and keep it. Use it for research and the betterment of lives, don't throw it away," Keirstead said.

In an effort to create a safe haven for embryonic stem cell research, in 2004 California voters passed Proposition 71, allocating $3 billion in state money to allow development of new stem cell lines. While that enticed some of the top researchers in the field to move to California, the money has not yet been released because of lawsuits challenging Proposition 71.

In the meantime, Dr. Arnold Kriegstein, head of stem cell research at the University of California at San Francisco, is raising $5 million in private money to build a brand new laboratory that duplicates facilities the university already has. It’s necessary because scientists are only permitted to work with new embryonic stem cell lines if their lab does not receive any federal money.

Even if he already has things like microscopes, Petri dishes and refrigerators, he has to buy the same equipment again for the stem cell research.

"Absolutely. All the materials and supplies, all the consumable materials, everything that's involved in any of this work needs to be paid for through private funds," Kriegstein explains.

Kriegstein says that is one of the problems researchers face. "It's very costly and it's time-consuming, and it has been slowing down progress in the field," he says.

But there is one area of stem-cell research that is now ready for human testing and it may be the only chance that Joanna and Marcus Kerner have to save the life of their 6-year-old son, Daniel. The FDA recently approved a clinical trial using brain stem cells from fetal tissue to treat the rare and always fatal neurological disorder called Batten disease, which Daniel was diagnosed with a year and a half ago. The Kerners' doctor gave them the grim prognosis.

"He shook his head and said, 'I’m sorry there’s no cure,' " Marcus Kerner recalls. "Suddenly, you’re told your child is going to die this horrible, horrific, long prolonged death of blindness, loss of all motor skills, dementia and like a flower wilting."

If Daniel is among the six children selected for this clinical trial, he will receive an injection of neural stem cells from aborted fetuses that are several weeks more developed than embryos. Based on studies in mice, it's expected the transplanted cells will produce a crucial brain enzyme, and slow the progression of the disease.

"Are you at all hesitant about this? I mean, one, you don’t know if it’ll work. Two, you don’t know if it’s safe. It’s never been done before," Bradley asked Marcus Kerner.

"He's going to die anyway, Ed. And I'd rather he go down fighting," Kerner replied, crying. " 'Cause he's a fighter, he's brave. And he wants to live."

Scientists will be closely monitoring the results of the clinical trial for Batten disease looking for clues that could help in the development of stem cell treatments for a variety of neurological disorders. They will also be awaiting the outcome in California of a court case trial set to begin Monday, Feb. 27, to determine whether to free up the $3 billion for embryonic stem-cell research that was allocated by Proposition 71.