US government to open national bank of "approved" embryonic stem cells
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《英国医生杂志》
The US Department of Health and Human Services has announced that it will accelerate stem cell research by establishing centres of excellence in translational stem cell research and a national embryonic stem cell bank using stem cells lines derived before 9 August 2001.
Scientists said the announcement was window dressing to appease political conservatives.
Stem cell research hit the front pages in May when Nancy Reagan, wife of former president Ronald Reagan, said she believed such research could lead to a cure for Alzheimer抯 disease, which killed her husband.
A child with type 1 diabetes, who was put forward as an example of someone whom stem cell research might help, appeared at a Senate hearing recently and testified that stem cell research might cure her condition.
Since 2001, federal funding for new embryonic stem cell lines has been denied because it destroys an embryo, which President Bush says should be protected as human life. Private funding supports research at US universities such as Harvard and the University of California at San Francisco (8 May, p 1094).
Dr Keith Yamamoto, executive vice medical dean at the University of California at San Francisco, told the BMJ that government approved stem lines were three years old. "It抯 like saying the government will distribute old telescopes on the basis that something might be discovered with them. That抯 certainly true, but there are new telescopes," he said.
The proposal, he said, tries to mollify the scientific community without offending the political base the Bush administration relies on.
Dr Yamamoto said that because the approved stem cell lines were grown on feeder cells from rodents or bovines and with different nutrients, they can抰 be introduced into people. Nor is it clear which nutrients work best. Thus, researchers need to start with new cells to learn more about the unique properties of stem cells—how they divide while maintaining their stem cell characteristics, and what mix of nutrients or other factors cause the cells to differentiate and become neurons, muscle cells, skin cells, or other cells.
The National Institutes of Health currently fund three exploratory centres for stem cell research at the University of Washington (in Washington state), the University of Michigan, and the University of Wisconsin, where in 1998 Professor James Thomson first isolated five stem cell lines that are part of the federal bank.
The institutes plan to fund three translational research centres in fiscal year 2005, for about $18m over four years. The new embryonic stem cell bank will also be set up in 2005, and cell lines will be available for only a few hundred dollars.
However, US restrictions "cast a pall over this area of research," Dr Yamamoto said. Brilliant young scientists are not entering the field or are moving abroad: Dr Roger Peterson, who derived two of the first cell lines, has moved to Cambridge. The Boston Globe reported that since 2001 most new embryonic stem lines have been created outside the United States.
Hoping to counteract this situation, the state of California has a ballot initiative that will be voted on in November. It calls for $3bn to support stem cell research. As state funding, this would not violate federal guidelines. "The initiative is leading in the polls. If it passes, we抣l see an upsurge of exciting work going on in California," Dr Yamamoto said.
The issue is heating up. Last week the Wall Street Journal reported some scientists were starting a campaign against President Bush, partly because of his policies on embryonic stem cell research (15 July, p A4), and a widely watched Public Broadcasting System programme, News Hour with Jim Lehrer also covered the debate on stem cell research. The New England Journal of Medicine published three articles discussing the pros and cons of embryonic stem cell research and the role of market forces (NEJM 2004; 351: 207-213).(New York Janice Hopkins T)
Scientists said the announcement was window dressing to appease political conservatives.
Stem cell research hit the front pages in May when Nancy Reagan, wife of former president Ronald Reagan, said she believed such research could lead to a cure for Alzheimer抯 disease, which killed her husband.
A child with type 1 diabetes, who was put forward as an example of someone whom stem cell research might help, appeared at a Senate hearing recently and testified that stem cell research might cure her condition.
Since 2001, federal funding for new embryonic stem cell lines has been denied because it destroys an embryo, which President Bush says should be protected as human life. Private funding supports research at US universities such as Harvard and the University of California at San Francisco (8 May, p 1094).
Dr Keith Yamamoto, executive vice medical dean at the University of California at San Francisco, told the BMJ that government approved stem lines were three years old. "It抯 like saying the government will distribute old telescopes on the basis that something might be discovered with them. That抯 certainly true, but there are new telescopes," he said.
The proposal, he said, tries to mollify the scientific community without offending the political base the Bush administration relies on.
Dr Yamamoto said that because the approved stem cell lines were grown on feeder cells from rodents or bovines and with different nutrients, they can抰 be introduced into people. Nor is it clear which nutrients work best. Thus, researchers need to start with new cells to learn more about the unique properties of stem cells—how they divide while maintaining their stem cell characteristics, and what mix of nutrients or other factors cause the cells to differentiate and become neurons, muscle cells, skin cells, or other cells.
The National Institutes of Health currently fund three exploratory centres for stem cell research at the University of Washington (in Washington state), the University of Michigan, and the University of Wisconsin, where in 1998 Professor James Thomson first isolated five stem cell lines that are part of the federal bank.
The institutes plan to fund three translational research centres in fiscal year 2005, for about $18m over four years. The new embryonic stem cell bank will also be set up in 2005, and cell lines will be available for only a few hundred dollars.
However, US restrictions "cast a pall over this area of research," Dr Yamamoto said. Brilliant young scientists are not entering the field or are moving abroad: Dr Roger Peterson, who derived two of the first cell lines, has moved to Cambridge. The Boston Globe reported that since 2001 most new embryonic stem lines have been created outside the United States.
Hoping to counteract this situation, the state of California has a ballot initiative that will be voted on in November. It calls for $3bn to support stem cell research. As state funding, this would not violate federal guidelines. "The initiative is leading in the polls. If it passes, we抣l see an upsurge of exciting work going on in California," Dr Yamamoto said.
The issue is heating up. Last week the Wall Street Journal reported some scientists were starting a campaign against President Bush, partly because of his policies on embryonic stem cell research (15 July, p A4), and a widely watched Public Broadcasting System programme, News Hour with Jim Lehrer also covered the debate on stem cell research. The New England Journal of Medicine published three articles discussing the pros and cons of embryonic stem cell research and the role of market forces (NEJM 2004; 351: 207-213).(New York Janice Hopkins T)