Not all stem cells alike

As a press release from Gov. Otter recently stated in defense against criticism, facts - especially on controversial issues - are everything. Few things are more frustrating than taking the "flak" when underlying facts are erroneous.

Take stem cell research, the subject of an article in Sunday's Press about two paralyzed Idaho cousins whose stem cell therapy in Germany (unavailable here) is bringing limp legs to life again.

Fact: The objection to stem cell research is almost exclusively based on use of embryonic or fetal cells.

Fact: Error and lack of education has confused a large segment of stem cell work, using adult stem cells (like baby cells but which remain in the adult) from bone marrow, with the unpopular kind.

Fact: This confusion prevents needed therapy of the uncontroversial variety from getting to Americans who need it.

The stem cells implanted in wheelchair-bound Bud Poxleitner and Robert Braucher were adult cells. Autologous adult stem treatment like theirs uses cells in bone marrow extracted from the hip and injected back into the body close to the spinal cord injury. ASCT is also used to treat cancers such as multiple myeloma, Hodgkins and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, and germ cell.

Embryonic stem cells are sought as a treatment therapy because unlike adult stem cells whose uses are limited, embryonic cells are easier to grow and can regenerate into any other type of cell, thus addressing more diseases and injuries. On the other hand, early research with adult stem cells shows those are less likely to show rejection after transplant because they generally come from one's own body.

One thing to be said for controversy: It can breed invention. A third type of human stem cell first appearing in 2007, induced pluropotent stem cells (iPSC), are actually adult cells which have been genetically reprogrammed to behave like embryonic cells. However, this research is young and incomplete, so iPSCs are not yet ready to be used for human transplant.

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. E-mail her at sholehjo@hotmail.com

Sholeh Patrick