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U.S. quietly OKs fetal stem cell work


Bush allows funding despite federal limits on embryo use

By Jeremy Manier
Tribune staff reporter

July 7, 2002

The Bush administration has approved the first federally funded project
using stem cells obtained from fetuses aborted up to eight weeks after
conception, expanding the scientific promise of stem cell research and
complicating the ethics debate that surrounds it.

The decision, made quietly in late May, came nearly a year after
President Bush limited funding for stem cell research with days-old
human embryos. Some scientists feared that move would hinder the quest
to turn such cells into replacement tissue to fight a variety of
diseases.

Most of the stem cell debate has centered on cells taken from 1- to
2-week-old embryos made in fertility clinics for couples trying to have
children. By medical definition, an embryo starts to be called a fetus
in the period leading up to about 8 weeks of development.

Some stem cell researchers using private funds have focused their work
on aborted fetuses, which, like embryos, can yield stem cells with the
prized ability to become nearly any type of tissue in the body.

Because of a discrepancy in regulations, stem cells taken from fetuses
are subject to different rules than similar cells from embryos. In fact,
the cells derived from fetuses may qualify for a broader range of
federal funds, government experts said.

Bush's policy barred the use of federal grants for research on stem
cells taken from embryos after Aug. 9, 2001. Bush said the decision was
based on his moral opposition to destroying additional embryos for
research purposes.

But that restriction does not apply to research on stem cells obtained
from fetuses, according to officials at the National Institutes of
Health. Such work falls under less-restrictive Clinton-era rules, which
Bush never revised.

On May 20, the NIH awarded the first funds for research on stem cells
from fetuses to the team of stem cell pioneer John Gearhart at Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine. Gearhart's team received a grant
capped at $150,000 to study two insulin-producing stem cell lines with
potential applications for diabetes treatment. The application process
for the fetal cell work was unusually demanding, Gearhart said.

"We were sweating for a while," said Gearhart, who co-discovered human
stem cells in 1998. "They went through our records like you wouldn't
believe, and rightly so."

In another rare step for a relatively small grant application, NIH
officials notified the White House staff when Gearhart's proposal was
approved, said administration spokesman Scott McClellan.

The approval "was based on long-standing law and guidelines," McClellan
said.

White House officials said Bush left the Clinton guidelines for
fetal-derived cells in place because Congress passed a law in 1993 that
made it illegal for presidents to ban funding for such research.

Nothing about stem cell research has been routine since last year's
controversy over federal funding of work on embryonic stem cells and
Bush's attempt at a compromise.

Stem cells can become virtually any cell type, making them an ideal
source of potential replacement tissue for afflictions such as
Parkinson's disease, strokes and diabetes. But some groups that oppose
abortion have taken a moral stance against obtaining such cells from
embryos or aborted fetuses.

When combined with Clinton-era guidelines for fetal cell research,
Bush's decision permitting limited funding for embryonic stem cell
research makes for some odd ethical outcomes, said Jeffrey Kahn,
director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota.
Because the Aug. 9 cutoff date applies to research on early embryos but
not work on fetuses, days-old embryos have some protections that
8-week-old fetuses don't.

"I think it wasn't thought through," Kahn said. "I would argue there
should be more lenient rules on embryonic stem cell research."

Some opponents of abortion say Bush should have tried to stop all
funding of work using embryos and fetuses. Bush signaled his position in
2000, responding to a candidate questionnaire from the U.S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops. "I oppose using federal funds to perform fetal
tissue research from induced abortions," he wrote. Some conservatives
expect him to honor that.

"If he is faithful to the principles he enunciated in the campaign, my
hope is you'd begin to see change," said Ken Connor, president of the
Family Research Council.

Providing federal funds for stem cells from fetuses could be a boon for
the new field, experts say. Among Gearhart's findings is a dramatic
experiment, still unpublished, showing that paralyzed mice injected with
stem cells from human fetuses can regain much of their mobility. That
study was conducted without federal funds.

Gearhart says he has developed more than 150 cell lines using
fetal-derived stem cells, including cells that compose blood, nerves and
blood vessels.

The reason there are separate federal rules for research involving human
fetuses dates to the early '90s, well before the discovery of human stem
cells.

At that time, researchers were beginning to use fetal brain tissue,
which has greater capacity for growth and renewal than normal adult
tissue, to treat ailments such as Parkinson's disease. Federal funding
for such research began in 1991 under the administration of Bush's
father and expanded when President Bill Clinton took office.

The discovery in 1998 of stem cells, which are more versatile than
unrefined fetal tissue, presented new opportunities and a new dilemma.
One team, led by James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin, arrived
at the milestone using embryos left over from in-vitro fertilization.

Gearhart's group at Johns Hopkins advanced on a different track. Working
with fetuses that were aborted at 5 to 8 weeks of development, they took
cells from the genital ridge, an area that develops into sex organs in
older fetuses. The group then isolated embryonic germ cells, which have
the same versatility as the stem cells that the Wisconsin group
discovered.

"If you look at the history of these cells, they basically are doing the
same thing [as embryonic stem cells], they just represent a different
source," Gearhart said.

The Wisconsin and Johns Hopkins groups published their results
simultaneously and share credit for the discovery of human stem cells.

In 2000, the Clinton administration released rules for federal funding
of both types of stem cells. The rules for Gearhart's embryonic germ
cells mirrored the earlier regulations for fetal tissue research.

To avoid creating any extra incentive for abortion, women can be asked
to donate a fetus for research only after they have decided to have an
abortion. Patients also must give informed consent, cannot be paid for
the donation, and cannot choose a potential recipient for
transplantation of the cells.

Most researchers didn't understand that Bush's cutoff date of Aug. 9
would not apply to funding for fetal cells. That restriction on
embryonic stem cells created controversy among scientists who feared it
would limit the quality and genetic diversity of available cell lines.

Wendy Baldwin, deputy director for extramural research at NIH, said last
week the agency can provide funds for projects using stem cells that
have been taken from fetuses since Aug. 9.

"This is ongoing research," Baldwin said.

The Clinton guidelines allow federal funds to cover the derivation of
cells from the fetus, though not the abortion itself.

Although Gearhart's lab is one of only a few in the world specializing
in fetal-derived stem cells, that could change if more of his lines are
approved for federal funding. Once a line is approved, NIH officials
said, researchers wishing to use the same cells have a shorter
application process. In addition to the insulin-producing cells,
Gearhart's group plans to apply soon for funding of a project involving
dopamine-producing neurons for studies of Parkinson's disease.

"What we have to do now is start showing the proof of concept, and all
the things you can do with these cells," Gearhart said. "Eventually it
will take care of itself."



Copyright C 2002,  <http://www.chicagotribune.com/> Chicago Tribune


Sincerely,
__________________________________________________________________
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President; Young Onset Parkinson's Association (YOPA)
http://www.yopa.org/

Founder; YoungParkinsons.com
 <http://www.youngparkinsons.com/> http://www.youngparkinsons.com/
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