Summary:
Embryonic stem cells were first cultured in labs over 30 years ago and their high healing potential. These cells can differentiate into many different types of tissues and ultimately regenerate organs and heal diseases. Two groups led by Robert Lanza, chief scientist at Advanced Cell Technology, and Douglas Melton of Harvard University announced advances in the stem cell field in October. The groups manipulated human embryonic stem cells into pancreatic cells and transplanted them into diabetic mice. The cells produced insulin and healed the mice in 10 days. Before human trials, the next step is to prevent rejection of the foreign cells by the body.
Their therapeutic target are eyes failing from macular degeneration. They produced a tissue called retinal pigment epithelium, or RPE. They injected the RPE cells into one eye of each 18 patients, half with age-related macular degeneration and half with Stargardt's macular dystrophy. Each subject was followed for an average of two years. Not only were there no harmful effects from the RPE cells, but most patients showed improvement. 10 patients showed improvement in vision and 7 patients' eyesight has stabilized. Although there is some controversy over harming human embryos, Lanza and Melton managed to make tissues similar to RPE from adult cells which they hope will satisfy those who oppose the experiment.
Relevance:
This article relates to the unit on Molecular Genetics. In that unit, we learned about embryonic stem cells. Stem cells are undifferentiated and have the potential to form any type of somatic cell. The human embryo around 7 days after fertilization is a blastocyst, or a hollow ball of about 100 cells with embryonic cells in the center. These cells are the embryonic cells used to make RPE cells in the experiment expressed in the article. This experiment also mentions patients with Stargadt's macular dystrophy, a genetic eye disorder that causes progressive vision loss. This relates to the genetic mutations we learned in the Molecular Genetics unit. This inheritable eye disorder is caused by a mutation in the ABCA4 or ELOVL gene which code for the instructions making proteins that are found in light-sensing cells in the retina.
Daisy Yin
Source: http://discovermagazine.com/2015/Jany-feb/12-stem-cells
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Jeff Wheelwright
Could RPE cells help improve the eyesight of completely blind people, or only those that are still able to somewhat see?
ReplyDeleteWould people eventually be able to manipulate these embryonic stem cells to possibly cure cancer?
ReplyDelete@ Celine:
ReplyDeleteThe cells can only repair eyes that are still somewhat able to see. They are not able to force the formation of nerve cells and cure blindness.
Source: http://time.com/3507094/stem-cells-eyesight/
@ Shruthi:
ReplyDeleteBone marrow stem cells have been used to help treat some cancers. Scientists from the University of Minnesota have coaxed embryonic stem cells to become cancer-killing cells. This can lead to various types of cancers being cured.
I also hesitate to believe this source because it's very old (10 years) and there has been no recent articles about embryonic stem cells curing cancer. Cancer is very unique and complex and I think "curing" may give an unreal expectation that it will cure all cancers, everywhere.
Source:http://phys.org/news7152.html