This shouldn’t be a surprise because scientists have worried about it all along, but ES cells injected in mice clearly stimulated the kind of immune rejection seen with transplanted organs. From the Scientific American story:

The much-ballyhooed human embryonic stem cell apparently may share a problem with transplanted organs: a high probability of rejection.

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine found that mice mounted an immune response after being injected with human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). The result: all the transplanted stem cells–which hold the promise of maturing into several different types of tissue–were dead within a week.

Wu says that the fact that the hESCs could not survive in the mouse, coupled with previous work showing that the animals also reject mice ESCs, suggests that if human stem cells were transplanted to a patient, they would very likely provoke an immune response. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, however, has not approved the injection of hESCs into patients because the raw cells have the potential to become cancerous…

The new study not only showed that these cells are not invisible to the immune system, but using a noninvasive molecular imaging technique, the scientists could see when exactly the cells were dying off. The finding means that people who may one day be treated using pools of stem cells taken from many lines could reject them, making the therapy useless.

This is a real problem for proponents of ESCR as a therapy that will make it difficult to permit human trials. Moreover, when added to the tumor problem, the very pronounced difficulties with ESCR should color our thinking about where we want to put public money in research–even without cosidering the ethical objections that have raised such a fuss for the last ten years. It seems clear to me that based on the emerging science alone, public funding should favor IPSCs–which will not have the immune response problem (but as pluripotent cells, still have tumor issues)–and adult/umbilical cord blood stem cells.

We may all have the power to save ourselves from diseases and illnesses. HealthFirst reporter Leslie Toldo tells us researchers are making amazing discoveries with stem cells, using an endless supply that’s in our own bodies. (abc12.com)

Cells taken from the early developing embryo could then, in principle, be made to make any tissue, organ, limb or the whole body. This is the promise of embryonic stem cells or ES cells.

But ES cell technology is yet to mature, and is beset with problems (not enough of them, immune rejection when put in another body…) and controversy (ethical, religious…) If only we can take any cell in the body and make it as versatile as ES cells, and differentiate into any cell type of our choice! Not being from the germ cell material, it would not make the whole human, but just be tissues and organs; not as totipotent as ES cells but pluripotent. (The Hindu)

The American Medical Association in June recommended that all genetic testing be carried out under the supervision of a qualified healthcare professional, and said it plans to work with other groups to develop guidelines for advertising DTC genetic tests, and educate physicians about counseling patients their patients about the tests. (Premium Pharmacogenomics Reporter)

Two vaccines against cervical cancer are being widely used without sufficient evidence about whether they are worth their high cost or even whether they will effectively stop women from getting the disease, two articles in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine conclude. (New York Times)

Many people in Medicare with diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions stop taking their medicine when faced with picking up the entire cost of their prescriptions, researchers say. (AP)

To put it mildly, the Governor is bullish on Utah. In a recent interview with the Clipper, Jon Huntsman, Jr. pointed to myriad ways where the state is leading the way, or lending strong support, to “cutting edge” technology and efforts. Posted by Bioethics Pundit
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Finding suggests that embryonic stem cell therapy could encounter the same problems organ transplants do. (Scientific American)