Stem Cells Redeux

[Lord Setheris]

President Obama is going to reverse a bush-era (heretoafter referred to as the Dark Ages) limit on federal funding for stem cell research.

This is good, since in the Dark Ages a great deal of progress was made with stem cells. We can now synthesize them without the destruction of lifeforms in the embryonic state, and we have seen what these stem cells can do. Stem cell therapy on pets has already shown that degenerative nerve, bone, and muscle diseases can be all but cured by using these amazing cells, and I am hopeful that further research will reveal them as the cure-all for many of mankind's most terrible ailments.

What do you think about stem cell research and their potential use?

[Tev]

You know, I was just daydreaming about high end gene therapy yesterday. Imagining pods that we could get into and have stem-cells almost literally "wash" away our genetic deformities. Of course that's the stuff of high-end Sci-Fi, but it was a fun dream of my back not hurting because my spine wasn't slowly fusing around my spinal chord like it is now. I sure do look forward to back surgery in 20-30 years! >_>

Anyway, I expect all kind of fun breakthroughs in the genetics sector again. There a good deal of cancers that could be corrected because of this as well as some of the other more debilitating diseases.

[Nique]

There was some concern about altering genetic problems wasn't there? Like other genetic problems could crop up, escalating in the same way virusus and bacteria do?

I'm not naysaying or anything, I'm just asking.

[Tev]

Well there's concerns about degredation everytime you deal with genectic material.

[Osterbaum]

In gene therapy the idea is to replace a harmful/malfunctioning/disease causing gene with a healthy one. From what I understand the hardest part is to find a vector that would carry the specific gene to it's specific location instead of just randomly finding it's place somewhere which could lead to a harmfull mutation or more likely somewhere where it would have no effect either way.

As for stem cells, I'd like to know more about what kinds of studies and experiments have been conducted and what kind of progress has been made with the relatively recently found adult stem cells.

Originally Posted by Lord Setheris

This is good, since in the Dark Ages a great deal of progress was made with stem cells. We can now synthesize them without the destruction of lifeforms in the embryonic state,

When you say synthesize without the use of embryos, are you referring to the adult stem cells or some method?

[bluestarultor]

Well, it's good to hear the ban's being lifted. Hopefully, more stuff like this: http://www.cracked.com/article_16400_p2.html (#2) will become possible. I'd like very much to know that should I get, Heaven forbid, a hard-to-surgically-repair injury, my body will be capable of doing it better on its own.

As for gene therapy, it's not exactly the most promising at this point. The idea is to create a special virus that replaces the bad DNA with healthy DNA. On the other hand, they're still viruses and many people have actually died from attempting it. To me, the entire method seems flawed, because viruses are basically free-floating DNA in the first place, with no other function than to invade a cell, reprogram it to print more of itself, and then, you know, explode the cell to spread itself and all of its copies elsewhere.

[Azisien]

Originally Posted by Osterbaum

When you say synthesize without the use of embryos, are you referring to the adult stem cells or some method?

He's probably referring to that and to established totipotent stem cell lines. Granted those were generated by harvesting embryos, but, eh, might as well make the best of a morally ambiguous situation.

Originally Posted by Bluestarultor

As for gene therapy, it's not exactly the most promising at this point. The idea is to create a special virus that replaces the bad DNA with healthy DNA. On the other hand, they're still viruses and many people have actually died from attempting it. To me, the entire method seems flawed, because viruses are basically free-floating DNA in the first place, with no other function than to invade a cell, reprogram it to print more of itself, and then, you know, explode the cell to spread itself and all of its copies elsewhere.

Yeah, I've heard some amazing results of gene therapies to annihilate cancers or more general treatments known as "phage therapy." Ingenious, but then this year I've heard reports of patients up and getting cancer from the viruses.

[Jagos]

Just one thing I wanted to ask about...

For stem cells, what stops them from changing into a different type of cell? When they're aligned for say... skin cells, is there something to stop it from being a blood cell?

[Azisien]

Originally Posted by Jagos

Just one thing I wanted to ask about...

For stem cells, what stops them from changing into a different type of cell? When they're aligned for say... skin cells, is there something to stop it from being a blood cell?

As least for basic types of stem cells, once you lose totipotency, it's gone for good or mostly irreversible. So, stem cells that become skin cells stay that way.

Really this is a necessary process, since stem cells are a natural thing, and we can't have our skin suddenly becoming neurons now can we?

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Azisien

As least for basic types of stem cells, once you lose totipotency, it's gone for good or mostly irreversible. So, stem cells that become skin cells stay that way.

Really this is a necessary process, since stem cells are a natural thing, and we can't have our skin suddenly becoming neurons now can we?

To elaborate on that, fetal stem cells are promising because they have the ability to become any type of cell in the body. It all depends on what you put them next to. So stick one in line with skin, and it says, "Hey, I guess I'm supposed to be a skin cell, so I'mma do that now." The same goes for any type of cell in the body. Once they change, they're changed permanently.

Adult stem cells are less promising because they're more locked into being a stem cell from the brain stem. It's much harder to make them change into anything else, where fetal stem cells do it naturally.