Stem Cell Therapy Research
The use of stem cell therapy for diseases other than blood disorders, leukaemia and a select few cancers is restricted, although a number of clinical trials are underway investigating stem cell therapy for spinal cord injury, diabetes, age-related macular degeneration, and Stargardt’s Disease amongst others. The recent flurry of research trials granted funding for stem cell research is largely due to a rapid increase in the ability of scientists to take adult stem cells and induce pluripotency to make them more like embryonic stem cells. This capacity for increased differentiation into a number of cell types has widened the potential applications of stem cell therapy in the absence of safety data on human embryonic stem cells and the ethical controversy around such research.
Embryonic Stem Cell Therapy Research
The first human trials of human embryonic stem cell therapy have begun though, with the first patient to receive such a transplant revealed in March 2011. This patient, a student with an acute spinal cord injury after a car crash in September 2010, is a participant in the trial being carried out by biotechnology company Geron at one of seven sites in the US. Although no details of the patient’s condition have been released from the trial, the student himself claims to be doing well and is staying positive. The trial was put on hold by the FDA temporarily following some worrying findings regarding lesion development in animal research done by Geron themselves. Further research in animal models found no more evidence of this complication and the hold has now been lifted for Geron to continue to recruit the remaining nine patients for their study. This study into stem cell therapy for spinal cord injury only aims to assess the safety of the treatment, but the researchers are also monitoring for changes in the patient’s condition that may indicate improvement and regeneration of damaged tissue.
Stem Cell Therapy for Vision
Advanced Cell Technology also have clinical trials underway using human embryonic stem cells to treat patients. Their studies are looking at the safety of using stem cell therapy to treat Stargardt’s disease, a leading cause of juvenile blindness, along with age-related macular degeneration which is a common cause of sight-loss in older adults. The stem cell therapy employed by ACT uses embryonic stem cells which have been cultured to form retinal cells to replace those lost in these two conditions. The discovery of a stem cell niche in the eye itself may make such a trial unwarranted in the future as autologous stem cell harvesting and transplant may be considered more appropriate as well as avoiding the moral debate over the embryos used in such research.
Too Soon for Stem Cell Therapy Trials?
There are some who argue that these clinical trials are going ahead too soon with questions still to be answered in the laboratory and in animal models regarding the potential effects of such stem cell treatments. As well as the ethical considerations of using human embryonic stem cells, which many people religious or otherwise object to on moral grounds, there are concerns that the trials risk being a major step backwards should anything go wrong. With so many pinning their hopes on stem cell research, a lack of positive findings in such cases, or even the revelation of negative treatment effects, could cause some to pull funding from further ‘risky’ research and invest elsewhere. Patients may also be more reticent in participating in stem cell therapy trials should this research prove premature and dangerous. Similarly, others may be discouraged from donating stem cells, from cord blood, bone marrow, or other source, should they feel that it is not likely to lead to successful treatments for others in the future.
Read More –> Adult Stem Cell Therapy Research
