Researchers Make Stem Cell Breakthrough

[Rosalinda]

The good news about ethically unproblematic stem cells keeps on coming in.

A team of South Korean scientists has grown pancreatic beta cells, which can help treat diabetes, from stem cells taken from the umbilical cord blood of new born babies.
The team, headed by Prof. Kang Kyung-sun of Seoul National University, Tuesday announced they had differentiated stem cells from cord blood cells into ones that secrete insulin.
The exploit will be featured by the Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, the U.S.-based weekly that documents breakthrough papers in biotechnology.
We converted cord blood stem cells into pancreatic beta cells, which creates insulin, a substance that when it is missing can cause diabetes," Kang said. This is arguably the first tangible advance in the study of the cord blood stem cells, with which so many scientists compete to make progress

times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech/200701/kt2007012317475111810.htm

 

[Rand_Al_Thor]

Pax tecum!

Good news. And yet the liberals will still say that embryonic stem cells is the only way to go.

In Christ,
Rand

 

[Catholic_Dude]

The good news about ethically unproblematic stem cells keeps on coming in.

times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech/200701/kt2007012317475111810.htm

Cool, I was with a Catholic group where a man with a Masters degree in Theology and Biology gave an amazing talk on how adult stem cells were the ones giving real results and mentioned stuff like using the unbilical cord stem cells.

This guy KNEW IT ALL when it came to the moral issues, he knew what he was talking about and he was a proud Catholic!

 

[awalt]

Let’s just hope this is legit. Wasn’t there another case of a reported medical success/discovery in Korea last year, that turned out to be a scam?

 

[Rosalinda]

Await, Yes, here is the story you were referring to with the retraction made by Donald Kennedy, editor-in-chief of Science:

The final report from the investigation committee of Seoul National University (SNU) (1) has concluded that the authors of two papers published in Science (2, 3) have engaged in research misconduct and that the papers contain fabricated data. With regard to Hwang et al., 2004 (2), the Investigation Committee reported that the data showing that DNA from human embryonic stem cell line NT-1 is identical to that of the donor are invalid because they are the result of fabrication, as is the evidence that NT-1 is a bona fide stem cell line. Further, the committee found that the claim in Hwang et al., 2005 (3) that 11 patient-specific embryonic stem cells line were derived from cloned blastocystsis based on fabricated data. According to the report of the Investigation Committee, the laboratory “does not possess patient-specific stem cell lines or any scientific basis for claiming to have created one.” … We therefore retract these two papers and advise the scientific community that the results reported in them are deemed to be invalid.

sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/311/5759/335b

 

[eponymic]

Pax tecum!

Good news. And yet the liberals will still say that embryonic stem cells is the only way to go.

In Christ,
Rand

This is not meant to be an attack, but I just want to point something out. I’m not particularly well versed in all the details of stem cell research, however I do know that adult stem cells have been researched for quite a while now, whereas embryonic stem cells have been rather taboo, for obvious reasons. That being said, the adult stem cells will be producing more results than the embryonic cells, because the research is reaching that level for the adult cells, and not the embryonic cells. I believe that embryonic cells offer more potential (or I believe that is what is being reported), however since they’ve been in a moral holding pattern for years, we’re not seeing any results. The scientist in me would like to see what the embryonic cells do offer, but obviously only if the morality of it can be resolved first.

 

[Rosalinda]

There are plenty of reports to back this up if anyone has been keeping up to date. This is just one. Yoshida, “Human cord blood-derived cells…” published in Stem Cells Oct. 2005.

Here we report the capacity of human cord blood (CB)–derived cells to generate insulin-producing cells. To investigate in vivo capacity of human CB–derived cells, T cell–depleted mononuclear cells were intravenously transplanted into nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient/ß2-microglobulinnull mice within 48 hours of birth. At 1–2 months post-transplantation, immunofluorescence staining for insulin and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis using a human chromosome probe indicated that human CB–derived cells generated insulin-producing cells at a frequency of 0.65% ± 0.64% in xenogeneic hosts. Reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction analysis confirmed the transcription of human insulin in the pancreatic tissue of the recipient mice…Taken together, human CB contains progenitor cells, which can generate insulin-producing cells in recipient pancreatic tissues across a xenogeneic histocompatibility barrier by fusion-dependent and -independent mechanisms.

stemcells.alphamedpress.org/cgi/content/full/23/9/1409

Read the full article and note all the references. There is obvious interest and a lot of work being done in this field because the promise is real: not a fairy tale fabricated for public consumption.

