Posted on 11/20/2007 1:23:29 PM PST by neverdem
Two teams of scientists are reporting today that they turned human skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells without having to make or destroy an embryo — a feat that could quell the ethical debate troubling the field.
All they had to do, the scientists said, was add four genes. The genes reprogrammed the chromosomes of the skin cells, making the cells into blank slates that should be able to turn into any of the 220 cell types of the human body, be it heart, brain, blood or bone. Until now, the only way to get such human universal cells was to pluck them from a human embryo several days after fertilization, destroying the embryo in the process.
The reprogrammed skin cells may yet prove to have subtle differences from embryonic stem cells that come directly from human embryos, and the new method includes potentially risky steps, like introducing a cancer gene. But stem cell researchers say they are confident that it will not take long to perfect the method and that today’s drawbacks will prove to be temporary...
--snip--
Another caveat is that , so far, scientists use a type of virus, a retrovirus, to insert the genes into the cells’ chromosomes. Retroviruses slip genes into chromosomes at random, sometimes causing mutations that can make normal cells turn into cancers.
In addition, one of the genes that the Japanese scientists insert actually is a cancer gene.
The cancer risk means that the resulting stem cells would not be suitable for replacement cells or tissues for patients with diseases, like diabetes, in which their own cells die. They would, though, be ideal for the sort of studies that many researchers say are the real promise of this endeavor — studying the causes and treatments of complex diseases...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I couldn't find the title, but the NY Times linked the pdf from Cell.
The left will fight this -
the embryonic stem cell issue was never about finding cures, but about devaluing the human embryo so that it could be destroyed with no ethical qualms.
The fight wasn’t about stem cells...it was about abortion. The Left could care less about cures...f embryos are called “life,” then legalized abortion could be in jeopardy.
I agree...they want the “cures” from embryonic stem cells alone.
But they really don’t care about “curing” anyone. The Left like to keep an endless supply of victims at its disposal to help champion its causes.
Researchers Turn Skin Cells Into Stem Cells
Researchers Create Stem Cells Without Destroying Embryos
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This really cool I think...
The research “breakthrough” they are reporting occurred in March of 2006, 18 months ago. Those of us who have followed the whole embryonic stem cell debate have long known that the future of research lay with adult stem cells. For the NYSlimes and BBC all of a sudden breatlessly to talk about a “breakthrough” that changes everything merely means that they’re throwing in the towel on embryonic stem cells, something they should have done years ago but refused to do because they wanted an excuse to endorse the right of researchers and other adults to manipulate and kill embryonic human beings at will.
But now the jig is up. They can no longer with a straight face argue that embryonic stem cells are the most pluripotent, best, most promising. It’s been a lie for years, but they kept telling the lie. Now they can’t tell it any longer because it’s just plain incredible.
So, rather than admit they were wrong, they invent this fiction about a great breakthrough that they ignored for 18 months. They even have an explanation: when the “breakthrough” took place in March 2006 the stem cell research “community” was all shook up over the Korean research fraud, so the March 2006 “breakthrough” got buried until now.
This is the chutzpah to the ‘nth degree. They lie for years about the efficacy of embryonic stem cells, when their lie finally indefensible, they invent another lie to cover for their bull-headed refusal to take adult stem cell research seriously.
Making more adult stem cells, interesting. :’) Thanks neverdem.
bump
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