Once more, destructive embryo research disappoints

Thanks to a post at FreeRepublic.com, I was alerted to this article in Scientific American on the attempt to produce keratinized skin cells from embryos.

Howard Green--who created the technique for culturing sheets of skin in vitro for transplant--and his colleagues at Harvard University set out to turn embryonic stem cells into keratinocytes and then isolate them. Unfortunately, it proved difficult to coax the stem cells to become skin cells in the first place. And those that did convert, Green says, grew poorly compared to donor skin cells.
In fact, the stem cells proved so deficient that the doctors had to introduce genetic material from the human papillomavirus (the virus responsible for cervical cancer) to induce enough keratinocyte growth. With that extra genetic material, the stem cell-derived skin cells proliferated; one line even produced the kind of connected sheet of cells familiar from Green's earlier work with skin grafts according to the findings published in the current online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.
Although the stem cell-derived keratinocytes showed all the markings of such skin cells, such as the various proteins typically found in such cells (see image), they did not behave exactly like normal skin cells. Among other things, the stem-cell derived skin cells refused to differentiate in the same way as normal skin cells, Green explains. "It is commonly assumed that the cell types that people seek from stem cells are identical with what they're familiar with from studies of [adult] material," he says. "This is not the case for keratinocytes and may not be the case for other types."
This--plus the fact that the keratinocytes could only be cultured with a viral gene that could pose risks--means that such stem cell-derived skin cells are unlikely to be used anytime soon for skin grafts. And fulfilling the promise of embryonic stem cells may face even more challenges than heretofore imagined. "[Stem cells] are extremely interesting and powerful," Green adds. "We just have to keep working to see what will be the best applications." --David Biello

Hint: Use original container.

According to John Gearhart, director of research for Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics.
. . . “We are going to use the information we get out of this research to get the patient’s own cells and work with them to get them to do what we want.” (Washington Fax, Novermber 19, 2002 - from Dr. Prentice's website presentation on stem cells, www.Stemcellresearch.org)

I would go so far as to predict that embryonic stem cells will not be used for treatment in humans. They are not subject to normal immunity and can't be controlled enough to pass any reasonable standard for use in human beings (other than the ones they started in, of course).

Stem cells, after their first flush of growth in the embryo, are slow growing to dormant. Ever so often they make "forays" out of the bone marrow or are awakened by local conditions. They make copies of themselves - some of which are identical and some of which are farther along the developmental line and some move about looking for areas to repair - becoming part of that area. Then the excess either return to dormancy or die of old age.

Besides,in "real life," the stem cell "stimulating factors" (the best influences, catalysts, or determinants of stem cells) are found - often easily and reliably found - in the local site where they are needed.

Last month, we learned that the sympathetic nervous system helps regulate the stimulation of bone marrow stem cells. In other words, stress leads to the release of epinephrine (adrenaline), which stimulates healing. (Paul Frenette, et.al., "Signals from the Sympathetic Nervous System Regulate Hematopoietic Stem Cell Egress from Bone Marrow." Cell, Vol 124, 407-421, 27 January 2006)

Animal models should be (and are in reality, despite the media's hype) the focus of laboratory research and the media's attention. So, cloning and the production of stem cell lines from embryos produced by IVF and parthenogenesis (or whatever) are just very crude, very destructive methods of research.