Stem Cell Progress

Another story, this one in The Times of London, about a breakthrough with stem cells. Again, the breakthrough is with adult stem cells, not embryonic stem cells.

Sam Lister, Health correspondent for The Times, explains, "A team of British specialists has successfully treated more than a dozen patients with impaired corneas by transplanting human stem cells grown in a laboratory on to their eyes." Out of one group of ten patients, seven had their sight restored, and these were people whose corneas had been damaged by acid or boiling metal in their eyes, or who had congenital defects.

"The process involves taking stem cells, which occur naturally in the eye, and developing them into sheets of cells in the laboratory. These are transplanted on to the surface of the eye where they are held in place by an amniotic membrane, which dissolves away as the sheet fuses to the eye." The really exciting part of this process is that the transplanted stem cells don't appear to stick around. They trigger the eye to repair itself, and then the stem cells are shed from the eye. A year after the process, no trace of the donor's DNA was found on any of the patients' eyes. And this means that the patients would not need the immune-suppressing drugs that are required for standard-transplant patients.

The article concludes, "Nadey Hakim, a consultant surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital, London, said that it was likely that such action could be mimicked in other organs, thus reducing the need for organ transplants. Professor Hakim said: 'The hope is that stem cells will one day be used to generate large quantities of cells and tissues and possibly entire organs damaged by disease and injury. It is a dream.'”

Meanwhile, as a California resident, my frustration mounts. Every step of stem cell progress has been with adult stem cells (including umbilical cord blood). Embryonic stem cells have yet to prove effective in treating patients without causing severe side effects.

And what kind of stem cell research is California going to be asking its taxpayers to spend $6 billion on? The kind that doesn't work, of course.