Geneforum Interview with Insoo Hyun: Ethical thinking guides new South Korean World Stem Cell Hub

As the embryonic stem cell debate rages in the United States, the South Korean World Stem Cell Hub has deployed a more practical and less acrimonious approach for guiding advancements in this area of research. In an interview conducted by Geneforum, Korean-born Insoo Hyun, Ph.D., a bioethicist at Case Western Reserve University and co-chair of the South Korean World Stem Cell Hub Ethics Working Group, describes how a cooperative and open dialogue between the Hub and the South Korean government has allowed him, at the onset, to train researchers to think ethically about embryonic stem cell research. "If you don't think about the ethical issues, there will be a time when it will hinder your basic science research, like what's happening in the U.S," says Hyun in the interview. "You really need to be involved in the ethical discussion from the start." The interview with Marie Godfrey, writer of Geneforum's blog, Genetizen, tells about the innovative ways ethics, preclinical/in vitro science, and clinical studies are being integrated in South Korea. UPDATE: There are a number of news stories today about the announcement of the World Stem Cell Hub in South Korea. See articles in the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times (subscription required).

Letter from Insoo Hyun and Kyu Won Jung, World Stem Cell Hub Ethicists

The following letter just appeared in the American Journal of Bioethics:

Letter to the Editor Concerning Oocyte and Stem Cell Procurement for Stem Cell Researchby Insoo Hyun, Kyu Won Jung
2005. The American Journal of Bioethics 5(6):Wxx

To the Editor,

In our article, Oocyte and Somatic Cell Procurement for Stem Cell Research: The South Korean Experience, we outlined and defended the informed consent procedures that we reported that Dr. Jung designed for the Hwang team's 2005 patient-specific stem cell study. In our article, we claimed that the Hwang team followed these rigorous informed consent procedures to procure eggs and somatic cells for their 2005 stem cell research.

However, on December 16, 2005, we began to doubt whether the Hwang team had actually used any of these eggs and somatic cells to generate data for their 2005 Science study. Our doubts were raised by some of Dr. Hwang's remarks during his press conference that same day and also by the two to three month timeline now widely acknowledged by scientists to be necessary to culture new stem cell lines.

Our first concern was that the timeline for the volunteers egg and somatic cell donations did not match the timeline necessary for the Hwang team to produce data for their March 15 article submission to Science. The process we described was not in place prior to January 23, 2005.

Furthermore, Dr. Hwang publicly declared that several patient-specific stem cell lines were contaminated on January 9, 2005, which would suggest that the team performed some of their cloning research well before to the activation of Jung's informed consent procedures. We reported our concerns immediately to a member of the Hanyang Hospital IRB and the leadership of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) and its bioethics committee.

On December 23, 2005, the SNU investigative body announced not only that the Hwang team had fabricated their data, but that they had also used far more eggs than they had initially reported to Science. These extra eggs most certainly were not procured through our described informed consent procedures. Indeed, we wonder whether any of the eggs and somatic cells donated through our informed consent procedures were ever used for research. If not, then Hwang and colleagues may have allowed egg donors to expose themselves to risk needlessly. So, in addition to the problems of the Hwang team's scientific integrity, serious ethical charges of informed consent must now be explored.

We are extremely disappointed by the evidence of the Hwang team's scientific and ethical misconduct. However, we remain steadfast in our belief that the informed consent procedures we describe in our article are ethically rigorous and that they provide a useful starting point for developing tough guidelines for tissue procurement for stem cell research. Unfortunately, we were lead to believe that the Hwang team had actually used these procedures to produce the patient-specific stem cell lines they reported to Science.

Insoo Hyun and Kyu Won Jung

Geneforum's interview with Dr. Hyun appeared some time ago in this blog. We have a second interview, which should be posted soon.

The full article on oocyte donation is the following:

Oocyte and Somatic Cell Procurement for Stem Cell Research:by Kyu Won Jung, Insoo Hyun
2005. The American Journal of Bioethics 5(6):W17

The article has free access.

Marie Godfrey, PhD

Wish and WSCH--the difference is a human being

When the World Stem Cell Hub (WSCH) in Seoul, Korea announced that it was accepting applications from people interested in participating in stem cell research on spinal cord injuries and Parkinsons, the website was flooded with applications. I want to introduce you today to someone who is among those who applied to WSCH.

Steven Edwards describes the emotional aspects of his application in Stem-cell Hopes Hit Home, published online in Wired Magazine, at http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,69470,00.html. "I knew my odds were slim. When the call for subjects came out, the website for the World Stem Cell Hub crashed under the traffic load. If I volunteered, I would be one among thousands" he tells us.

He views the implications of a embryo made with his DNA and wonders, "What would the embryo that was used to cure me be like, if it were instead allowed to develop?" This is a question much more personal than asking whether an embryo in a test tube is human. Would he be committing a form of suicide or just using part of his own tissue to create cells that might repair his paralyzed body?

What would you think, if WSCH could fulfill wishes? Please check out Steven's article.

Marie Godfrey, PhD