Marjorie , you are very special!!
Of all the information and arguments that have been brought forth in
the past few days in regard to stem cells, this sheds the most authoratative
light on the subject. I am gratefuil for the response and tone of most of
the participants, As you can surmise from my age (which is 70) . I really do
not expect to have much more time to wait for the cure.
As an old friend who is just a librarian, Would you help me
understand the situation more fully. I have been wondering just how many
researchers are now using infant stem cells in their research ,and what
progress is being made!!
Bill Olson,70 now, onset 1983,
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marjorie L. Moorefield" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 7:01 AM
Subject: Testimony
> Here is the testimony from the Doctor who is in charge of Adult Stem Cell
> Research,
> as you can see, he's not ready yet for a "Moon Shot".
> just me,
> Marjorie
>
> United States SenateTestimony of Darwin J. Prockop, M.D., Ph.D.
> Director, Center for Gene Therapy
> Tulane University Medical Center
> Before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
> on
> Labor, Health and Human Services, Education
> United States Senate
> September 14, 2000
> Good Morning.
> My name is Darwin Prockop. I am currently the Director of the Center for
Gene
> Therapy of Tulane University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans,
> Louisiana. I
> have an M.D. degree, a Ph.D. degree and two honorary doctoral degrees. In
> addition, I am a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the
> Institute of
> Medicine. I have published over 400 scientific articles. My work has been
> continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health. In addition,
the
> Tulane Center for Gene Therapy that I now head is supported by funds from
> Tulane
> University, the Columbia Healthcare Association and the State of Louisiana
> Consortium for Gene Therapy.
> Our Tulane Center for Gene Therapy is carrying out research on a special
class
> of adult stem cells that we think can potentially be used for the
treatment
> of a
> number of devastating diseases. The adult stem cells we are using were
first
> discovered 20 years ago, and we now know they have a number of truly
> remarkable
> features. One remarkable feature is that they can easily be obtained from
a
> small sample of bone marrow from the same patient who is to be treated.
> Therefore if our therapies work, we will not need fetal tissues nor will
we
> need
> to introduce foreign cells into a patient. Another important feature of
the
> cells is that we can grow them rapidly in the laboratory. A technical
> consequence of this fact is that we can introduce new genes without the
use
> of a
> virus. But the cells are of special interest primarily because they can
change
> into a large number of the many different types of cells found in the
human
> body. For example, we discovered several years ago that if the cells are
> isolated from the bone marrow of an animal, and then injected back into
the
> blood stream of the same experimental animal from which the cells were
> obtained,
> they travel to a number of different organs and tissues. Moreover, when
they
> reach a given organ or tissue they become new cells of the same kind that
are
> normally found in that organ or tissue. In effect, the cells can repair
and
> rejuvenate the organ or tissue.
> These features of the cells raise some exciting possibilities for using
> them in
> the therapy of diseases. For example, after infusion into a vein, some of
the
> cells go to bone and become new bone cells. Therefore, the cells can
> potentially
> be used to treat diseases of bone such as osteoporosis. In fact, Drs.
Edwin
> Horowitz, Malcolm Brenner and others at St. Jude's Children's Hospital In
> Memphis have recently reported promising results with the cells in
treating
> children with severe brittle bone disease. Some of the cells go to lung
and
> become lung cells. Therefore, they can potentially be useful in treating
> diseases of the lung such as cystic fibrosis. Some of the cells go to
> joints and
> cartilage and become cells of joints and cartilage. Therefore, they can
> potentially be used to treat diseases of the joint such as arthritis. Some
> preliminary data suggest that in the future the cells may also be useful
in
> treating additional diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and kidney
> disease.
> One of the most dramatic observations about such cells is that they can
become
> new cells of the brain. The first observations here were made one and two
> years
> ago in my laboratory primarily by Dr. Asum Azizi and Dr. Donald Phinney.
In
> the
> past several months these observations have been extended by Dr. Ira Black
and
> his associates at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and by research
> groups
> at two other medical schools. Because the cells can become some of the
> cells of
> the central nervous system, my laboratory and others are currently trying
> to see
> if they can be used to treat disease of the central nervous system such as
> Parkinsonism, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, spinal cord injury and multiple
> sclerosis. In fact, we have recently published some promising results
using
> the
> cells in a rat model of Parkinsonism.
> In closing I would like to make two general statements. One is, yes, it is
> true
> that if the work that my laboratory and many others are now doing
continues to
> be successful, it will open the possibility of using stem cells from
> adults, or
> even from the patient himself or herself, to treat a large number of
terrible
> diseases. If successful, the therapies will not use any fetal tissues and
> probably will not use any viruses.
> However, I would like to stress the second very important point: we are
not
> there yet. We have a long way to go. In my estimation, it will be at least
two
> years before the first adult stem cells can be tested in patients with
> diseases
> such as Parkinsonism. It will probably be much longer for testing the
cells in
> patients with the other diseases I have mentioned. We simply cannot be
certain
> in advance which therapies will work and which will not. We need several
years
> of hard work and we need continuing support from sources such as the
National
> Institutes of Health and other sources such as the Louisiana State
Consortium
> for Gene Therapy and the Columbia Healthcare Association that are
currently
> supporting the Tulane Center for Gene Therapy. In my opinion, it would be
a
> serious mistake to stop all research on human embryonic cells and tissues
> because of the exciting discoveries my laboratory and others have recently
> made
> about adult stem cells. We are simply not ready for a moon shot-like
> strategy in
> which we place all our bets on adult stem cells. I think it would be a
mistake
> to tell the millions and millions of people whose lives are being
destroyed by
> these terrible diseases that they to wait three, four, five years or even
> longer
> until we see the results obtained with adult stem cells before we even
begin
> doing research on the other kinds of tissues and cells that may cure their
> diseases. I myself would be extremely sorry to see this sub committee or
any
> other group decide that because of the work we and others have done on
marrow
> stem cells, the kinds of research called for in the new NIH guidelines
> should be
> stopped.
