Reprogrammed Stem Cell Treatments Within Reach

The Japanese scientist whose team was responsible for the breakthrough that enabled human skin cells to be reprogrammed to behave like stem cells, Shinya Yamanaka from Kyoto University, has estimated that stem cell treatments for some diseases could be as little as a decade away. Stem cells have the ability to turn into any of the 220 different cell types found within the body, and therefore it is hoped they will play a crucial role in treating and curing illnesses by replacing damaged cells.
Yamanaka's team's work has been significant primarily because it avoids the need to use viable embryos to create stem cells, which is ethically problematic for many people. The cells created by Mr Yamanaka's team, called induced pluripotent stem
cells (iPS), take three months to create. Therefore, Mr Yamanaka has recommended that an iPS cell bank be created to shorten the time it would take to develop a tailor-made treatment. Mr Yamanaka commented 'by making such a bank, we can cut the cost of treatment and also we can shorten the period which is required for the generation of iPS cells'. However, there are still problems with the use of iPS cells, which means that many research laboratories are still pressing ahead with embryonic stem
(ES) cell research. Kevin Eggan, a stem cell biologist at Harvard University, has warned that because iPS cells are genetically changed they may not be safe. Therefore, until they have been deemed risk-free for clinical trials, Eggan predicts that the demand for ES cells will remain, and that they will still be a better option than the reprogrammed cells, despite the ethical objections. Richard Murphy, president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, also considers ES cells to be the 'gold standard' in research.
Meanwhile, Yamanaka also reported that other laboratories in the US and Japan were now also producing iPS cells, and maintained their potential for patients awaiting treatment. 'All you need is basic technology, cell biology, you don't need special technology or equipments', said Yamanaka, who also emphasised the increasing competition in this area of research
since his discovery of iPS cells last November. He estimated that while stem cell treatments might be available for some diseases within a decade, others could take considerably longer.

Life Today

Women Donate Their Eggs for Cheap IVF Treatment

A UK fertility centre has launched a scheme to provide women with cut-price IVF treatment in return for donating some of their eggs to research. The 'egg-sharing' initiative is being offered by the Newcastle NHS Fertility Centre and the North-East England Stem Cell Institute (Nesci) and will contribute £1500 - around half the cost of one cycle of IVF treatment - to
women who give half their eggs to research. The scheme was approved by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in July 2006 and received public support following a consultation in January 2007. It is intended to make the benefits of IVF more accessible to infertile women whilst addressing the shortage of high quality eggs for human stem cell research. Recruiting started in September 2007 and targets women in the North-East of England aged 21 to 35. So far, 15 women have been found suitable for the scheme out of 100 who came forward. Six of these are due to start their fertility treatment this month. Volunteers are selected after testing and extensive counselling.
Professor Alison Murdoch, who is leading the project, said that 'like all UK research, it will be strictly regulated at a local and national level by ethics committees and the principles of research governance. We expect this to open the door to some infertile women who may now find it less difficult to meet the cost of IVF'. She emphasised that 'the most important
thing is the patient's fertility treatment' - if less than six eggs are collected, the volunteer will be allowed to keep them all in order to maximize their chance of pregnancy. All the women approved for the scheme have had previous IVF treatment, enabling the researchers to select women likely to produce high numbers of good quality eggs.
The donated eggs will be used in somatic cell nuclear transfer experiments to derive embryonic stem cell lines from patients with incurable diseases such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. This strategy, often referred to as 'therapeutic cloning', is used to study the development of these diseases and to test new drugs. A previous scheme allowing researchers to ask for unpaid donations of 'left-over' eggs resulted in insufficient numbers of eggs being contributed to the project.
The new scheme, paid for by the government-funded Medical Research Council, is the first time scientists in the UK have been permitted to offer monetary compensation in return for egg donations for research purposes. This has sparked much dissent amongst pro-life lobbies. Dr Callum MacKellar, director of the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics voiced concern that 'this is an exploitation of poor couples. Rich people will not have to be presented with such a choice because they are able to pay for IVF treatment'.

And the western media tells us that women are exploited in third world countries in egg-sharing schemes & surrogacy...

Dark Circles Under The Eyes

Stem Cell Research

Taare Zameen Par

I had the fortune of watching this movie and was moved to tears more than once. This will surely go down as one of the landmarks of Indian Motion Picture history. Never before in the history of Indian cinema have I seen as sensitive a portrayal of contemporary Indian parents & children. Dyslexia has never been exposed to the masses as a sensitive educational audio-visual "commercial" humane drama such as "Taare Zameen Par".
Darsheel Safary the child star seems to have been born for this role. He fits in like a glove & wrenches the audiences' emotions & drains their lachrymal glands in one sweet-little sparkling package!
The lyrics by my friend Prasoon Joshi had me spell-bound. Prasoon has a special gift from the almighty to tug at your heart-strings with his heavenly poetry. This is not a film review, but I just cannot stop gushing over the movie. First-time director Aamir Khan - words are not enough to salute his effort. What he has done to awaken the entire literate Indian Nation & enlighten grown-ups about parenting-truths is possibly beyond his own comprehension. Thank you Aamir. generations will remember you for your epic.
I think it needed this movie to change my own attitude to my kids. I am a changed person & promise myself & my family that I will be a much better fathter to my kids Ranveer & Akanksha after today.
Please visit www.taarezameenpar.com for loads of information about the film & the fabulous team that made this blockbuster.

Fragile X correctable in mice

Scientists have discovered a gene modification which helps to reduce some of the symptoms of Fragile X in mice - a condition which in humans is the leading inherited cause of autism and learning difficulties. Published in the journal Neuron, the research suggests that a new class of drugs entering human safety trials in America next year could help to reverse symptoms of Fragile X. Professor Mark Bear, who led the study at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at Massachusetts Institute for Technology, is optimistic that the discovery will lead to new treatments in the future. 'These findings have major therapeutic implications for fragile X syndrome and autism', he said. Fragile X is an incurable condition which affects one in 4000 boys and half as many girls and has been linked to learning difficulties, epilepsy, abnormal body growth and autism. The condition is caused by a mutation in the X-chromosome's FMR1 gene which results in a weakening of the electrical signals sent along so-called dendric spines - connections involved in communication between brain cells - which become abnormally longer, thinner and more abundant. Scientists believe that these brain abnormalities may be caused when, in the absence of the Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP) - the protein encoded by the FMR1 gene - the production of another protein - mGluR5 - runs out of control. To test this theory, the researchers created 'double mutant' mice which were genetically modified to lack the FMR1 gene and also produce half the amount of mGluR5. They found that many of the Fragile X symptoms, including some of the abnormalities in brain and body growth and development and epileptic seizures, were reduced in the double mutants when compared to 'single mutant' mice who lacked only the FMR1 gene. Although the researchers used a gene modification to reduce mGluR5, in theory the same thing could be achieved by a drug.
However Dr Mark Hirst, scientific advisor to the UK Fragile X Society, believes that reducing mGluR5 alone is unlikely be as effective on human Fragile X patients. 'We must not take our eye off the other proteins that are mis-regulated, as the basis of fragile X syndrome is likely to be more complex and involve other pathways', he told the BBC.