http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/uk.cfm?id=92549&keyword=Human%20stem%20cells
30th July 2001
SCIENTISTS yesterday claimed to have
used stem cells from a human embryo to partially cure paralysed laboratory
mice. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, said they
had successfully treated 120 mice and rats who had been infected with a
virus which left them paralysed, using stem cells harvested from human
embryos.
The team said they expected similar
experiments to be carried out on humans within three years. Yesterday’s
development is believed to be the first successful use of embryonic human
stem cells to partially cure a disease.
It came as President George W Bush
decides whether to allow government funding for the research. The mice
and rats had been infected with a virus which damaged nerve cells in their
spines and left them paralysed, similar to a motor neurone disease suffered
by humans known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s
disease.
They then had their spinal fluid
infused with a solution containing stem cells harvested from aborted foetuses.
The scientific team, led by neurologist
Dr Douglas Kerr, found the nerve cells affected by the disease were regenerated
and the rats and mice regained some control over their rear legs. He said:
"The majority of the animals recover some function. They are not normal
but they can begin to move their hind limbs under them and some can bear
weight."
He said the team was eager to test
human stem cells on people suffering from ALD in the hope of developing
a cure for the degenerative disease.
The Pope has branded stem cell research
"practices that devalue and violate human life".
David Montgomery
(dmontgomery@scotsman.com)