Promise of stem cell research still years away

The political climate may be chilling progress on embryonic stem cell research.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. Sept. 2, 2002.

In the year since President Bush announced his administration's guidelines for the federal funding of stem cell research, the intensity of the debate over the moral and ethical implications has not cooled much.

As the two sides duke it out before Congress and in the media, one fact is often left behind -- any benefit from this research is years away. At least five years, and perhaps even 10, according to one leading researcher.

"I think there is great promise for these cells to treat diseases, but we're still a long way from that," said Catherine Verfaillie, MD, director of the University of Minnesota Stem Cell Institute in Minneapolis. "There's a lot of hope out there, but I think it's going to take a while."

Using stem cells for tissue regeneration to treat Parkinson's disease or diabetes may be possible "within the next decade or so," Dr. Verfaillie said, but it's likely that the technology will first be used to discover new drugs or for drug toxicity screening.

The promise of stem cell therapies is that one day physicians will be able to replace diseased cells with functional, healthy ones to treat cancer, diabetes, spinal cord injuries and other afflictions. Many scientists believe stem cells from embryos hold the most promise for providing the cellular raw materials for these therapies. But research by Dr. Verfaillie and others is showing that adults' stem cells may be able to achieve similar results.

On Aug. 9, 2001, the president made one of his first major policy announcements when he announced that federal money would be made available for human embryonic stem cell research, but that funding would be limited only to research done on 64 cell lines already in existence. [...]