Woo boy. This just doesn't sound good. The US federal government had already restricted funding of stem cell research to work using stem cell lines that were in existence as of the date of President Bush's address to the nation seven months after taking office in his first term. Since then, there have been varied responses to the restricted funding - some U.S. scientists have left for Europe, where some countries (like the UK) are more supportive; some schools report a drop-off in the number of US students taking up related research because of the uncertainty of a job; and there has been a spate of states raising initiatives to fund stem cell research with state money.
Even with the increase in state money, though, one thing is still needed - stem cell lines. Even with piles of money, you can't do embyronic stem cell research without those cells, after all. Privately created stem cell lines are difficult for researchers to access and the ones remaining that were okayed by the federal government for federal funds were dwindling. And now we receive the not-so-good news that the non-private lines have been contaminated.
From what I can see, there is no need to panic. But, as Dr. James Battey, head of the stem cell task force at NIH said, "[t]his is a safety consideration, along with many others that will need to be addressed." The cell lines are contaminated with a non-human cell, which may compromise the therapies that are being tested with those stem cell lines. Dr. Ajit Varki at the University of California - San Diego stated, "[e]ven worse, in the process of killing the contaminated cells, the patient might have a bad reaction," Varki explained. "It could be like receiving a bad blood transfusion." Gulp.
In case you're interested in what exactly is wrong with the cell lines, the contamination likely came from a procedure typically used to help multiply the number of stem cells that are available to be used. Researchers will immerse the stem cells in a nutrient-rich bath that contains "feeder" cells - cells that will stimulate growth. These feeder cells are usually from mouse embryos, and serum from other animals is sometimes also added to further accelerate the multiplication of cells. The cells from mice and other animals have a sialic acid, Neu5Gc, on the surface of them, which humans do not have and which human cells recognize as an invader substance which our immune system will attack. So using the cell lines in in vitro or animal studies likely will not result in a bad reaction, but using them in humans may. Some basic research may continue, but when it comes to really testing therapies, these stem cell lines likely should not be used.
Some scientists hope that with these lines compromised, it may cause the administration to rethink its policy and allow for funding of research with lines created after Aug. 9, 2001 (when the policy was implemented). With the President's repeated messages in support of "right to life" groups, though, that may not be politically expedient for his administration. It looks like many stem cell researchers will have to lean more on the states that are funding stem cell research to obtain funds to create new lines and to make them available for this research.
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