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Coventry News, UK Stem cell breakthrough for Britain Aug 13 2003 A colony of stem cells extracted from human embryos has been grown in a British laboratory for the first time, scientists announced today. The breakthrough could mark the beginning of a new chapter of UK research, leading to revolutionary medical treatments. It was hailed as a major achievement by experts, but condemned by pro-life campaigners who see research on human embryos as morally wrong. Stem cells are "master" cells with the ability to develop into different kinds of tissue. Those taken from early stage embryos - unlike adult stem cells - have the potential to become any part of the body. Stimulated by the right chemicals, they could theoretically be turned into brain neurons, heart muscle, bone, or insulin-producing pancreatic cells. Many scientists believe research on embryonic stem cells could change medicine beyond all recognition, raising the prospect of cures for diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes. A team of scientists led by Dr Stephen Minger at King's College London produced three stem cell populations from a total of 58 embryos. Two of the lines were lost at an early stage, but the third has been growing for many months and now consists of hundreds of thousands of cells. The five-day old embryos were left over from In Vitro-Fertilisation treatment at Guy's and St Thomas's Assisted Conception Unit in London. They had been rejected for implantation after undergoing testing for specific genetic disorders. The patients involved gave their permission for the embryos to be used for stem cell research. The generation of the cell line was reported today in the online edition of the journal Reproductive Biology. Dr Minger said: "We are very excited about this development. Human embryonic stem cells are found in the earliest stages of development and are capable of giving rise to all the different types of cell in the body. "This means their possible therapeutic uses are almost endless and could help in the fight against diseases ranging from diabetes to Parkinson's." The King's College team was one of the first two groups in the UK to be granted a license by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to produce human embryonic stem cells. The licence was granted in March 2002, just days after a House of Lords report gave the go-ahead for embryonic stem cell research in the UK. There have been only a handful of stem cell lines generated from human embryos around the world. The first was produced by Jamie Thomson in the United States more than four years ago. It seems likely that the King's College cell line will be the first deposited in Europe's new Stem Cell Bank, launched last year and based at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control in Potter's Bar, Hertfordshire. Professor Sir George Radda, chief executive of the Medical Research Council, which manages the Stem Cell Bank, said: "This is an exciting day for UK science. Stem cells offer new hope for treatments, and even cures, for many common diseases, but a huge amount of research is needed to understand how they work and how their potential could be harnessed. "The UK Stem Cell Bank has been set up to enable research in this revolutionary area of science to move forward, and we hope to start banking lines this autumn." Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, head of developmental genetics at the MRC's National Institute for Medical Research and a leading expert on stem cells, said: "This is a very important breakthrough, not only for UK science but also for the way that embryo research is regulated in this country. "While it is possible that the human ES cell line that has been obtained has the genetic disease, this will not matter for many research purposes. Indeed it would be beneficial for studies of this disease, and in attempts to find cures for it, as the properties of the cells can be investigated in culture." Dr David Dexter, senior lecturer in pharmacology and head of the Parkinson's disease research unit at Imperial College, London, said: "This is exciting news. These developments will allow stem cell research to continue at a faster rate so that we can fully assess the potential use of stem cells in the treatment of disease. "However, stem cells still face many hurdles before they can become a viable treatment for Parkinson's disease." Professor Richard Gardner of the Department of Zoology at Oxford University, who chaired the Royal Society working group which recommended creating stem cell banks for research, said: "It is gratifying that the derivation of human embryonic stem cell lines has now been achieved in the UK since the relevant pioneering work on human IVF and on mouse embryonic stem cells was undertaken here. "There is an urgent need for more properly validated lines that are made freely available to researchers if the therapeutic promise of embryonic stem cells is to be realised." Alistair Kent, director of the Genetic Interest Group, said: "Doing research on embryos that cannot be implanted, to give fresh hope to people with incurable diseases is much more ethical than allowing them to perish. I think the women who donate these early embryos are making a fantastic gesture and should be applauded." But the research was condemned by Professor Jack Scarisbrick, chairman of the anti-abortion group Life, who said it was a first step towards human cloning. "As soon as they've done this with surplus embryos they'll want to do it with cloned human beings," he said. "You can say these embryos are going to die anyway but it's like robbing the dead soldier. It's a further affront to their dignity to be cannibalising them in this way. "The scientists are delighted because there's big money at stake. It could mean huge business, and of course it's power. It's forbidden fruit, playing with human life." SOURCE: Coventry News, UK http://tinyurl.com/jv1n * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn