Leads on question of adult vs. embryonic stem cell potential
Since I have not yet created a template for my blog entries, I return to old ones to make the font, spacing, etc. the same. Today, I happened to stumble on my July 3 blog and see that I have been wrong about Frist's changes of mind and when they occurred. His most recent to back the removal of federal funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research is his second switch, as I have been saying. But, the first switch from support to banning occurred back in 2001 after Bush restricted federal funding, not in April of this year. I had the date incorrect.
This morning's (6 August 2005) Google Alerts brought me an article from WorldNet Daily, Grants Pass Oregon, written by Kelly Hollowell, JD, PhD, Senior Strategist at the Center for Reclaiming America. The alert read: A detailed list of supporting references is available on request to my e-mail address below, as is a list of adult stem cell applications for 65 human diseases. Had another portion of the article been chosen for the alert, such as her quotes from Frist, I might never have checked out the article. As it was, I read it finding a discussion countering Frist's use of unique to describe embryonic stem cell capabilities. Hollowell states:
According to more than 15 recent publications in leading and peer-reviewed scientific journals, adult stem cells have the same pluripotency and/or capacity to multiply as embryonic stem cells.
The most recent and groundbreaking publication, by Dr. John Huard, director of the Growth and Development Laboratory at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, confirms that adult stem cells have the same ability as embryonic stem cells to multiply. This publication appears in the July 2005 edition of Molecular Biology of the Cell. The paper is appropriately under consideration for Molecular Biology of the Cell paper of the year.
Other data clearly demonstrate the ability of adult stem cells to form heart, liver, kidney, muscle, brain, nerve, insulin-producing, hair, skin, lung, retina, intestinal and spleen cells. The data also demonstrate that adult stem cells have the ability to regenerate damaged tissue.
I responded to the article immediately, adding some comments of my own, and requested the list of references, which she promptly sent. Of course, I also invited her to check out Geneforum and add her comments to the discussion.
I'll be reviewing as many articles as I can, so I can digest the information she references and bring you a summary of what I find. These references are a perfect source for my last blog entry question: how do adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells compare in potential? Unfortunately, searching MedLine or Google scholarly for successful stem-cell treatments has been frustrating. Thank you, Dr. Hollowell.
Marie Godfrey, PhD