Reality Check
Everyone interested has seen the report on the research that seems to seems to show Skin transformed into stem cells. An amazing piece of work, if it can be replicated and verified in other labs by other people, and doesn’t turn into another South Korean cloning disaster.
There is a major misconception being voiced by those who oppose embryonic stem cell research, i.e. that embryonic stem cells don’t need to be studied, and all the labs doing this kind of work can be shut down without loss. Wrong!
The researchers wouldn’t have known what they were looking for without the embryonic stem cells as a guide and example. What they have created seems to be the same as embryonic stem cells, but it will take some time and effort to find out if that is true. I hope that it is because being able to grow stem cells in the lab will really speed up research on a lot of diseases and promises to make the repair of organs and the nervous system a reality, but we don’t know that yet, and the embryonic stem cells are the model against which the new cells must be tested.
6 comments
not to mention that if it doesn’t work, we’re back at square one, this time without anything to fall back on should we get stampeded into stopping research on embryonic stem cells.
One of the things I worry about in reading this stuff is, what if it isn’t just the particular genes that are turned on or off, but the sequence in which it’s done that determines what a stem cell becomes. You can’t know that unless you can trace the normal development of a stem cell.
If the research is valid, the skin cell process opens the way for production, but it may not be best or final answer. You can’t shut down research until you know.
Stem cell technology may eventually allow new genes to be safely inserted, which could cure my condition and remove my dependence on orphan drug enzyme that costs … quite a bit. And there are many others like me and who have other conditions that this can cure.
I declined to participate in earlier gene replacement protocols, which used a modified mouse leukemia viral vector. Unfortunately it didn’t work very well either, the patients either didn’t have a benefit or a short lived one, and there were complications… The risk of cancer by this route is enormous.
Quiite right Bryan. This research is potentially great news BUT we have a hell of a lot to understand about the workings of embryo cells. Before we know an awful lot more about the way they work, this could be yet another false dawn. I hope the new discovery can meet expectations , I really do.
The process is a concern, as you say, Michael. The method they use to “flip the switches” may be as dangerous as underlying condition, and possibly more dangerous long-term.
The devil is always in the details, Jams. People build up hopes, and then there’s a crash. We are moving forward, but we need to broaden the front so we don’t miss anything. We know that a lot of diseases are caused by some failure in the development of the embryo, not simply by inheriting “bad genes”, so we need to know a whole lot more about the process before we find out about the problems after treating people.