About a week ago I wrote
this diary about how researchers generated an extremely powerful new technique for purifying stem cells from testes that were capable of replacing embryonic stem cells. I've long been a skeptic of adult stem cells, from my own personal experience with them and readings of the literature, adult stem cells derived so far have been mediocre at transdifferentiation, and most of the impressive early findings in the cells were shown to be due to fusion.
These cells however, are extremely encouraging because they are capable of performing the three major feats of embryonic stem cells, that is making all types of tissue in vitro, in vivo and making teratomas (a tumor consisting of multiple cell types) when injected into immune-deficient animals. These cells are effectively embryonic stem cells, but genetically matched to the donor, and can be made without destruction of embryos.
The major problem? So far, they could only be purified from mice. This is a problem no longer.
I thought it would take months before this result would be repeated in humans, but researchers at PrimeGen, a company based in Irving CA, have now made these cells from
human tissue.
U.S. researchers said yesterday they had transformed immature cells from men's testicles into stem cells, which they then coaxed into becoming nerve, heart and bone cells.
...
Francisco Silva and colleagues at PrimeGen said they had accomplished the same thing and taken it several steps further using human germ cells.
"Germ cells isolated from adult human testis can be therapeutically reprogrammed to have the ability to differentiate into cells that can be used therapeutically for cell-based regenerative medicine," they wrote for a presentation in Spain.
"We've already been able to reproducibly differentiate heart, brain, bone and cartilage cells, and we are excited to begin testing how these cells incorporate into tissues," Silva said in a statement.
The second major problem to be overcome is to purify these cells from ovaries so that women can directly benefit from the technology without having to reprogram male cells or create a huge bank of cells. I'm sure this will be reported very soon as similar cells exist in females, they're just harder to extract. There is this statement from the article:
The researchers, at PrimeGen Biotech LLC in Irvine, Calif., worked with immature cells found in testes and ovaries...
...but it is a little vague, I don't believe the researchers presented on cells from ovaries yet, but the field is hot and I'm sure it's in the works.
So, what does this mean for the Democrats in the coming election? I think this means a major partisan wedge issue has been rendered impotent. Now we can say when they try to rile up the right wing base with tales of the horror of blastocyst destruction, that it's no longer an issue. Science has found a way to make embryonic-like stem cells, that are just as powerful without destroying embryos. Further, these cells match the donor's genetic profile meaning they are even better than existing ES cells because there is no longer any need for therapeutic cloning or somatic cell nuclear transfer to make stem cells identical to patient.
These researchers have taken out two of the major roadblocks to ES cell therapy in humans in one fell swoop.
I can not emphasize enough how important these results are. Once these results are repeated in other labs and shown to be similar to the results in mice we'll be able to breathe easy and drop ES cell research from the political radar. I am highly optomistic that this is the case, replication within two weeks of the original paper is a sign many labs can purify these cells and it will become a widely-used technique.
This is a great time to be doing ES cell research, and two weeks ago, I was wondering if I had chosen the right career path. The path is cleared, scientifically and politically, for cell-based regenerative medicine to proceed unencumbered by right wing fanatics.
So, if you are worried about Republicans delaying cures and using this issue to divide Americans, worry no longer. Science has found a way and it's just a beautiful time for US research (except for the Iraq civil war bankrupting the government and preventing our grants from getting funded).
Celebrate!