Major Breakthrough In Disease Treatment Via Stem Cells Claimed
By rickyjames, Section News Posted on Sat Nov 29, 2003 at 12:52:00 AM PST
It sounds too good to be true, and most scientists think that it is. But the greatest thing about science is that if you and others can reproduce the most outlandish of claims in a lab, acceptance of your ideas and discoveries will (probably, slowly) occur. That appears to be the process that British company TriStem is undergoing with upcoming publication in January of its latest research in the peer-reviewed Current Medical Research and Opinion (vol 20, p 87). This paper marks the first time TriStem's work has been cleared by unbiased scientist-referees for publication in a respected, mainstream medical journal.
Tristem is claiming it has developed a process to convert easily-isolated white blood cells into stem cells which it can further culture to replace any defective tissue in the body. Current scientific dogma holds that once a stem cell has differentiated into mature body tissue like a blood cell, the transformation cannot be reversed. TriStem says it can. If true, not only has TriStem bypassed the current need to obtain stem cells from human embryos for research; it has revolutionized the very foundation of medicine. To say that other scientists have been sceptical of TriStem's claims is an understatement. "I would be extremely sceptical of these findings and would need more proof," says stem cell expert Evan Snyder of the Burnham Institute in La Jolla, California.
And yet, TriStem has apparently taken white blood cells of lab mice, converted them back into stem cells, further treated the stem cells to make them into blood-producing bone marrow cells, and injected the new bone marrow cells into the bones of the mice, where the cells took up the duty of making blood. All of this research effort was performed under the watchful eye of a third-party U.S. research laboratory team, which acted as a critic - and came away convinced thay had seen the future of medicine. "I was extremely sceptical," says team member Tim McCaffrey, a cardiovascular researcher at George Washington University. "They did it in front of my eyes with my own blood. It's stunning. What's radical is the speed and ease with which it works."
This technique alone, if confirmed, could revolutionize bone marrow transplants and leukemia therapy. Yet TriStem claims this is only the beginning of what it can do...
In currently unpublished research, TriStem founder Ilham Abuljadayel says that by adapting standard culturing methods, she has managed to turn white blood cells into heart, nerve, bone, cartilage, smooth muscle, liver and pancreatic cells. If true, this is a stunning achievement that could lead to diverse treatments ranging from a cure to diabetes to liver regeneration to heart attack recovery to healing spinal cord injury.
The key to TriStem's "transgeneration" technique is a special antibody manufactured by DakoCytomation of Denmark that is normally used to detect abnormal brain cells. A decade ago Abuljadayel tested this antibody as a possible treatment for leukemia. Instead of killing leukemia-diseased white blood cells, the drug caused them to flourish - and undergo spectacular alterations Abuljadayel dubbed "retrodifferentiation" and promptly patented. She's been developing the technique ever since. McCaffrey encourages sceptics to try the procedure themselves before condemning it. "I don't think there's voodoo involved, but until a number of people do it, other scientists have every right to be cautious," he says.
Growing trust in TriStem's claims is quickening the pace of its progress. Earlier this month the company received approval from an unnamed government to begin human trials of the blood-to-implanted-bone-marrow process. Because of the hoopla surrounding the effort, this trial is being held in secret in the unidentified host country. A dozen patients with aplastic anemia (severe bone marrow deficiencies) are to be treated in the trial. "Within a week [of implantation], we should find if the [Tristem] cells have taken," Abuljadayel says. Improvements in the patients' condition should be immediately noticeable, and results are anticipated to be announced in March. Stay tuned.
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