As I have discussed before, while a great deal of controversy continues to
surround embryonic stem cell research, due to the fact that in order to
obtain embryonic stem cells, embryos must first be artificially created, and
then destroyed in a laboratory, for years now, adult stem cells -- which are
extracted from one's own bone marrow, or from other areas of the body --
have been used in a wide variety of ways to heal people, and to improve the
quality of their lives. Furthermore, as the following article reveals, there
is great promise and hope for the future, that adult stem cells will be used
in even more profound ways to better the human condition.

As this article clearly explains, adult stem cell research is literally
miles ahead of its much more controversial counterpart -- embryonic stem
cell research. With adult stem cell research, to my knowledge, there is no
ethical or moral dilemma to deal with, because a life is not taken -- the
embryo's -- in order to better or save another life.


Heal Thyself: Patients' Own Stem Cells Used For Treatment

By MALCOLM RITTER - Associated Press

August 2, 2010


NEW YORK — 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, chair 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 to allow 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.

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?"

Alternative to embryonic stem cells

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 for
diseases like Parkinson's or diabetes, but that's a future prospect.

In any case, for 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.

A biotech company gained federal approval last year for a preliminary study
in spinal-cord injury patients, but the government has since put that effort
on hold.

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."

Lifesaving procedures

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.

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.

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.

One major focus of adult stem cell work for about a decade has been the
ailing heart. While researchers remain committed, much of the early
enthusiasm from patients, doctors and investors has slacked off because
results so far haven't matched expectations, says Dr. Warren Sherman of
Columbia University.

"Everyone, including myself, is impatient and would like to see positive
results appear quickly," said Sherman, who hosts an annual international
meeting of researchers. But he called for patience.

In treating heart attack, for example, studies show stem cell injections
help the heart pump blood a bit better, Sherman said. But the research has
not yet established whether injections cut the risk of death, more heart
attacks or future hospitalizations, he said.

Sherman said he hopes a large study of those patient outcomes can be done in
the next couple of years, and is "very optimistic that patients will
benefit."

Similarly, in heart failure, research indicates stem cells can ease symptoms
but larger studies are still needed to show how much good the treatments
provide, he said. He noted that current studies are testing stem cells taken
not only from bone marrow and leg muscle, but also from fat.

Promising research

Another heart-related condition under study is critical limb ischemia, where
blood flow to the leg is so restricted by artery blockage it causes pain and
may require amputation. The goal here is to encourage growth of new blood
vessels by injecting stem cells into the leg.

Sherman said limb ischemia research is moving fast and the results "are
very, very encouraging."

The injected cells may serve as building blocks while also stimulating local
tissue to grow the vessels, said Dr. Douglas Losordo of Northwestern
University. His own preliminary work suggests such a treatment can reduce
amputation rates.

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