Oklahoma medical, political and religious leaders praised new research showing ordinary human skin cells can take on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells. The development could advance the fight against cancer and other diseases.
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"I'm excited ... about the news,” said Paul Kincade, director of the immunobiology and cancer program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City.
"Over the past few years, we've heard a lot about embryonic stem cells, which can generate every type of cell in the human body. Scientists around the world have been trying to figure out why they are so flexible,” he said.
"These new reports represent a breakthrough. They show that these ‘flexible' characteristics of stem cells are determined by a surprisingly small number of genes and that there could be potential to control these genes in adult stem cells as well as in embryonic ones,” Kincade said.
"On the whole, stem cell research holds great promise.”
For years, the controversial issue of using stem cells from human embryos created ethical, political and practical obstacles that have stymied attempts to produce human stem cells by cloning embryos.
Religious groups have opposed using any embryo cells.
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, praised researchers for making adult human skin cells behave like embryonic stem cells.
"This breakthrough provides further evidence that the most promising avenues of stem cell research are also the most ethical,” Coburn said.
"The scientific community is moving rapidly without the assistance of laws requiring the taxpayer-funded destruction of human life,” Coburn said, noting that research involving adult stem cells and umbilical cord blood has yielded more than 70 treatments and therapies for diseases while research using embryonic stem cells "has produced zero proven therapies.”
"Liberals and conservative policymakers should trust that both sides want to see research development cures and treatments” using appropriate stem cells, he added.
Susan Lepak, an ethics director for the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, said the church has been seeking stem cells "from ethical
sources for many years.”
"To date, research using embryonic stem cells has not brought about one single successful cure for a degenerative disease. The cost of creating embryos to dismantle them is exorbitant, while the use of skin cells is minimal,” she said.
"The best news is the ethical obstacles of creating embryos can be removed.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
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AT A GLANCE
Stem cells
Stem cells have two important characteristics that distinguish them from other types of cells:
•They are unspecialized cells that renew themselves for long periods through division.
•Under certain conditions, they can be induced to become cells with special functions such as the beating cells of the heart muscle or the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.
Types of stem cells
•Embryonic: These are derived from embryos that develop from eggs that have been fertilized in a fertilization clinic — and then donated for research purposes with informed consent of the donors.
•Adult: These have been identified in many organs and tissues. Stem cells are thought to reside in a specific area of each tissue where they may remain inactive for many years until they are activated by disease or tissue injury. The adult tissues reported to contain stem cells include brain, bone marrow, peripheral blood, blood vessels, skeletal muscle, skin and liver, public health officials said.
Q&A
Scientists have morphed adult skin cells into stem cells, which make other types of cells. This could help cure diseases.
Q: How big a breakthrough is this?A: One researcher compared it to the Wright Brothers' airplane.
Q: What's so great about this approach?A: It doesn't require destruction of embryos for harvesting stem cells. That destruction has led some groups to oppose the cloning approach for ethical and religious reasons.
Q: Are there drawbacks to the approach?A: It disrupts the DNA of the skin cells, which leads to a potential for cancer. Experts think there is a way to avoid it.
Q: Can we expect to see new treatments anytime soon?A: Not for years.
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