Here are some headlines & articles worth a look and some thought on stem cell and biomedical science more generally.
Gallup finds in a new poll that 60% of Americans surveyed find human embryonic stem celsl research “largely acceptable”.
On the other hand human reproductive cloning is highly frowned upon, sandwiched in the “highly unacceptable category between suicide, polygamy, and infidelity. Notably, even cloning of animals was viewed pretty negatively.
Time Magazine’s piece Friday on Gordie Howe, who just passed away, and his controversial injection with stem cells.
This isn’t hype: Canadian doctors just reversed severe MS using stem cells from Vox. These kinds of “I’m not a….” statements are tricky to read.
Japan to begin transplants using donor iPS cells
Mitochondrial Dynamics Impacts Stem Cell Identity and Fate Decisions by Regulating a Nuclear Transcriptional Program from Cell Stem Cell.
EZH2 and HDAC9c regulate age-dependent mesenchymal stem cell differentiation into osteoblasts and adipocytes from Stem Cells.
About reversing MS…it is true that in the past, both MS and Type I diabetes have been cured by replacing a person’s whole immune system with donor cells. MS and Type 1 diabetes are autoimmune diseases, in which a person’s own immune system attacks their spinal cord or pancreas. Getting rid of the person’s own immune system gets rid of the autoimmunity.
The problem with this approach is that it can be deadly and is not used, at least in this country, unless life is in danger. For it to work, the stem cells in the bone marrow have to be killed with heavy dose chemotherapy or radiation. When those are gone, the patients receive bone marrow from a donor, as close a match as possible. There’s a risk of transplant rejection, graft versus host disease, and infections. It’s most often used for leukemia when all other approaches have failed.
If there were a better, less dangerous way to replace the immune system, I’d be all for it.