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More breakthroughs in stem cell research

Posted by: Sister Toldjah on November 20, 2007 at 11:01 am

And once again the news has nothing to do with embryonic stem cell research:

NEW YORK — Scientists have made ordinary human skin cells take on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells, a startling breakthrough that might someday deliver the medical payoffs of embryo cloning without the controversy.

Laboratory teams on two continents report success in a pair of landmark papers released Tuesday. It’s a neck-and-neck finish to a race that made headlines five months ago, when scientists announced that the feat had been accomplished in mice.

The “direct reprogramming” technique avoids the swarm of ethical, political and practical obstacles that have stymied attempts to produce human stem cells by cloning embryos.

Scientists familiar with the work said scientific questions remain and that it’s still important to pursue the cloning strategy, but that the new work is a major coup.

“This work represents a tremendous scientific milestone – the biological equivalent of the Wright Brothers’ first airplane,” said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief science officer of Advanced Cell Technology, which has been trying to extract stem cells from cloned human embryos.

“It’s a bit like learning how to turn lead into gold,” said Lanza, while cautioning that the work is far from providing medical payoffs.

“It’s a huge deal,” agreed Rudolf Jaenisch, a prominent stem cell scientist at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Mass. “You have the proof of principle that you can do it.”

There is a catch. At this point, the technique requires disrupting the DNA of the skin cells, which creates the potential for developing cancer. So it would be unacceptable for the most touted use of embryonic cells: creating transplant tissue that in theory could be used to treat diseases like diabetes, Parkinson’s, and spinal cord injury.

But the DNA disruption is just a byproduct of the technique, and experts said they believe it can be avoided.

If embryonic stem cell research becomes a hot button issue for the elections next year like it did in 2006, where proponents of ESCR once again used outright lies into hoodwinking voters into supporting it, I hope the Republican candidates pound the hell out of all the breakthroughs that have been reported on the non-embyronic stem cell front (see here, here, here and here for examples), and also repetitively mention the fact that, to date, there have been no “cures” developed on the embryonic stem cell research front. Not a single one.

Yuval Levin at NRO writes about credit that should be given to the President on this issue:

This kind of outcome has been the hope behind President Bush’s stem cell policy. In fact, the President spoke about this very same technique—reprogramming skin cells—in a speech back in July of 2006, and earlier this year signed an executive order to encourage this kind of work (Thomson’s team, in fact, was supported by the NIH). He should get credit for sticking to a crucial moral principle against immense and often quite irresponsible political pressure.

The President has stuck to his principles on this issue, and those principles are winning. Wesley Smith expands on the praise:

Returning to President Bush’s stem-cell funding policy; even though it was politically unpopular, the President believed wholeheartedly that the raw talent, intelligence, and creativity of the science sector would find a way to obtain pluripotent stem cells (the ability to become any cell type) through ethical means. In speeches and news conference answers about the stem-cell issue, Bush repeatedly supported existing ethical areas of research, and called upon researchers to find “alternative” methods of developing stem-cell medicine without treating nascent human life “as an experiment.” Toward this end, earlier this year Bush signed an executive order requiring the NIH to identify all sources of human pluripotent stem cells, and invited “scientists to work with the NIH, so we can add new ethically derived stem-cell lines to the list of those eligible for federal funding.”

[...]

I believe that many of these exciting “alternative” methods would not have been achieved but for President Bush’s stalwart stand promoting ethical stem-cell research. Indeed, had the president followed the crowd instead of leading it, most research efforts would have been devoted to trying to perfect ESCR and human-cloning research — which, despite copious funding, have not worked out yet as scientists originally hoped.

So thank you for your courageous leadership, Mr. President. Because of your willingness to absorb the brickbats of the Science Establishment, the Media Elite, and weak-kneed Republican and Democratic politicians alike — we now have the very real potential of developing thriving and robust stem-cell medicine and scientific research sectors that will bridge, rather than exacerbate, our moral differences over the importance and meaning of human life.

He also inserts a few well-deserved digs at what he calls the “Scientific Establishment” and their pomposity. Make sure to read the whole thing.

I’m sure the Usual Suspects who have slammed the President (and other Republicans) repeatedly for being “mean-spirited” regarding ESCR – all by using disingenuous, phoney arguments designed to appeal to emotion rather than reason, will be lining up to sing his praises for not bowing to the political winds on the issue. I’m also “sure” that I’m next in line to be Queen of England.

Cross-posted at Right Wing News, where I helped guestblog today for a vacationing John Hawkins.

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    • 41 Responses to “More breakthroughs in stem cell research”

    Comments

    1. alchemist says:
      November 24, 2007 at 9:43 pm

      Shoot! Should’ve hit preview button first.

