Stem cell research hopes for a rebirth under Obama

From the Houston Chronicle:

More than a decade after the discovery of human embryonic stem cells, Texas scientists are poised to finally ramp up research involving the cutting-edge but controversial science.

With President Barack Obama expected to lift federal restrictions on the field as early as this week, scientists in the Texas Medical Center and around the state have expressed their delight and predicted a long-awaited scientific renaissance will follow.

“Opening up the research is going to have an enormous benefit,” said Bill Brinkley, a Baylor College of Medicine professor of molecular and cellular biology. “After being diminished and pushed to the side for a decade, embryonic stem cell research will become mainstream — most every lab will take advantage of it.”

In the minds of many, stem cell research promises nothing less than the future of medicine, youthful tissue replacing that which is old or damaged. From animal studies, scientists tout research suggesting stem cells can replace brain cells lost in Parkinson’s disease, restore function to defective muscles in muscular dystrophy and regenerate parts of the pancreas that don’t work in diabetes.

The question is, how quickly can scientists turn the promise into reality? The first attempt is about to start in California. A biotech company there recently got clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for the first human trial of a therapy based on embryonic stem cells, injecting them into the spinal cords of paralyzed people.

Local stem-cell leaders are Baylor and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, both of which boast centers dedicated to the science. The centers have focused mostly on adult stem cells but also feature work with embryonic stem cells, work that their leaders say will mushroom once Obama overturns the policy of former President George W. Bush.

Already, teams at Baylor, UT-Houston and Rice University are planning grant applications to build on their ongoing embryonic stem cell research on Parkinson’s disease, lung disease and joint replacement cartilage, respectively. Biotechnology industry observers say Texas can become a leader if the Legislature adds its
support.

The political debate over embryonic stem cells dates to 2001, when Bush agreed to allow the use of federal funds for research but limited support to existing cell lines, which numbered less than two dozen. Most were in far from ideal condition and unsuitable for clinical work.

“Essentially, Bush’s policy has made us operate with one hand tied behind our back,” said Robert Lanza, of Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology.

The wonder of embryonic stem cells is that they have the capacity to become any sort of tissue the body needs — nerves, blood, heart, bone, muscle. They morph from microscopic spheres to full body parts, a process scientists hope to take control of after retrieving the cells from 5-day-old embryos. So promising is the research that the 1998 discovery gave birth to a whole new specialty, regenerative medicine. But the science also raises ethical concerns. Because the embryo is killed in the retrieval process, it has been called “a direct attack on innocent human life.”

Bush objected to further research on those grounds. He prohibited the use of federal funding on research involving cell lines from any embryos destroyed after his 2001 policy announcement, calling for research to instead emphasize adult stem cells, which pose no ethical concerns, because they require no destruction of life.

Some defenders of Bush’s policy say it spurred scientists to more aggressively pursue adult stem cell research, resulting in a 2007 breakthrough that could ultimately make the controversy moot. Two teams of scientists independently reported developing a method of converting human adult stem cells into the equivalent of embryonic stem cells, seemingly capable of becoming any of the 220 cell types of the body. Researchers previously believed adult stem cells lacked the unlimited ability to turn into other types of human tissue.

But scientists, noting the breakthrough would have been impossible without knowledge gained through embryonic stem cell research, said last week it’s too early to assume that the technique is the answer. For one,the method entails the use of genetically engineered viruses, which can trigger tumors.

“We still don’t know whether that technique, still far from perfected, will be able to faithfully reproduce all of embryonic stem cell properties in adult stem cells,” said Paul Simmons, director of UT-Houston’s Center for Stem Cell Research and an adult stem cell researcher. “Embryonic stem cells are the gold standard to conduct that study and make a determination. It may turn out that adult stem cells are good for some things and embryonic are better for others.”

Obama campaigned on a promise to lift Bush’s restrictions and allow research on stem cells taken from embryos that otherwise would be discarded by fertility clinics. Congressional sources said last week he plans to make the change as soon as the economic stimulus package is passed. Legislation codifying the policy will follow.

The policy should provide the most immediate boost to three teams here working with Bush’s federally approved cell lines. Their leaders say they can hardly wait to work with any of the more than 1,000 lines created with private money since Bush’s policy was adopted. Those lines, expected to be eligible for federally supported research, are more robust and clinically useful than the currently approved lines.

Advocates of stem-cell research also call for a state investment. A report commissioned by Texans for the Advancement of Medical Research says the state could generate $88 billion in economic activity if Texas’ share of U.S. biotechnology spending increases to 6 percent from 2.9 percent by 2014.

“ Obama’s new policy will change the game dramatically,” said Dr. Ray Dubois, provost at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. “Texas may not have the state or private money that some states have for stem-cell research, but the stage could quickly change quite a bit.”