First liver grown from stem cells offers hope for transplant patients

The Scotsman ^ | 10-31-06 | WestVirginiaRebel

[WestVirginiaRebel]

AN ARTIFICIAL liver has been grown for the first time from stem cells, it emerged last night.

The breakthrough by British scientists is considered the vital first step towards creating a fully artificial liver that could be used to tackle ever-growing waiting lists for transplants within as little as ten years.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Wow. Science marches on...

[Dubya]

Great news.

[Mrs.Z]

Embryonic or adult?

[CindyDawg]

If it is your stem cells, how come it's artificial?

[jwalsh07]

A team based at Newcastle University grew the miniature liver, using stem cells taken from umbilical cords.

Adult stem cells. Not gonna satisfy the utilitarians, gotta have dead embryos to make them happy.

Paging Michael J Fox, Paging Claire McCaskill, Paging Ben Cardin etc, etc..

[Man50D]

Embryonic or adult?

Neither. According to the article the stem cells were taken from umbilical cords.

[Fawn]

Amazing....

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

[Finalapproach29er]

Bottoms up!

[Prov3456]

Umbilical cord stem cells. That is ADULT stem cells.

"Adult" stem cells would more appropriately be called "Mature" stem cells. They are fully formed, and come from many different sources, including umbilical cord blood.

[Freee-dame]

Neither. According to the article the stem cells were taken from umbilical cords.

I think that "adult" means everything beyond the embryonic stage. In that case, unbilibal cord cells are certainly adult. The information industry certainly doesn't want us to be clear on this issue.

[shield]

Got to be adult...lots of tumors with the Embryonic stem cells.

[Cicero]

Just so. There is no moral problem with making use of the umbilical cord or placenta after birth.

[visualops]

Bump!

[clyde asbury]

bttt

[babygene]

" Neither. According to the article the stem cells were taken from umbilical cords."

I don't know about this. I believe umbilical cells would be considered adult stem cells. I base this on the fact that rejection can occur if you use the umbilical cells in another person. Thats why people save (at some expense) the umbilical cells from their children.

[Redcloak]

Are you kidding?!? This is HORRIBLE news!! We'll never be rid of the Kennedys if they do this!!

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

WE have a Winner!!!!!!

[WestVirginiaRebel]

I have to wonder-did they also add fava beans and a nice bottle of Chianti?

[Redcloak]

Maybe it's just because tomorrow is Halloween, but I had a vision of "FrankenTeddy" pop into my oddyknocky when I read that article. I'm still a bit shaken up by the experience.

[rfp1234]

Great! No more of this stuff:

Part V: Live Organ Transplants

[Mr Brown answers the door of his home to find two men dressed in white labcoats.]
Labcoat #1: Hello. Uh… can we have your liver?
Mr Brown: What?
Labcoat #1: Your liver. It's a large, uh… glandular organ in your abdomen.
[Mr Brown just stares at the labcoated men.]
Labcoat #1: You know, it's, uh… it's reddish-brown; it's sort of, uh…
Mr Brown: Yeah, y-yeah, I know what it is, but… I'm using it! I…
[The labcoated men push into the house. The second man holds Mr Brown against the wall.]
Labcoat #2: Go on, sir! Don't muck us up, now!
[The first labcoated man searches him and pulls out a card.]
Labcoat #1: Hel-lo! What's this, then?
Mr Brown: A liver donor's card.
Labcoat #1: Need we say more?
Labcoat #2: No!
Mr Brown: Listen! I can't give it to you now. It says, 'in the event of death'. Uh. Oh! Ah. Ah. Eh.
Labcoat #1: No one who has ever had their liver taken out by us has survived.
Mr Brown: Agh.
Labcoat #2: Just lie there, sir. It won't take a minute.
[The Labcoats used dangerous stuff and broke Mr Brown's liver.]
Mr. Brown: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
Labcoat #1: Zip it up.

Man in Pink: [singing]

So, remember when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth!
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger-all down here on planet Earth.

[Let's Roll]

"I think that "adult" means everything beyond the embryonic stage. In that case, unbilibal cord cells are certainly adult. The information industry certainly doesn't want us to be clear on this issue."

That's what I understood Rush to say today.

[Arthalion]

Mostly correct. The stem cells in the umbilical cord are present in the jelly, and are properly titled Mesenchymal stem cells. These are classified as adult cells.

The difference is actually in the level of differentiation. Embryonic stem cells are completely undifferentiated, meaning they can potentially be grown into any sort of cell present in the body. "Adult" stem cells are already partially differentiated, limiting the types of cells they can be transformed into. Mesenchymal stem cells, for example, can be transformed into bone, cartilage, muscle, fat, or neurons. It can also be turned into a couple of internal organs (like the pancreas or liver). You can't turn them into stomach, lung, hair, eye, or any other cells outside of their original differentiation, however, because the DNA data needed for those transformations have already been lost

[Zetman]

Adult stem cells. Not gonna satisfy the utilitarians, gotta have dead embryos to make them happy.

Well, if they read just a bit further into the article, THIS should make them "happy":

Earlier this month, it emerged that Scotland will become the first place in Europe to sell useable human stem cells. A £2 million centre will market the cells to researchers attempting to find cures and treatments for diseases such as Parkinson's, diabetes and leukaemia.

