Stem Cell Therapies May Be Right Under Our Nose - Vision.org

Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Also Included In: Eye Health / Blindness
Article Date: 21 Aug 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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In criticizing mega-church pastor Rick Warren's recent televised conversation with Presidential candidates Senators Barak Obama and John McCain, those opposed to the event argued that the fundamental barrier that separates church and state had been violated. This conflict is not restricted to politics and religion and is also a conflict which surfaces when moral questions involve the sciences. The restrictions in the United States for the funding of embryonic stem cell research for instance, are often characterized as the out-of-place imposition of religious standards into science. In the Vision.org article, Sniffing Out a Cure for Parkinson's, Dan Cloer outlines recent findings in the area of adult stem cell research that avoid the moral quagmire.

Contrary to those who lament restrictions on funding, stem cell research of all types, both embryonic and adult, are on the fast track worldwide. In the area of adult stem cell research, "it has become increasingly and enticingly clear that our bodies are outfitted with an array of stem cells," Cloer writes. "According to several research articles published in just the last month, adult stem cells may have a far more immediate impact on regenerative therapies than first imagined."

The Vision.org article explores recent research into three areas: the gene expression characteristics of stem cells; the reprogramming of adult stem cells; and the demonstrated therapeutic capabilities of reprogrammed neural stem cells to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Unlike embryo-based research, there are no restrictions on investigating adult stem cell capabilities. Cloer argues that using a patient's own stem cells as a source for cell-based therapies avoids the scientific and moral difficulties of creating cloned embryonic cells. Adult stem cell research will not usurp embryonic research but it may be the quickest avenue to clinical application and a realization of the oft-promised therapeutic potential of cell-based medicine.

"Certainly none of these reports is the final word on stem cell research. But they each in their own way show how our understanding of the body's capacity to heal is moving forward one small, often molecular step at a time," continues Cloer.

Bioethicist Jeremy Sugarman from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, notes the necessity of continued scientific research. "The incredible promise of stem cell research to at minimum advance scientific understanding and perhaps ultimately to treat persons with devastating diseases gives moral force to efforts to conduct this research."

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