And the Korean Mess Continues

And the Korean Mess Continues

Now the Korean stem cell issues are turning melodramatic. The junior researcher who donated her ova for Hwang’s cloning research has vanished (from the Korean point of view) somewhere in the US. She had been at the University of Pittsburgh to work with Dr. Schatten and was supposed to return November 17, but has not had contact with the researchers at Seoul National University. According to Chosun Ilbo,

Park Eul-soon is a researcher who holds knowledge of key techniques for the removal of an egg cell’s nucleus and transferring the nucleus of somatic cell into the egg cell. The researcher made a key contribution to the extraction of a stem cell line from the world's first cloned human embryo, the subject of a Hwang article in Science. The researcher was then dispatched to collaborate with Prof. Schatten's research team at the University of Pittsburgh. Park also played a crucial role in generating cloned monkey embryos.

There is concern in Korea that Park may “leak” important technical knowledge to American researchers.

Meanwhile, according to both the Korea Times and the JoongAng Daily, the Korean television station MBC is investigating Hwang’s research and says that it has proof that some of the results may have been fabricated. The JoongAng Daily reports that producers of a documentary at MBC have said that “MBC asked two institutions to analyze DNA of five embryonic stem cells that allegedly came from Dr. Hwang's lab. Some of those cells, however, did not have identical DNA to their original somatic cells.” According to the Korea Times, these claims are being met with skepticism by other scientists, who believe the review process by the journal Science was thorough.

Hwang is presently in seclusion at a temple, according to another Korea Times article.

The fall-out is still happening, so it is hard to draw conclusions on what will happen next. There are numerous articles on the subject that you can find in Google News if you are further interested. I would personally be very surprised if the research were false: A) I trust the magazine Science to do a better job than many places, and certainly better than unidentified institutions approached by a TV station; and B) successful cloning of other animals has been done, and I don’t believe people are fundamentally different on a biological basis.

As for Park—one would venture to guess that she saw the writing on the wall when Schatten withdrew from collaboration with Hwang, and has decided that the US is a safer (and perhaps more private) place to be. There are many possible permutations of this, and I don’t think it’s fair to her to speculate further.

And the moral of the story is that people will be people, and science can’t occur outside of the human condition.

Research on Deafness

Research on Deafness

The Daily Mail reported that “Researchers from Sheffield University are using embryonic stem cells in efforts to grow new cells in the inner ear.” The researchers are hoping to find a cure for deafness within 10 to 15 years. They are still doing laboratory tests in culture and have not yet moved on to animal testing, so human trials are years away.

New Zealand Ministry Releases Draft Guidelines

New Zealand Ministry Releases Draft Guidelines

The New Zealand Ministry of Health has release draft guidelines for research with human embryonic stem cells and is inviting comment. According to Scoop,

The draft guidelines include provisions around ethical review; provisions associated with the way in which human embryonic stem cell lines are established; provisions relating to the proposed use of established human embryonic stem cell lines and duties of ethics committees. The closing date for submissions on the draft guidelines is Friday 3 March 2006.

There is not currently hESC research in New Zealand, and the new guidelines would allow it in limited form.

The news article follows up the news with a Q&A on stem cells and on the guidelines and New Zealand issues, especially related to the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act of 2004.

The news is also reported in the New Zealand Herald, which includes quotations from people on both sides of the debate.

Nose Stem Cells to Be Used in Spinal Cord Experiment

Nose Stem Cells to Be Used in Spinal Cord Experiment

In a small study of 10 patients next year, British doctors will transplant stem cells from the patients’ noses to the area where nerves in the arm have been pulled out of the spinal cord, a common motorcycle injury. The research leading to this step has been done over a period of years by Dr. Geoffrey Raisman, a neuroscientist who discovered that cells from the lining of the nose constantly regenerate. The hope is that these cells, when implanted in the injury site, will form a “bridge” that allows the nerves to regenerate. This is the first human study of such a type, so it is limited to this specific injury.

