Some Scientists Believe Stem Cells From Adults Could Satisfy Research Needs

(St. Louis Post-Dispatch) -- While politicians, ethicists and religious leaders argue over the social and moral implications of funding research on stem cells taken from human embryos, researchers say the scientific debate on the topic is far from over.

Stem cells are primordial cells capable of generating many different types of body parts. The question confronting scientists involved in stem cell research is whether stem cells taken from adults are as flexible as stem cells derived from embryos.

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For years, scientists thought that only embryonic stem cells were able to produce all of the cells in the human body. Stem cells taken from adult tissues such as brain, bone marrow or fat were thought to be less capable and only able to make a subset of body tissues. New research is challenging that view and leading many scientists to call for federal support for both types of research.

Adult tissues may actually be more promising sources than embryos of stem cells used for transplants, said David Prentice, a cell biologist at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. Prentice is one of the founding members of Do No Harm, a group of scientists and others who challenge embryonic stem cell research on ethical grounds.

Prentice says that work with adult stem cells has shown progress in treating lupus, Parkinson's disease and damaged corneas and hearts, while embryonic stem cells have failed to live up to their potential. He admits that his is a minority opinion.

Many other scientists and professional societies contend that embryonic stem cells may hold greater promise in treating a wide range of human diseases and disorders including heart disease, diabetes, brain-degenerating diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease, arthritis and paralysis.

They say 20 years of research on embryonic stem cells from mice has shown that embryo cells have the potential to become any of the more than 200 types of cells that make up the human body. But no one is yet sure how many tissues adult stem cells can make. That's good enough reason to fund both types of research, these scientists say.

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