OF STEM CELL ADVANCES, FOUNTAINS OF YOUTH, AND SUICIDAL RABBITS
 from Don Reed:
The news is full of the recent Yamanaka/Thomson stem cell experiments,
dubbed Induced Pluripotent Stem (IPS) stem cells, or "reprogramming",
supposedly so wonderful that embryonic stem cell research is no longer even
necessary!
 First of all, what is IPS? Basically, 4 genes are placed inside a skin
cell. According to two studies, one by Shinya Yamanaka and the other by
Jamie Thomson, the skin cell is manipulated backward in the developmental
cycle until it becomes young again, embryonic-like, a sort of cellular
fountain of youth.
 Is it embryonic-like, or Embryonic-lite?
 IPS cells could be an exciting new tool for the cause of cure-or maybe not.
 Personally, I am in favor of investigating any promising new tool,
including this one. There are problems associated with it, such as the fact
that 20% of the experimental mice developed cancer-but there may be ways to
overcome that unacceptable risk.
 What needs to be done is simple: Investigate, duplicate, replicate, test:
perform the same rigorous examinations on which all good science is built:
only then will we know.
 If IPS works, wonderful.
 If it brings more federal, state, or private funding, that would also be
helpful-the amount of money invested in medical research of any sort is
pathetically inadequate.
 But should we, for this one possibility, abandon all other embryonic, SCNT
and adult stem cell research already underway?
 Should we (as Bob Klein said, in a recent interview) "bet the farm" on this
one approach?
 That reminds me of a story.
 The Chinese tell of a farmer who had painstakingly plowed a clearing in the
forest. It was hard work, (they could not afford a horse, and he had to
provide the muscle power himself, dragging a sharpened stick through the
soil) and every night he went to bed exhausted.
 One day he was straining behind the plow, a rabbit appeared. Chased by a
fox, the rabbit ran so fast it dashed its head against a tree-- and killed
itself.
 The family ate the suicidal rabbit, in a nice stew.
 Next morning, the farmer went out to the fields-and sat down under the
tree.
 When his wife asked why he was not plowing, the farmer replied:
 "I am waiting for the next rabbit."
 If a lucky break-or breakthrough-appears, we should investigate, and if it
proves worthwhile, take advantage of it.
 But we should not abandon the plow.
 Supporters in every country should take pride in our continuing victories.
Despite every obstacle the opponents have thrown up, embryonic stem cell
science is moving forward.
 ( At the end of this column, I am going to reprint something I did a while
back, listing some of the accomplishments of embryonic stem cells-we need to
remember what has already been done.)
 Time has not dimmed the memory of the day I held in my hand a laboratory
rat which had been paralyzed, and which now walked again, thanks to human
embryonic stem cells.  That was March 1, 2002, the opening day of the Roman
Reed laboratory at the University of California at Irvine.
 In the next few months, Geron takes that experiment to human trials. For
the first time in the history of the world, there was a chance that
paralysis might be defeated.
 We should give up solid advances like that for a tantalizing possibility
that will take ten to fifteen years to even fully test?
 Can anybody spell d-e-l-a-y--???
 And while we are on the subject, a couple points need to be clarified.
 First, this morning's Washington Post contains an essay by Michael Gerson,
a long-time opponent of embryonic stem cell research. The essay, called
"Stem Cells, the Right Way", claims "vindication for George Bush", giving
him credit for the "breakthrough".
 George Bush opposes embryonic stem cell research-  setting excruciatingly
narrow limits on funds for the emerging science, vetoing the Stem Cell
Research Enhancement Act, attempting to throw SCNT researchers into jail--
how does he deserve credit for an advance made by embryonic stem cell
researchers?
 Embryonic stem cell experts developed the new cells. Shinya Yamanaka is a
world-renowned ESCR expert-and Jamie Thomson is credited with having begun
the field.
 What inspired Dr. Thomson? He says it was the SCNT research of Ian Wilmut,
which President Bush tried so hard to criminalize.
 "(It) changed the way I thought about developmental biology," Thomson said
in a recent interview for the New York Times, "Development was reversible."
 Second, this advance in no way lessens the need for embryonic, adult, or
SCNT research.
 The world faces a veritable plague of incurable disease and disability. In
America alone, an estimated one hundred million citizens suffer chronic
illness or injury-one out of three of us have diseases or disabilities from
which we will never get well.
 We are bankrupting ourselves, spending two trillion dollars last year on
medical costs-that is as much as all federal income taxes put together-and
75% of that is from chronic disease or disability.   To solve this gigantic
problem, we will need every tool we can cram in the toolbox.
 A good  toolbox, of course, contains more than just a hammer; we also need
a set of socket wrenches, a level, a couple of screwdrivers, maybe a tape
measure-and more.
 In regenerative medicine, we cannot even know everything we need yet,
because the science is just beginning. Maybe adult stem cells will turn out
to be best for blood disease, or embryonic for spinal cord injury, or the
new IPS "reprogramming" for heart tissue, or somatic cell nuclear transfer
to make the vast quantities of cells that are needed-more likely a
combination of all of the above-- what works is the answer.
 As Dr. Yamanaka, co-inventor of the new cells, puts it: "New advances do
not obviate the need for human embryonic stem cells . progress. would be
indefensibly delayed if IPS cell research is pursued at the expense of
further hES (human embryonic stem) cell research.  Research into all avenues
of human stem cell research must proceed together. Society deserves to have
the full commitment of scientific inquiry at its service."
--Cell Stem Cell 1, October 2007, Elsevier Inc.

