Posted on 09/08/2004 7:58:37 PM PDT by Flavius
N (AFP) - Scientists in Britain said they have produced the world's first colonies of embryonic stem cells containing the genetic defect behind cystic fibrosis, in an apparent breakthrough in the fight against the disease.
Researchers from King's College London, speaking at the British Association Festival of Science at the University of Exeter, said it is the first definitive case of stem cells being created containing any kind of genetic disease defect.
The scientists are now looking for specialists around the world who can develop further the cells and use them to investigate new treatments, according to Stephen Minger, who headed the research.
Embryonic stem cells are prototype "mother" cells found in early-stage embryos, with the potential to become any kind of tissue in the body.
Scientists hope that one day they can be used to treat currently incurable diseases such as Parkinson's and insulin-dependent diabetes, as well as to repair damaged hearts or make new skin.
But stem cells also open up new avenues of basic research into diseases.
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common life-threatening inherited disease, affecting about 7,500 babies, children and young adults in the UK, according to scientists.
CF clogs the lungs and other organs in the body with thick, sticky mucus, triggering repeated infections which ultimately lead to death.
Scientists have identified the faulty gene that causes cystic fibrosis but research is hampered by the fact that laboratory animals cannot be made to develop the disease.
Cultures of CF cells could provide researchers with an ideal alternative to animal models.
Minger's team produced the first cells a year ago and since then have grown billions of them in the laboratory.
The next step is to develop the cells further so they become early versions of the endothelium, the cells that line the inside of the lungs.
"If you can take ES (Embrionic Stem) cells and differentiate them into endothelium then you have a cell type where the mutation will be physiologically relevant," Minger said.
"We have looked for markers of endothelium and have seen some," he added.
"We'd really like to collaborate with people who have a vested interest in this because this isn't our speciality. We'd be very keen to provide these cells to groups who think they can use them," he said.
Minger said an American group had claimed to have produced a stem cell line containing a genetic defect, but said the results were questionable.
His own work was now at the review stage awaiting publication in a scientific journal.
He said two US researchers had shown keen interest in the CF cells but had been prevented from using them because they were federally funded. The US government does not support experiments on human embryos.
Still, virtually every such anomaly, which is harmful to specific individuals, usually has a protective characteristic that is useful to the species in general.
Some have speculated that carrying a single copy may confer resistance to some common, but otherwise fatal, infectious disease. Cholera was proposed as a candidate. Of course, the resistance to cholera seems to provide resistance to black plague as well as AIDS.
So, maybe it's not such a great advance to find a pathway to a "cure".
I question the timing of this discovery.
What diseases will be cured in the next 20 years? I think we are really on the brink of dramatic medical breakthroughs that will extend the average human lifespan to well over 100 years.
The modern world is making the Nazi and WWII era Japanese medical experiments look like child's play.
ok, so, when does this break thru go on the market n start
saving lives, instead of terminating them; by sucking their brains out???
probably after they cure aids first...
The resistance to Cholera, plague, and AIDS is the Delta-32 mutation. About ten percent of Europeans and people of european descent carry it.
Thank you for posting this.
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