Stem-cell science is a fast-moving field. Just three years since a Japanese researcher first reprogrammed ordinary skin cells into stem cells without the use of embryos, scientists at a Massachusetts biotech company have repeated the feat, only this time with a new method that creates the first stem cells safe enough for human use. The achievement brings the potentially lifesaving technology one step closer to real treatments for disease.
Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), reported today in the journal Cell that his team has created stem cells using human skin cells and four proteins. The innovation builds on the breakthrough discovery in 2006 by Shinya Yamanaka, who similarly coaxed human skin cells to revert to a pristine, embryonic state by introducing four key genes into the cells, piggybacked on viruses. However, some of those genes are known to cause cancer, which made Yamanaka’s stem cells — known as induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells — unsuitable for human use.
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The Japanese paper on this work showed the resulting cells have over a hundred genes that are improperly switched. It is improbable that this will result in a cure for anything in the next 15 years. Embryonic derived treatments are finally reaching trials, for instance Geron’s spinal cord repair trial has entered phase 1 human testing. All adult stem cell treatments have issues with gene expression and are a decade away at least from trials, except for very small experimental pre trials.
The so-called “ethical” concerns over embryonic stem cell treatments is a gigantic lie perpetrated on an ill informed and even proudly stupid public. The church applauded the work of fertility clinics until scientists claimed they could use the excess collected eggs to save millions of American lives. The church fought for decades against surgery, autopsy, antibiotics, blood transfusion, you name it, if it saves human life the church is against it. The church’s survival depends on a public that lives in daily fear of a fiery hell and an early death. There is no ethical concern in reality, the public has been whipped into a frenzy by lies.