And now, a quick reminder: something to share.
 EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH PROGRESS

Embryonic stem cell research is an amazingly new science, begun in 1998 by
Dr. James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin.  Despite continual
political attacks, and extremely limited funding, human Embryonic Stem Cell
(hESC) research has already made a substantial contribution to the battle
against incurable disease and disability.  Below is a sampling of embryonic
stem cell research progress.

ALS: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's Disease:  At the University
of Wisconsin at Madison, scientists have turned hESC into motor neurons
(nerves which carry messages between brain and body), offering possibilities
for repairing damage caused by ALS, spinal cord injury, and other
nerve-related disorders.
--Nature Biotechnology, January 30, 2005
 ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE: Until now, it was impossible to study the complete
progress of this horrific disease, which robs sufferers of both memory and
life.  We do not know how or why or even exactly when it begins. With human
embryonic stem cells, (hESC), however, we may be able to isolate the disease
and observe its progress from inception to death on human tissue cells, not
human beings.  hESCs may also provide a new way to design better Alzheimer's
medicines.  Dr. Lawrence Goldstein of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute,
UCSD, is using hESC to test new ideas of how Alzheimer's disease develops,
and how it might be treated.
--L. Goldstein, personal communication, March 26, 2005
 BIOLOGICAL PACEMAKERS:  In Israel, Dr. Izhak Kehat and Dr. Lior Gepstein
grew heart stem cells in a Petri dish, and transplanted them into the
severely damaged hearts of pigs.  Eleven of thirteen hearts regained more
normal heart rates. Control animals had no improvement. Their work indicates
that stem cell transplantation can translate into clinical benefit for heart
disease sufferers.
--Washington Post, September 26, 2004
 BLINDNESS: The major cause of blindness in Americans over age 60 is macular
degeneration: the loss of retinal cells in the eye.  Dr. Robert Lanza and
Dr. Irina Klimanskaya of Advanced Cell Technology in New Jersey used hESC to
make retinal cells, which may one day offer the return of vision to millions
suffering from blindness due to retinal disease.
--Medical Science News, September 23, 2004
 CANCER:  The speed at which cancer develops is a major obstacle in curing
this devastating disease.  At Kumamoto University in Japan, and Cambridge
University in England, surface proteins were developed that could mark
cancer stem cells, laying ground work for new drugs that may one day slow,
or even turn off, tumor formation.  Advancing understanding about cancer
stem cells draws from knowledge gained about the growth and development of
hESCs.  This work will open the door to a day when cancer treatments may be
truly curative.
--University of Cambridge, 19 January, 2005
 CYSTIC FIBROSIS:  Cystic fibrosis inflames the lungs, strangling CF
patients in thick slimy mucous.  Using hESCs, Dr. Stephen Minger of King's
College, London, developed a stem cell line of cystic fibrosis. Now the
disease can be studied in a human cell line that has genetic mutations akin
to those seen in CF sufferers.
--BBC News UK, September 9 2004
 DEAFNESS: The death of tiny hair cells inside the ear contributes to
deafness for an estimated 28 million Americans.  These cells do not
naturally regrow.  However, using hESC techniques, Dr. Stefan Heller of
Boston's Eye and Ear Infirmary has generated these inner-ear hair cells,
raising the possibility that this technique may lead to new treatments for
the deaf.
--Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, October 27, 2004
 DIABETES:  At Stanford University, researchers have made insulin-producing
cells from mouse embryonic cells.  When transplanted into diabetic mice,
these cells reduced blood sugar fluctuations and increased lifespan (1).
And at the University of Miami, Dr. Juan Dominguez Bendala isolated a
protein necessary to turn embryonic stem cells into large quantities of
insulin-producing pancreatic cells (2).
--1.http://www.diabetes.co.uk/htm/news/newstemcellstudy.htm
--2. Beacon Journal, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami,
September 7, 2004
 GROWING HUMAN TISSUE:  At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
Dr. Robert Langer used embryonic stem cells to grow liver, cartilage, nerve
tissue and blood vessels, all of which appeared to function normally when
transplanted into mice.
--Boston Globe, October 28, 2003
 HEMOPHILIA:  At the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Dr. Jeffrey
Fair and Dr. Oliver Smithies used ES cells to reverse hemophilia (blood
clotting disorder) in mice.
--Science Daily, February 15, 2005
 IMMUNE SYSTEM DISEASE:  Cambridge, Massachusetts: Adult mice were bred
without the gene RAG-2, needed for the immune system.  Using Somatic Cell
Nuclear Transfer (SCNT, or therapeutic cloning) to make the cells, RAG-2 was
given to the mice, partially restoring the non-functioning immune system.
This successful proof-of-principle experiment reveals possible benefits for
the battle against AIDS.--Cell, April 5, 2002, (1) 17-22
 PARKINSON'S:  Israel's Dr. Benjamin Reubinoff transplanted human embryonic
stem cells into the brains of rats which did not have dopamine-producing
nerve cells.  (Dopamine in a healthy body controls motion; loss of dopamine
production in the brain is associated with a Parkinson's sufferer's
shaking).  Implanted stem cells became dopamine-producing cells and brought
significant improvements in the animal's motion relative to controls.--BBC
News,
June 30, 2004
 SPINAL CORD INJURY PARALYSIS:  Using hESCs, Dr. Hans Keirstead in the Roman
Reed Laboratory at UC Irvine restored myelin insulation around damaged
nerves, returning motion to partially paralyzed rats.-Journal of
Neuroscience, accepted for publication, March 31, 2005. See also New York
Times, February 23, 2005)
 Rayilyn Brown
Board Member AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson's Foundation
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