The Roslin Cells Centre in Midlothian will produce human stem-cell "lines" from donated eggs and embryos to be sold worldwide on a non-profit basis. They will go to universities, the NHS and commercial concerns for testing and developing new drugs.

The joint project is a partnership between the Roslin Institute - which created Dolly the sheep - Edinburgh University and the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service.

[jwalsh07]

It undoubtedly will. Interesting that folks are now marketing the parts of human beings in Europe.

[Centurion2000]

What a wonderful process invention .... does this mean 40 more years of Ted "The swimmer" Kennedy in the Senate though? A new liver for him and he might never go away.

[Dubya]

LOL

[bushinohio]

Just yesterday on Fox news Chuck Schummer said that scientists have said that embryonic stem cells offer the best hope for medical research. He failed to mention that so far nothing has been accomplished with embryonic stem cells.

Why is the left so hell-bent on destroying innocent human life? Schummer acted as though adult stem cells aren't an option and embryonic would save the world. They accuse conservatives of fear-mongering, yet it's perfectly okay for the libs to offer false hope.

[Born Conservative]

[The_Reader_David]

The article said cord blood stem cells were used.

Doubtless they'll try to get the same technique to work with adult stem cells, since auto-donation removes the need for anti-rejection drugs.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

non-embryonic stem cell ping. (from umbilical cords, so adult seems off).

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

There is little religious opposition to the use of adult (or non-embryonic) stem cells. And umbilical cord blood stem cells do count as adult?

[Coleus]

more good news, ping.  and the Saints go marching on while the devils continue to harvest babies for research that does not work.

Adult Stem Cells Provide New Life for Livers

Italians in ADULT stem-cell advances

Option to stem cells found - Pitt experts say placental cells offer palatable alternative

Japanese scientists discover fast-growing stem cell

[nmh]

"Last year, Prof McGuckin, while working at London's Kingston University, announced he had obtained stem cells from babies' umbilical cord blood, which appeared to be very similar to human embryonic stem cells, and used them to grow liver tissue. "

Yes, UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD is promising and making progress - NOT EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS!

[nmh]

This breakthrough is with ADULT STEM CELLS.

[Repeal The 17th]

"...dismantling a days-old zygote for stem cells..."

You tread upon the slippery slope.

At what point do you choose to draw your line?

That is the danger of your way of thinking.

[Repeal The 17th]

If this is successful for a liver, I wonder why it can't work for a kidney.
My daughter's kidneys are failing, perhaps there is some hope.
Even so, I stand firmly against any embryonic stem cell research...

[ArrogantBustard]

Be gentle folks,

Why?

it's my first post.

In which you advocate the deliberate killing of embryonic people ... and display a rather odd understanding of embryology and a gross ignorance of the state of proven ADULT stem-cell based therapy.

But that's OK ... if you manage not to get zotted, you might learn something. Eventually, for example, the Keeper of the Adult Stem Cell Therapy list will post the long list of "SOUNDLY PROVEN" cures for disease that don't require killing people to get stem cells.

[ArrogantBustard]

I wonder why it can't work for a kidney.

In theory, no reason not. In practice ... a kidney is a somewhat more complicated organ than a liver. I can understand why he tried growing liver first.

[cpforlife.org]

A free and virtuous society, which America aspires to be, must reject practices that devalue and violate human life at any stage from conception until natural death. In defending the right to life, in law and through a vibrant culture of life, America can show a world the path to a truly humane future in which man remains the master, not the product of his technology.

REMARKS BY JOHN PAUL II to PRESIDENT BUSH
July 23, 2001

Pro-Life PING

Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

[hocndoc]

Technically, the cells from umbilical cord blood are "fetal." However, most of us call them adult, since they are harvested at birth.

The better term for ethical stem cells is "non-embryonic" stem cells --- even better: non-destructive.

[Suzy Quzy]

These must be ADUKT STem Cells because GOD would NEVER allow his PURE gift of life to be destroyed to have some sinner healed of some disease.

[hocndoc]

The only cells that are "undifferentiated" are in the zygote, the single cell embryo, up to about the 8 to 10 cell stage. After that, the cells are at least differentiated to become trophoblast or epiblast - the placenta or body cells.

DNA doesn't become "lost." Genes are turned on and off.

[Suzy Quzy]

Embryonic Cells have ONLY produced TUMORS!!

[hocndoc]

Well, you goofed up on your first post.I suggest you do more research before your second.

The human embryo can only make human proteins - which are different enough that there's a whole lot of fuss over "human embryonic stem cells."

[Thickman]

Now all they have to do is clone favre beans and we can have a Red Dragon dinner party.

[VOA]

"Neither. According to the article the stem cells were taken from umbilical cords."

I don't know which it is...but I think the term I've heard applied to stem
cells taken from umbilical cord blood was called "embryonic
stem cells".

I don't know if that's technically correct, but I know that some of
the "evangelists" for the use of embryonic stem cells from clones...HATE
the idea of using stem cells from stored umbilical cord blood.

Their minions at The Los Angeles Times ran a hit-piece on banking of
umbilical cord blood; the article also gave the name/address of a
lawyer trying to drum up a class-action lawsuit against the umbilical cord blood banks.

It was nothing more than a bald-faced attempt to drive all competitors to
ESCs (from clones) from the field.

[neverdem]

bump & a ping

[Lexinom]

Non-embryonic