Adult Stem Cells vs Embryonic Stem Cells.

Diogenes · Post by **Diogenes** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 10:36 pm

Saw a couple of links on INSTAPUNDIT so I thought the messaged bore repeating.

Adult Stem Cells have been making progress. Embryonic Stem cells? Not so much.

Insulin-Producing Cells Made From Adult Cells

The stem-cell HIV cure was based on adult stem cells, too.

And all the usually liberal media sources are conveniently failing to mention this, because embryonic stem cells is the horse that they are backing because it agrees with their world view that abortion is acceptable, and that fetuses are just tissue.

CaptainBeowulf · Post by **CaptainBeowulf** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 12:12 am

I've heard a bunch of this stuff. Also, I believe researchers in Canada announced that they had found a way to turn adult skin cells into blood cells just this fall.

What seems to be frequently overlooked is that adult cell methods are superior to embryonic stem cells, because the tissues grown from them have your own DNA. No rejection issues whatsoever. This is where the emphasis should be going.

hanelyp · Post by **hanelyp** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:32 am

The claimed advantage of embryonic stem cells is the potential to turn into any cell type needed. This is actually a liability as that includes the potential to turn into umpteen cell types not wanted.

Good news about turning skin cells into blood cells. I've been expecting that as we figure out the chemical messaging inside cells we'd figure how to do stuff like that.

CaptainBeowulf · Post by **CaptainBeowulf** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 4:58 am

Found a link on the skin to blood cell thing:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podca ... i-10-11-08

Skipjack · Post by **Skipjack** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 11:22 am

Unfortunately adult stem cells also have the potential to cause cancer and they are the same age as you are...
Of course the conservative media fails to mention this...
Also the research should not be limited because of some religious concerns!

In case you missed it, but China has surpassed the US in this line of research and US citizens now travel to China for treatment.

CaptainBeowulf · Post by **CaptainBeowulf** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 12:51 am

Yes, but - some methods have the potential to "rejuvenate" adult stem cells. That's one of the goals. I'm too busy to look for the research now, but I think that, for example, long telomeres have been restored in some experiments in which adult cells which have been reverted to stem cells.

Wouldn't embryonic cells also have the potential to turn cancerous? I mean, introducing a bunch of highly vigorous cells into an adult organism always has the potential to go awry.

I suppose that if the adult stem cells are "old," then with shortened telomeres and the potential of other accumulated transcription errors they would be more likely to mutate.

kunkmiester · Post by **kunkmiester** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:01 am

Cancer or rejection drugs. Pick your poison.

If adult cells have limited differentiation and you use different cells for different purposes, that limits your cancer worries.

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 5:15 am

When you bar a line of research you may miss something.

TDPerk · Post by **TDPerk** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 12:55 pm

"When you bar a line of research you may miss something."

Embryonic stem cell research never has been banned, and I think you know it. What were you trying to communicate?

Skipjack · Post by **Skipjack** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 7:34 pm

Embryonic stem cell research never has been banned, and I think you know it. What were you trying to communicate?

The research has been severely restricted and the funding by the government has been banned.
Dont worry, you are in great company. Most EU governments are just as stupid. This has lead to China getting ahead of the west and rich westerners going to China to get stem cell treatment now.
But hey I am sure you guys all trust in everything being fixed for you by some higher power. So dont worry. The US will always lead the world. Just continue doing what you are doing, voting what you are voting. Dont change anything, maintain the status quo. It has been doing great for you lately, or not?

TDPerk · Post by **TDPerk** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 9:13 pm

"The research has been severely restricted"

You can try any experiment with embryonic stem cells you like to contrast them with adult cells in a therapeutic or basic science sense.

"and the funding by the government has been banned."

So, what's your point? There is no prohibition of embryonic stem cell research--the existence of government funding is not synonymous with the absence of prohibition.

There never was a ban on embryonic stem cell research.

TDPerk · Post by **TDPerk** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 9:21 pm

"This has lead to China getting ahead of the west and rich westerners going to China to get stem cell treatment now."

Or to Israel. That's where one child I know of who received embryonic stem cell treatment went--the tumor caused by the stem cells killed him.

It is in fact adult derived stem cell like cells which are producing the actual advances towards medical uses, and there is no countervailing evidence of that embryonic stem cells are the better way to go.

The basic problem is, they are at a point in their existence that they want to be a fetus, and when you try to do something else with them, they tend to become a teratoma. They are harder to direct, and they are a foreign invader to the immune system they are placed into.

Autologos grafts of reverted harvested cells are the way to go to all current indications. Your wishful thinking to the contrary is without evidentiary support from everything you've brought here so far.

rjaypeters · Post by **rjaypeters** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 2:48 am

Skipjack wrote:...rich westerners going to China to get stem cell treatment now.

This is one reason we need the rich: test experimental medical treatments!

Skipjack · Post by **Skipjack** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 12:19 pm

It is amazing how people find ways to rationalize their irrational dislike for a certain line of ressearch.
That is all I can say.
Bushs decision to ban government funding for embryonal stem cell research is one of the reasons why I think that religion should not have a place in government.

djolds1 · Post by **djolds1** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 3:12 pm

Skipjack wrote:It is amazing how people find ways to rationalize their irrational dislike for a certain line of research.
That is all I can say.

Embryonic stem cells looked to be a promising line of inquiry in 2000. A decade later, alternate routes have proven to be much more productive. Why your faith-based assumption that embryonic stem cells are still the wave of the future? Are they zeppelins?

Skipjack wrote:Bushs decision to ban government funding for embryonal stem cell research is one of the reasons why I think that religion should not have a place in government.

Yes. Because its replacement by Atheist Humanism and the Nietzschean Ubermensch as the arbiter of human values over the course of the 20th century was such a smashing success.

Well, in any event, the various experiments certainly were smashing.