While Stanford University has announced its intention to clone human embryos and then destroy them for research, others are proceeding down a better path, one that is proving effective in combating various diseases and does not require destruction of human life. Following are some examples of recent news items:

• The University of Minnesota is working with a biotech firm to advance adult stem cell research, according to the New York Times. In June, Dr. Catherine Verfaillie, director of the University’s Stem Cell Institute, and her colleagues published a study stating that stem cells from human adult bone marrow are capable of forming tissue for various organs, meaning that various types of tissue might one day be made from them, accomplishing the same goals as embryonic stem cell research.
• Scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles tested the possible benefits to using stem cells extracted from adult bone marrow in rats with ischemic brain lesions. As reported in the December issue of Experimental Neurology, the stem cells were able to differentiate into three different types of brain cells. Forty-eight hours after the stem cells had been injected into the rats, researchers found the transplanted cells already had distributed themselves throughout the brain. Lead researcher Dr. John S. Yu told United Press International, “A very interesting characteristic of the stem cell is that it seems to be attracted to areas of problems in the brain and these are very different types of problems from stroke to brain tumors.” He said the finding could have implications in treating a host of brain diseases, including stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, brain cancer and Parkinson’s disease.
• At a November meeting of the American Heart Association, doctors reported some promising results that apparently restored life to seemingly dead heart muscles by seeding them with cells borrowed from the patient’s thigh muscles or bones. More research is necessary but if successful, it may provide an alternative to transplants in some cases.
• Doctors at Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal gave a woman suffering from leukemia a transfusion with the unbilical-cord blood of her baby daughter. Seven months later, she is in complete remission. Umbilical cord blood is rich in hemopoietic stem cells, the kind of cells that can rebuild a blood system damaged by heavy doses of chemotherapy. In this case, the stem cells regenerated her blood system and destroyed the residual cancer cells in her body. Doctors had been planning a bone marrow transplant but undertook the unusual procedure when they felt they could no longer wait for the bone marrow.
• Speaking at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Orthopaedics Update 2002 Web conference, Dr. Joseph Iannotti, chairman of the Cleveland Clinic Department of Orthopaedic Surgery said, “Adult stem cells have not only proven to be effective in bone healing today, they hold great promise for the future of orthopaedics - especially in the areas of reconstructing all types of tissues, as well as improving the healing of diseased tissues.” He explained that mesenchymal stem cells are the type of cells that, depending on the maturation process, can become bone, cartilage, muscle, marrow, tendon/ligament and connective tissue.
• Even at Stanford, other research is showing promise for adult stem cells. Dr. Helen Blau, a professor of genetic pharmacology at Stanford University School of Medicine, told Reuters Health, “We’ve shown that there are cells in bone marrow that can contribute to muscle fibers when there’s injury. We used to think that only cells in muscle do that.” The details of the study were published in the November 15 issue of Cell.

Published in VSHL Lifesaver, January, 2003