Firm makes 'ethical' stem cells
2006-08-24 11:31
Washington - A Massachusetts company said
on Wednesday it had developed a way to make human embryonic
stem cells without harming the original embryo.
The finding could dispel ethical objections to promising medical
research using such cells.
"It is possible to generate stem cells without destroying
the embryo and without destroying its potential for life,"
said Dr Robert Lanza, chief scientist at Advanced Cell
Technology.
President George W Bush last month vetoed an
expansion of funding for embryonic stem cell research,
saying that taxpayers who object to such research should
not have to pay for it.
Opponents have a range of objections
which include a distaste for manipulating or destroying a potential human life.
"It (the new finding) at least takes away the president's last excuse to oppose the research," Lanza said.
Stem cells are the body's master cells, available from many
sources, but many experts believe the most powerful and
versatile cells may be those taken from days-old embryos.
Tailored treatments for diseases
Scientists hope to study these cells, discover what
compounds enable them to produce any kind of body tissue, and
replicate that to make tailored treatments for diseases such as
cancer, diabetes and Parkinson's.
Lanza's team had been saying they had an acceptable
alternative to destroying embryos, and on Wednesday they
published their research in the journal Nature.
The scientists used a method already employed in fertility
treatments to remove one cell from a human embryo without
harming it. Then they grew stem cells from that single cell.
Although the source embryos were not then implanted in a
woman, the Advanced Cell scientists said they could have been,
with the potential to develop normally.
The team used embryos taken from fertility clinics. Usually
such clinics make many embryos for a couple using eggs and
sperm, and implant a few to try to start a woman's pregnancy.
The rest are frozen and eventually usually discarded.
Lanza's team let its fertilised eggs grow to the 8- to
10-cell stage. The embryo at that stage is no longer able to
divide into twins but the cells can still form any cell or
tissue in the body.
Genetic experts can take one cell from such embryos to test
for inherited genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis. The
embryos can be safely implanted, and Lanza said statistics
suggest up to 1 500 healthy children are born this way yearly.
Lanza's team managed to get 19 different cells to grow and
got two stem cell batches, called lines.
"These cell lines were genetically normal and retained
their potential to form all of the cells in the human body,
including nerve, liver, blood, vascular, and retinal cells that
could potentially be used to treat a range of human diseases," the researchers wrote.
Dr Ronald M Green, an ethics
professor who reviewed the experiment, said he
was unsure that opponents would accept this research
immediately, but he believed they would eventually.