US scientists make embryonic stem cells from adult skin

WASHINGTON - For the first time, US researchers have cloned embryonic stem cells from adult cells, a breakthrough on the path towards helping doctors treat a host of diseases.

The embryonic stem cells—which were created by fusing an adult skin cell with an egg cell that had been stripped of genetic material—were genetically identical to the donors.

The hope is that cloned embryonic stem cells, which are capable of transforming into any other type of cell in the body, could be used in patient-specific regenerative therapy to repair or replace an individual's organs damaged by diseases including cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease.

The team of researchers, led by Robert Lanza, of the Massachusetts-based company Advanced Cell Technology, used a technique that had succeeded last year with infant skin cells.

But Lanza's team, funded in part by the South Korean government, used cells from a 35-year-old man and a 75-year-old man.

This is a significant step forward, the researchers wrote in the study published Thursday in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

"For many cell types, reprogramming is more difficult for adult cells than for fetal/infant cells, presumably at least in part because (they are) ... further removed from the pluripotent state" in which the cells can develop into different types, the study said.

Yet adults are more likely than infants to need regenerative therapy, the authors wrote, noting that "the incidence of many diseases that could be treated with pluripotent cell derivatives increases with age."

One advantage of this approach is that it does not use fertilized embryos to obtain stem cells, a technique that raises major ethical issues because the embryo is destroyed.

But critics, including the Catholic Church, believe it presents a slippery slope that could lead to cloning of human beings, a suggestion scientists deny.

Since the birth of Dolly the sheep in 1996 in the United Kingdom, the first cloned animal, researchers have cloned some 20 species including goats and rabbits, but never monkeys or primates whose biology and reproduction is more complex.

Years of research on monkey cells using the same technique have not successfully produced any monkey clones. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

Vatican-backed stem cell research gets $1.2-M US grant

WASHINGTON - A Vatican-backed US company that researches an alternative to embryonic stem cells on Friday received a $1.2 million dollar government grant, despite independent studies that question whether their product even exists.

NeoStem, a New Jersey-headquartered company, is investigating very small embryonic-like (VSEL) cells found in adult bone marrow that they say may be able to regrow into different kinds of tissue.

The research has stirred controversy due to NeoStem's marketing partnership with the Vatican and three independent studies that have been unable to confirm the cells are even there.

The latest peer-reviewed grant, totaling $1,221,854, was provided by the US National Institutes of Health for research on an experimental drug that could regenerate bone tissue damaged by periodontitis, a serious gum disease.

The company, along with other partner institutions, has already received $4.5 million in government research grants, including from the Department of Defense and the NIH.

"We are very excited about our progress towards the IND (investigational new drug) submission for what we expect to be the first human clinical study for our VSEL Technology and for the support of the NIH," said a statement by NeoStem chief executive Robin Smith.

The phase two trial could begin later this year or early next, and would be conducted in cooperation with investigators at the University of Michigan, the company said.

In July, scientists at Stanford University said in the journal Stem Cell Reports they could not replicate NeoStem's findings of VSELs in the bone marrow of lab mice.

Instead, they found that what was purported to be VSELs -- about five micrometers in diameter -- were either debris or dead cells.

Two previous studies published in the journal PLoS One in 2012 and 2013 also described unsuccessful attempts to locate the cells.

The field of stem cell research has raised hopes of finding cures for everything from blindness to paralysis, but the work is controversial and fraught with legal barriers over patents.

Embryonic stem cell research has been a political lightning rod, opposed by religious groups and individuals who find fault with destroying a human life form.

Meanwhile, stem cells isolated from adult tissues are receiving plenty of attention, but researchers have yet to find a way to use them on a large scale to safely and efficiently regenerate organs and tissues.  — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com