You Call That “Success”?
by David Prentice
February 25, 2010
A news story out yesterday exemplifies the “successes” of embryonic stem cells. The story proclaimed that scientists had “successfully used mouse embryonic stem cells to replace diseased retinal cells and restore sight in a mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa.” Sounds pretty good? Later there is the requisite hyperbole about treatments, that “Once the complication issues are addressed” and a list of retinal diseases that will be treated with embryonic stem cells.
Wait a minute. Complication issues?
However, complications of benign tumors and retinal detachments were seen in some of the mice, so Dr. Tsang and colleagues will optimize techniques to decrease the incidence of these complications in human embryonic stem cells before testing in human patients can begin.
I would hope that they’d eliminate the complications first, not just decrease the incidence. And just how many of the mice are represented by “some”?
The abstract in the journal Transplantation gives a bit more detail:
Although more than half of the mice were complicated with retinal detachments or tumor development, one fourth of the mice showed increased electroretinogram responses in the transplanted eyes.
So, a quarter of the mice showed improvement, but more than half showed complications including tumors…
So much for an embryonic success.
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Comments
Do you know anyone going blind from retinitis pigmentosa? I do, my wife. There is no cure, there is no treatment.
I and she would take retinal detachments over retinitis pigmentosa any day of the week. They can be repaired. Or they could occur in one eye only. Or they might not occur at all. Same with a tumor. It may never happen. But without any treatment, blindness is a certainty.
So for me, for my wife, for our family and friends, this is embryonic success. Could it be better? Obviously. But successful nonetheless. If you spent just a day in my wife’s shoes, you may have a different feeling.
[...] to the questionable success of embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells have been achieving some real successes in retinal repair studies, without the [...]
Sam, thank you. My sons have RP, as well. Like you, I see success in the baby steps here. My aunt had repaired detatched retinas, also, so I know these can be fixed. Why does this always have to be about embryos?!? This blog insinuates that there is some horrible connection and that these researchers have evil intent. These were MICE, like I said in my first comment. Sam, I think that people who have any milk of human kindness or CHRISTIAN beliefs would recognize that when we try to help people by studying this and getting closer to a cure, we are doing Christ’s work.
By: a mom | February 25, 2010 at 11:42 am
This is an incredibly Flippant article. As a Christian whose children have a disease which will progress to serious disability, I think you need to be careful. This was a MOUSE model, and therefore you should have no qualms about both supporting it and cheering any and all progress. You seem to be lumping all stem cell research together, and by so doing, you not only reject the good stuff happening, but you completely turn off those who might be interested in reading your opinions.
I was disgusted by your response. I am pro-life, but I also look forward to a day when my children will be able to know that they will not see their retinas deteriorate to utter blindness.
Please, have a little more common decency and think about those who are suffering. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with early research in mice, or with research which has obstacles which must be overcome. A Christian would cheer developments, not mock it.