"Scientists Show [iPS] Stem Cells Don't Cause Cancer"

There has been more good news on the research front: another hurdle in the development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) looks to have been cleared. U.S. News and World Report announced the good news last week: "A major concern with using [induced pluripotent] stem cells [iPS] to treat disease has been the possibility that the retrovirus used to implant the cells might cause cancer, but now a group of scientists appears to have solved that problem." The major breakthrough on iPS stem cells only happened a last November, so the pace of the progress on clearing the hurdles in its path highlights the practicality of this new line of research.

In November, two groups of researchers -- one in Japan and one in the United States -- showed that adult human and mouse skin cells could be reprogrammed into stem cells similar to embryonic stem cells, which can be made into any type of cell. These cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), could be the key to using stem cells to cure a variety of diseases.

In this latest study, published in the Feb. 14 issue of Science, the Japanese researchers prove these stem cells are made from normal mature adult cells, and they show that these stem cells can be implanted using a retrovirus without fear of causing cancer.

"This is a real nice follow-up and confirmation of the previous papers that looked at inducing normal cells to become stem cells," said Dr. Hugh Taylor, an associate professor at Yale University School of Medicine.

"The question that still existed from the previous paper was whether these stem cells were some sort of adult stem cells," Taylor said. "This paper shows that these
stem cells are fully differentiated adult cells, that they can be reprogrammed into stem cells," he added. "You can probably take almost any adult cell and turn it into a stem cell."

In addition, there has been a fear that using a retrovirus to implant stem cells results in an increased risk of cancer. This study showed that doesn't happen, Taylor said. "It proves, without a doubt, that these cells are safe for human use," he noted.
...
"Using adult cells to create what appeared to be embryonic stem cells solves the ethical dilemma that some people have in creating or destroying embryos to create stem cells," Taylor said.

Read the full article here.

UCLA team latest to replicate breakthrough

Another team has created pluripotent stem cells, this time from UCLA. The Daily Breeze reports:

Researchers at UCLA have become the first in the state to successfully create skin cells that can be used to treat a number of fatal or debilitating conditions without the use of human embryos or eggs.

The work, which has broad political and ethical implications, appears today in the academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings confirm earlier research by Wisconsin and Japanese scientists reported last fall.

The manufacture of these cells provides a potential coup for opponents of embryonic stem cell research, which involves destroying cells that some equate to destroying human life and raises ethical issues associated with regeneration of cells through human cloning.

The laboratory cells created at UCLA "were virtually indistinguishable from human embryonic stem cells," said Kathrin Plath, an assistant professor of biological chemistry at UCLA and lead author of the study. "We're very excited about the implications of this."

State of the Union Address

President Bush, in his final State of the Union address, emphasized the remarkable scientific progress that has been made recently.

"On matters of life and science, we must trust in the innovative spirit of medical researchers and empower them to discover new treatments while respecting moral boundaries. In November, we witnessed a landmark achievement when scientists discovered a way to reprogram adult skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells. This breakthrough has the potential to move us beyond the divisive debates of the past by extending the frontiers of medicine without the destruction of human life.

So we're expanding funding for this type of ethical medical research. And as we explore promising avenues of research, we must also ensure that all life is treated with the dignity it deserves. And so I call on Congress to pass legislation that bans unethical practices such as the buying, selling, patenting, or cloning of human life."

Human Cloning's Curtain Call

by Bruce R. Williams, D.O.

As a physician, I was heartened by last month's news that scientists had successfully created the equivalent of embryonic stem cells without human cloning experimentation. This new scientific breakthrough holds real promise for finding new cures and treatments. It should put an end to the human cloning debate that has been central to Missouri politics for years.

The new method, referred to as “direct reprogramming” allows researchers to use skin cells to reproduce stem cells identical to those that were previously taken from human embryos. No cloning. No destruction of human life. No ethical controversy.

How big is this breakthrough? The scientist who created Dolly the cloned sheep, Professor Ian Wilmut, has already announced he is abandoning cloning research in favor of the new method. Professor Wilmut believes this new method holds more promise for find treatments, including treating strokes, heart attacks, Parkinson’s and other diseases.

The fact that a human cloning pioneer like Professor Wilmut would shun human cloning experiments in favor of new and more promising research is rocking the scientific community. Many, including Professor Wilmut himself, are declaring this new process as the future for stem cell research. Medical and scientific experts are already predicting the end to human cloning experimentation.

As the journal Science reported last week, with the new procedure, “we would not need human embryos or (eggs) to generate patient-specific stem cells – and therefore could bypass the ethical and political debates that have surrounded the field.”

