Fighting Diseases With Cells

Stem-cell research: peril—or potential?

Stem cells can replace and replenish other cells within a living organism by continuously dividing without limit. According to the National Institutes of Health, when a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential to either remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Medical experts and scientists around the world believe stem cells will revolutionize the way we look at life-threatening diseases. They have the potential to cure diseases such as Parkinson�s, diabetes, and Alzheimer�s�the disease former President Reagan eventually died from. Stem cells even have the possibility of repairing spinal-cord injuries, thereby giving hope to people with paraplegia and tetraplegia for the return of functions including walking, bladder and bowel control, and temperature regulation.

In the past decade, funding and support for stem-cell research has gained greater national acceptance. This past year, for example, the University of California�San Francisco began developing new stem-cell lines at its new, $11-million private stem-cell research center. In February, Harvard University announced it would raise as much as $100 million to start a stem-cell research institute. And in January, New Jersey joined California in becoming the only two states in the country that allow stem-cell research.Many individuals in this country, however, do not support stem-cell research because of concern about where these cells come from.

In this article, author Steve Glassner (a senior at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., who spent his summer as an intern for the Paralyzed Veterans of America) explains the differences between adult and embryonic stem-cell research, lays out both sides of the controversy, discusses the potential for repair of nerve damage in SCI, and reveals that the stem-cell-research concept appears to be gaining acceptance in unlikely places.

 

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