Researchers Find New Way To Obtain Stem Cells

Researchers at Wake Forest University and Harvard University reported the stem cells they drew from amniotic fluid donated by pregnant women hold much the same promise as embryonic stem cells. They reported they were able to extract the stem cells without harm to mother or fetus and turn their discovery into several different tissue cell types, including brain, liver and bone.

"Our hope is that these cells will provide a valuable resource for tissue repair and for engineered organs as well," said Dr. Anthony Atala, head of Wake Forest's regenerative medicine institute and senior researcher on the project.

It took Atala's team some seven years of research to determine the cells they found were truly stem cells that "can be used to produce a broad range of cells that may be valuable for therapy."

However, the scientists noted they still don't know exactly how many different cell types can be made from the stem cells found in amniotic fluid. They also said that even preliminary tests in patients are years away.

I'm not sure that this will end the debate about embryonic stem cells or the ethical questions surrounding how one can or should obtain stem cells, but this development is certainly promising - researchers have been able to obtain certain types of stem cells from the amniotic fluid of pregnant women in a way that doesn't appear to harm the mother or the developing fetus.

There are still ongoing hurdles with problems associated with stem cell treatments, including increased cancer risks. However, if scientists are able to find new avenues of obtaining stem cells, and particularly the ones that are least differentiated, it might avoid the need to conduct embryonic stem cell gathering, which poses the thorniest ethical questions and much of the outrage.

Opponents of embryonic stem cell research are quick to point out that they're not opposed to all stem cell research, just that part of the research that deals with harvesting stem cells from embryos since that includes destroying those embryos. Supporters of embryonic stem cell research often try to lump opposition to ESCR to opposing all stem cell research, which is disingenuous at best.

With this latest medical advance, we might be able to get past the politicization of the issue and let the scientists work on research that is not only morally and ethically acceptable to all, but can lead to treatments in the short term.

Technorati: stem cells, research, escr, embryonic stem cells, cord blood+stem cell, amniotic+fluid.