 

[Em_in_FL]

This is not meant to be an attack, but I just want to point something out. I’m not particularly well versed in all the details of stem cell research, however I do know that adult stem cells have been researched for quite a while now, whereas embryonic stem cells have been rather taboo, for obvious reasons. That being said, the adult stem cells will be producing more results than the embryonic cells, because the research is reaching that level for the adult cells, and not the embryonic cells. I believe that embryonic cells offer more potential (or I believe that is what is being reported), however since they’ve been in a moral holding pattern for years, we’re not seeing any results. The scientist in me would like to see what the embryonic cells do offer, but obviously only if the morality of it can be resolved first.

One little caveat… embryonic stem cell research hasn’t been in a “holding pattern” for years… it’s just that government funding has been cut off. That doesn’t exclude private industry from doing research… which they indeed HAVE. The only problem is… there have been no positive results!

There have been a lot of studies on embryonic stem cells in which the very thing that makes these cells have “potential”, their pluripotency (ability to differentiate into any type of cell), has caused these studies to go haywire.

 

[Em_in_FL]

One little caveat… embryonic stem cell research hasn’t been in a “holding pattern” for years… it’s just that government funding has been cut off. That doesn’t exclude private industry from doing research… which they indeed HAVE. The only problem is… there have been no positive results!

There have been a lot of studies on embryonic stem cells in which the very thing that makes these cells have “potential”, their pluripotency (ability to differentiate into any type of cell), has caused these studies to go haywire.

I wanted to correct my statement… (thanks for all the info, Rosalinda!)…

It’s not even true that government funding has been “cut off” (my incorrect statement!)…
When Bush signed the stem cell research law in 2001, he said that no NEW embryonic stem cell lines would be funded. But there are 21 currently running embroyonic stem cell lines that ARE being funded (to the tune of $130 million)…
Again, the bill stopped new cell lines (a good thing!)… but still allows funding on current cell lines (not so good!)…

Which means that embryonic stem cell research is ALIVE and WELL and STILL NOT proving to be successful!!

Here’s one of the informative links Rosalinda passed on… thanks again…
graphic.pepperdine.edu/perspectives/2007/2007-1-25-stemcells.htm

 

[Rand_Al_Thor]

Cool, I was with a Catholic group where a man with a Masters degree in Theology and Biology gave an amazing talk on how adult stem cells were the ones giving real results and mentioned stuff like using the unbilical cord stem cells.

This guy KNEW IT ALL when it came to the moral issues, he knew what he was talking about and he was a proud Catholic!

Pax tecum!

Just last week at my Newman Club meeting, we had a doctor who is a parishoners (not a medical doctor, but a scientist) come in to give a talk on SSR. He has a PhD in Organic Chemistry and a Master’s in Theology. It was a great talk. He said the same thing.

In Christ,
Rand

 

[calchiquita]

And now there are amniotic stem cells.

postgazette.com/pg/05217/549236.stm

 

[Rosalinda]

Eponymic stated:

but I just want to point something out. I’m not particularly well versed in all the details of stem cell research, however I do know that adult stem cells have been researched for quite a while now, whereas embryonic stem cells have been rather taboo, for obvious reasons…

You might be surprised to learn embryonic stem cells have been around quite a while too. According to Michael Fumento:

… Rick Weiss, writing in the Washington Post about the Korean embryonic stem cell scandal, declares on page A1 of the newspaper: “The scandal also has delivered a body blow to stem cell science, a field of research born just seven years ago . . .” He’s not even correct about embryonic stem cells. They were first discovered in rodents in the 1950s but researchers then, as now, found them so difficult to work with that the first human embryonic stem cell line was created only in 1998, and it’s to that which he refers

fumento.com/weblog/archives/2006/01/nobody_here_but.html

Just thought you might be interested in that bit of trivia. It certainly puts the debate into a new perspective don’t you think?

 

[Rosalinda]

Em -in-fl[sign]I wanted to correct my statement… (thanks for all the info, Rosalinda[/sign]

No problem Em. We are all scrambling to sort out fact from fiction.