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Successful Adult Cell Trials for Blindness Lead to Possibly Dangerous Embryo Stem Cell Experiments

By Hilary White

LONDON, June 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A team of researchers at University College London’s Institute of Ophthalmology plans to begin trials with embryonic stem cells to develop a routine surgical treatment for a disease of the eye that has previously yielded to adult stem cell treatment.

Dr. Lyndon Da Cruz, a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields eye hospital in London, pioneered the successful technique to treat Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) using differentiated cells taken from the patients’ own eyes and transplanting them into the damaged areas of the retina.

AMD affects to some degree one quarter of those over 60 in the UK and is one of the leading causes of blindness in Europe.

Although Da Cruz’s technique was successful in trials, the number of cells it is possible to harvest from the patient’s eye is limited and the procedure takes two hours to complete. The switch to embryonic stem cells, the researchers assert, will “simplify” the procedure and make it possible to develop a routine clinical application that takes 45 minutes.

Successful ethical treatment with adult stem cells and differentiated cells is becoming commonplace in the news, but thus far, despite media claims, no cures have yet been found for any illness or injury using stem cells derived from living human embryos. Moreover, using stem cells derived from another person, the embryo, causes ongoing problems for the recipient patient with immune system rejection of the introduced tissue.

Embryo stem cells that are cultured in the lab have been known for years to produce “wild” and uncontrollable effects, including genetic changes that may be linked to cancer.

In 2005, Dr. Aravinda Chakravarti a geneticist at the Institute of Genetic Medicine of Johns Hopkins University in a report in the journal Nature Genetics, wrote that of the stem cells derived from embryos, 22% had mutations in mitochondrial DNA and 50% had major deletions or amplifications in the DNA.

“If it turns out these cells really do become unstable over time,” Chakravarti warned, “then that would put limits on the practical life spans of the cells and their usefulness for therapeutic purposes.”

Despite this, London Project to Cure AMD intends to develop a surgical therapy using embryo stem cells. Professor Peter Coffey, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and director on the London Project, said, “Using stem cells - which are far more adaptable - can only improve success of what has already been achieved and in addition establish this as a global therapy.”
 
“The goal is within five years to have a cohort of patients to put the cells into,” added Professor Coffey.

In addition to the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, the project is being undertaken by Moorfields Eye Hospital and the University of Sheffield sponsored by a £4 million anonymous donation.

Embryo Stem Cells Genetically Unstable after Long Cultivation
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/sep/05090604.html

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