      Next to last line:

      Even if stem cells don’t work (ever) there’s still a lot to be learned from letting scientists explore the limitations of stem cell growth to understand why current techniques fail.

    2. ibfamous says:
      November 26, 2007 at 5:30 pm

      “The private sector does so more efficiently because of incentives. If there is no incentive for producing you have what is called communism or socialism where people who do not produce are just as rewarded as people who do produce.”

      nice rant baklava, any chance you heard of the privatization of the iraq war or the katrina response? both fine examples of how “incentives” work.

      as for “People have interest in advancing the human condition. People in the private and public sector have interest in advancing the human condition.”

      unfortunately they are ususally trumped by shareholders and profit mongering. people are fine, its when they join together for a common cause (read profits) that they lose a bit of their humanity.

      now i could take the time to explain this all in detail but your world has been too severly simplified to fit in any useful information.

    3. Baklava says:
      November 26, 2007 at 7:23 pm

      Boy the negativity. YOU thrive on it.

      Let me NOT vote for you and your ideas….

      I will run from them

    4. alchemist says:
      November 26, 2007 at 10:17 pm

      …and by goverment research I actually meant academic research.:d

      Anyway, I still think we’re caught of some rather meningless point and missing the whole center of the argument. I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to prove… I beleive it was pro-private sector/private funding, anti-goverment research (but really, there isn’t goverment research, it’s just publicly fundeded academic research). Which is how I started arguing for academic research (as is my pastime). But you don’t seem to have a problem with that so… I’m still not sure what you’re arguing against (or if you’re arguing at all).

      Nontheless, work is back in full swing, and my time here is done until mid-december. be back then.

    5. Great White Rat says:
      November 27, 2007 at 12:01 am

      ibfamous steps on a rake and gets plastered in the face with this one:

      unfortunately they are ususally trumped by shareholders and profit mongering. people are fine, its when they join together for a common cause (read profits) that they lose a bit of their humanity.

      Yes, that darned freedom again!! So much better when the government prohibits free enterprise and other rights. You saw how that worked in places like the Soviet Union when those shareholders were all shot and there was no “profit mongering”.

      State control of the economy has never, EVER, led to anything except shortages, rationing, and poor quality goods. Small wonder our leftist Luddites love it.

    6. alchemist says:
      November 28, 2007 at 8:13 pm

      A coworker had relayed this post to me today at scienceblogs. Although it’s very technical, it lays out clearly the good news, and why it’s too early to get excited about stem cell breakthroughs.

      Here’s the site
      What does it take to turn stem cells into a cure?

    7. alchemist says:
      November 28, 2007 at 8:17 pm

      And there’s another good one here

      Stem Cell Breakthrough

    8. Baklava says:
      November 28, 2007 at 10:53 pm

      What does it take to turn stem cells into a cure?

      Irresponsible spending by the government of the PEOPLE’s money….

      Even though CA has one of the worst credit ratings and large deficits during a good economy the idiot people here passed a 3 billion dollar bond (more than some states spend in their entire budget) on stem cell research.

      Democrats have glommed onto this issue alchemist and have turned this into a we good and you bad issue just like every other issue. You and every other liberal do not know what is good for this country. You are tearing this country’s fiscal future apart.

      Utopia is for kindergardeners… Grow up!

      You want stem cell research ? Return the issue BACK to the people and let Hollywierd or business pay for it. You don’t need MY money.

      Notice I’m not talking about embryonic vs. adult stem cells in this post. Irresponsible liberals just want more of my money thrown at embryonic yet there is not even hope in that area. Adult stem cells have the most promise yet Democrats demagogue the embryonic issue into a we good you bad thing… Again. Grow up.

    9. alchemist says:
      November 29, 2007 at 7:52 am

      1) If you note, the research wasn’t done by us, it was done by the Japanese.(primarily)

      2) Did you read the articles? All I’m saying is that you should understand the science for yourself. This guy can explain it better than I can.

    10. Baklava says:
      November 29, 2007 at 11:14 am

      On your point #1 – Democrats/liberals are pounding people on the head making Republicans feel mean or non-caring because they aren’t “for” doing the research. And then you bring up Japan. Sorry but you’ve LOST me. This issue should NOT be an issue for Liberals and Democrats. It should be research taking care of by the private sector, Japan, France, academic institutions whatever…

      But CA had to pass a bond spending 3 billion of our money and Democrats and liberals like to bash people as “not caring”.

      Take your issue out of politics alchemist. It doesn’t belong in politics. Get out of my pockets !!

      On your point 2) I understand. I understand it better enough than you to realize that every utopian project cannot and should not be paid for by the federal or state governments. There is promising research ALL over the place and for liberals and Democrats to glom on this issue like they are SMARTER than thou is irresponsible.

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