Courtesy: Medill Reports Chicago
Last March 9, months after taking office, President Barack Obama lifted the ban imposed in 2001 by the Bush administration on providing federal funding for stem cell research.
One year later, while researchers across the country are actively pursuing that funding and available embryonic stem cell lines, some doctors say the hype has misled the public about how soon treatment could become available.
Dr. John Kessler, director of the Feinberg Neuroscience Institute at Northwestern University, said one of the biggest obstacles is the public’s high expectations, and the common belief that stem cells will immediately lead to new treatments for disease.
“There is no question in my mind that stem cell biology is going to revolutionalize the way we practice medicine,” Kessler said. “It’s not going to happen with the kind of time frame that people want. It’s not going to happen tomorrow. It’s not going to happen next year.”
Kessler works on stem cell experiments to treat neurological disease, with an emphasis on spinal cord injuries as well as Alzheimer’s disease. He said that however hopeful, any potential breakthroughs are years away.
“These are very painstaking experiments,” he said. “They take a very long time to accomplish. And patience is not something that you can suggest to a patient or the family of a patient who has a very serious disease.”
On March 9, 2009 when Obama signed the executive order changing the way National Institutes of Health supported and conducted human stem cell research, he opened the door for institutes such as the University of Wisconsin–Madison Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center to move forward in their stem cell research.
Director Timothy Kamp said the transition period following the executive order has put up hurdles in embryonic stem cell research but the National Institutes of Health’s ongoing approval of more and more stem cell lines is promising.
“It will open up research to newer embryonic stem cell lines, and has and will advance the field in the long term,” he said.
The International Society for Stem Cell Research defines a stem cell line as “a population of cells that can replicate themselves for long periods of time in vitro, or outside of the body.”
The National Institutes of Health has approved 43 stem cell lines up so far, with more lines pending. The agency recently proposed expanding the definition of the human embryonic stem cells eligible for federal funding to include research on stem cell lines from blastomeres – cells developed after a fertilized egg has divided several times. The institute is encouraging the public to comment on the proposed change on their web site.
Kamp said the progress of stem cell research would take time, as scientists and legislators learn as they go and government officials keep a close watchful eye on every detail.
“There is a great deal of caution as this has never been done before,” he said. “There’s a learning process going on. The closer we get to clinical application, the more dynamic and challenging the regulatory environment will be.”
Dr. Teepu Siddique, professor of neurology and molecular biology at Feinberg School of Medicine, said that although stem cell research has hit obstacles, limited access is not always the only reason that treatments are still unknown and unavailable. He said in the case of the nervous system, stem cell research has proven ineffective.
“There is no instance that I know of where stem cells have been effective, in either mice models or human beings, in the nervous system,” he said. “I think that’s where the problem lies. It’s not the access to stem cells. It’s the lack of scientific knowledge.”
However, Siddique said that further research could help answer the most difficult questions, especially on adult stem cell studies where patients can have their own bone marrow or skin cells used to treat their diseases.
“Stem cells can certainly be used for understanding the mechanism of disease before we proceed any further,” he said.
The controversy behind the use of embryonic stem cells has clouded the potential for adult stem cells therapies, which are utilized in clinical trials across the country to treat such ailments as cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine just completed a Phase II study which successfully treated symptoms of heart disease with the patient’s own adult stem cells derived from bone marrow. Further research in Phase III of the trial will likely take place within the next year.
Dr. Douglas Losordo, who led the team of researchers, has said that the future of stem cells therapies does not have to rely solely on embryonic stem cells.
“We as adults have cells in our body that can be used to regenerate different tissues,” he said.
Kessler said that adequate time and funding needs to be applied in order for any kind of stem cell research to produce results. He said he fears that people might write off the potential of stem cell therapies because they do not see the immediate results they are expecting.
“I worry a little bit that after we go a certain period time without new dramatic therapies appearing people are going to say stem cell therapies don’t really work,” he said. “Well, they do. They will. It’s just going to take us time.”
- Tina Amirkiai