With this new breakthrough that makes human cloning irrelevant, private research money to support human cloning experiments will be almost impossible to find. Fortunately for the cloning proponents in Missouri, they have access to our tax dollars to fund their research. Now, more than ever, they are going to turn to us to fund their multi-million dollar human cloning agenda.

That is why the Missouri Cures Without Cloning initiative seeks to prohibit taxpayer funding of human cloning, as well as the unnecessary research. It would ensure that human cloning is prohibited within the state of Missouri, and no taxpayer funding could be used to fund such research anywhere.

Why should we, the taxpayers, foot the bill for research that is so obviously fruitless?

While this new scientific breakthrough holds the promise to new treatments for diseases including diabetes and Parkinson’s, why do some continue their battle to support human cloning? The time has come to say no to human cloning in Missouri and to ensure our hard earned tax dollars are not used for human cloning experimentation.

Dr. Williams is a family physician in Blue Springs, Missouri.

Our Press Release on the 'Christmas Breakthrough'

We sent out this press release this morning:

A Christmas Breakthrough:
Third Research Team Shows Human Cloning Is Not Necessary

ST. LOUS, MO – A new report published this week in the journal Nature shows that a third team of researchers has been able to “reprogram” ordinary skin cells to take on the properties of embryonic stem cells.

These new scientific breakthroughs hold real promise for savings lives without cloning human beings. In addition, Dr. Ian Wilmut – the scientist who cloned Dolly the Sheep – has even cited the new techniques has his reason for abandoning human cloning experimentation.

“The evidence continues to mount that human cloning is not necessary in the pursuit of lifesaving cures and treatments,” said Curt Mercadante, spokesperson for the Cures Without Cloning initiative to prohibit human cloning in Missouri. “And it underscores the need to pass a common sense prohibition on this dangerous, unproven and unnecessary practice.”

Reuters reports on the latest breakthrough:

Researchers get embryonic stem cells from skin (Maggie Fox, Reuters, 12/24/07)

A third team of researchers has found a way to convert an ordinary skin cell into valued embryonic-like stem cells, with the potential to grow batches of cells that can be directed to form any kind of tissue.

Their study, published on Sunday in the journal Nature, shows the approach is not a rare fluke but in fact something that might make its way into everyday use.

Scientists hope they are starting an age of regenerative medicine, in which people can get tailor-made treatments for injuries, diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes, and in which scientists can study disease far better than before.

Dr. George Daley of Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston and colleagues got their skin cells from a volunteer, whereas the other two teams of researchers who have accomplished the feat got theirs from commercially available cells grown in labs - a seemingly small difference, but one Daley says shows it is feasible to get cells from any volunteer.

"Ours is the only group to go from skin biopsy to cell line," Daley said in a statement.

Cures without Cloning (CWC) is leading a broad-based, statewide coalition of grassroots organizations committed to prohibiting the cloning of human beings in Missouri. Interested citizens are invited to visit www.MOcureswithoutcloning.com for more information.

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Third research team experiences stem cell breakthrough

Reuters reports today that a third team of researchers has "found a way to convert an ordinary skin cell into valued embryonic-like stem cells, with the potential to grow batches of cells that can be directed to form any kind of tissue" ...

Their study, published on Sunday in the journal Nature, shows the approach is not a rare fluke but in fact something that might make its way into everyday use.

Scientists hope they are starting an age of regenerative medicine, in which people can get tailor-made treatments for injuries, diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes, and in which scientists can study disease far better than before.

Dr. George Daley of Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston and colleagues got their skin cells from a volunteer, whereas the other two teams of researchers who have accomplished the feat got theirs from commercially available cells grown in labs -- a seemingly small difference, but one Daley says shows it is feasible to get cells from any volunteer.

"Ours is the only group to go from skin biopsy to cell line," Daley said in a statement.

They said they are now working to generate the so-called induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells to match a variety of diseases.

Wesley Smith Responds to Today's Post-Dispatch Letter

Wesley Smith (at the Secondhand Smoke blog) takes issue with a letter to the editor by a Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures representative that was published in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Basically, the letter makes the false claim that proponents of a prohibition on human cloning would have somehow prevented the recent "direct reprogramming" breakthrough from becoming reality.