The story is widely reported. The best general overview is in The Guardian, but you can also find a brief UPI story on Science Daily and another version on The Scotsman. The Telegraph also ran a story which has extensive quotation from Dr. Raisman about what he is doing and why. Raisman last week received the Christopher Reeve research medal.

Stem Cells and Brains

Stem Cells and Brains

According to a UPI story reprinted in Science Daily, researchers in Australia have found that progenitor cells in mouse brains can generate new brain cells in the hippocampus area. These are not stem cells, but it does provide evidence that nervous tissue can be regenerated, which is very important for all stem cell research in the areas of paralysis, dementia, and other neurological issues.

In an unrelated study, researchers at Tulane University implanted human bone marrow stem cells into mouse brains, and that stimulated the creation of differentiated neural cells. The human cells were implanted into the hippocampus, and within seven days there were many new neural cells. After 30 days, the new neural cells were taking on the characteristics of specialized brain cells. The research, which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is reported on Xinhua, a Chinese newspaper; I haven’t been able to find a press release or other source.

Basic question about stem cells

A 14 year old reader wondered about the basics of stem cell biology. Here's a repeat of a prior post that addresses some of this:

Some Basics on Adult Stem Cells

All information on this page is summarized from the website of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. Since it’s a slow news day, I thought it might be useful to update the blog with some VERY basic information about non-embryonic stem cells. Any errors in the science are my own.

There are several types of stem cells besides embryonic stem cells that are being studied and/or used in therapies throughout the world.

Adult stem cells have different properties depending upon where they are derived from. Their ability to differentiate and the extent of such differentiation is still not well understood.

Hematopoietic stem cells are a type of adult stem cell produced by human bone marrow. They can be used to produce different kinds of blood cells, are easily obtained from bone marrow or directly from the blood, and have been used in therapies for blood cancers and other diseases for years. It is unknown at present if they can differentiate into cells other than blood cells. (See the 9-18-05 Post “Stem Cell Recipients Mostly Healthy 10 Years Later” for a discussion of a study on HCTs.)

Mesenchymal stem cells are also adult stem cells which are produced by the bone marrow, but they are able to differentiate into several different kinds of cells, including fat cells, muscles cells, bone and cartilage cells, tendon and ligament cells, skin cells, and nerve cells. (The ability to differentiate into a variety of cells is known as pluripotency.) They are easily cultured in the laboratory and can be preserved by freezing. Animal trials on tissue repair with mesenchymal stem cells have shown promise.

Umbilical cord stem cells (also known as neo-natal stem cells) are a different form of hematopoietic stem cells. They are obtained from the blood of a newborn infant’s umbilical cord and are less mature than stem cells obtained from the bone marrow of children or adults. In the treatment of blood cancers and diseases, cord blood grafts are less likely to produce an immune system response from the recipient than bone marrow grafts. However, the use of cord blood cells for tissue regeneration is probably subject to the same risk of rejection as regular organ donations.

All stem cells, whether embronic or adult, work through basic cell division. They split into two: one cell remains an exact copy of the original stem cell and is able to further divide into more stem cells. The other cell, known as the daughter cell, is larger than the copied stem cell and it is the one that differentiates into a cell of a specific body types. Embryonic stem cells are much more flexible in what they differentiate into than adult stem cells. (It's easy to see why--the single cell that is a fertilized egg eventually divides into every cell in the body, so embryonic stem cells have the capacity to do the same thing. Adult stem cells, on the other hand, can be understood through our body's healing process; when we cut a skin or break a bone, we grow new cells of the apporpiate type. The adult cells already have jobs, so to speak.)

What makes a stem cell differentiate into a particular kind of cell? That's the million dollar question that researchers are working on.

Besides the link above, another good basic source is the National Institute of Health Stem Cell Information, http://stemcells.nih.gov/index.asp. There are also some links under Other Resources on this blog that have stem cell info.

Good luck to you!