Smith retorts:

What hogwash. First, legislation in Missouri was always aimed at outlawing human cloning, not embryonic stem cell research. Indeed, ESCR would have remained perfectly legal in MO if A. 2 had failed. Second, the potential repeal pending in MO would really outlaw human cloning, and not impede ESCR in the least. Third, cloning had zero to do with the iPSC breakthrough, and indeed the new approach is seen widely as a moral and ethical way to derive pluripotent stem cells without SCNT cloning. Fourth, Bush-approved ES cell lines were and are perfectly suitable for the kind of basic research into pluripotency that scientists say they need to continue to perfect iPSCs. Finally, James Thomson, one of the scientists who demonstrated the viability of the approach, did so with an NIH grant from the dreaded Bush Administration.

KWMU story on "stem cell debate"

KWMU carries this story today on the initiative - and the new scientific breakthrough.

Jaci Winship of Missourians Against Human Cloning is quoted about the new breakthrough:

"It's obsolete technology, it's obsolete science from a number of scientists," says Jaci Winship with Missourians Against Human Cloning.

The story continues:

"Somatic cell nuclear transfer is the process for cloning, and if you somatic cell nuclear transfer with a human, which has not viably been done, then that's human cloning," said Winship. "And human cloning in any avenue for any purpose is wrong," she adds.

Winship and her group are trying to fill that loophole by putting another question on the November 2008 ballot. And they're using this latest development to prove that SCNT is no longer necessary.

Charles Krauthammer's column

If you haven't yet read Charles Krauthammer's recent column on the new Direct Reprogramming breakthrough ... we strongly suggest you do so.

Westchester Institute Focus on Latest Breakthrough

The Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person has this great featured section providing all you ever need to know about the latest breakthrough involving the generation patient-matched human pluripotent stem cells without human cloning, and without the use of human embryos or human or animal eggs.

We urge you to check out their page, but perhaps this new breakthrough (and our entire effort overall) can be summed up in this excerpt from the Institute's Q&A on the new breakthrough:

“Good” research respects both scientific and ethical standards. iPSC research meets every mark of good science and has the following ethical advantages: it does not destroy human embryos; it does not use human oocytes; and it does not alienate a large part of the country’s citizens by engaging in research that they find deeply immoral.

As we've said all along ... just because science can do something doesn't mean we should do something. Especially when that "something" is unethical, unproven, dangerous and - as this latest breakthrough shows - unnecessary.

Experts Agree: Human Cloning is Unnecessary

Since the beginning of this effort (and even before), those who oppose efforts to prohibit human cloning have maintained that cloning human beings is necessary in the pursuit of lifesaving treatments and cures.

And as we continue to maintain: that assertion is totally false.

Well, as you know, over the last month, we have seen an overwhelming amount of media attention on the breakthrough announcement that scientists are able to “reprogram” ordinary skin cells to take on the properties of embryonic stem cells. This rather simple, safe and cost effective technique proves human cloning is neither necessary nor relevant in the search for lifesaving treatments and cures.

Following is a summary of just some of the media coverage of this scientific breakthrough over the past several weeks:

The new technique is so promising that on November 16, Ian Wilmut announced that he would no longer seek to clone humans. Wilmut, you may remember, is the scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep. He recently sought and received a license from the British government to attempt to clone human embryos for research purposes. Now, citing the new technique, he has abandoned his plans. (“The End of the Stem Cell Wars,” Ryan T. Anderson, The Weekly Standard, November 27, 2007)

“We would not need human embryos or (eggs) to generate patient-specific stem cells – and therefore could bypass the ethical and political debates that have surrounded the field.” (“Field Leaps Forward With New Stem Cell Advances,” Gretchen Vogel and Constance Holden, Science, November 23, 2007)

“Two major scientific papers published this week in Science and Cell magazines unveil a proven way to generate patient-matched, human pluripotent stem cells without human cloning, and without the use of human embryos or human or animal eggs.” (“Stem Cell Breakthrough,” Maureen Condic and Markus Grompe, Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2007)

"Scottish researcher Ian Wilmut, famous for his role in cloning Dolly the sheep a decade ago, has said he is giving up the cloning approach to produce stem cells and
plans to pursue direct reprogramming instead.” (“Stem Cell Breakthrough Diffuses Debate,” Malcom Ritter, Associated Press, November 20, 2007)

“It should provide an unlimited supply of stem cells without the ethically controversial embryo destruction.” (“After Stem Cell Breakthrough, the
Work Begins,” New York Times, Andrew Pollack, November 27, 2007)

The evidence is overwhelming: in addition to being dangerous, unproven and unethical, human cloning is not necessary. We hope that opponents of a human cloning ban will now join us in seeking a common sense prohibition on the unnecessary practice of cloning human beings.