Click here to read Stem Cells 101, an overview of stem cell research

Better known for its idyllic tropical beaches and lush cloud forests, Costa Rica’s many hospitals and clinics have made medical tourism one of the fastest growing segments of its tourism sector, the motor of its economy. They lure tens of thousands of foreigners seeking surgery, dental work, cancer treatment, cosmetic surgery, and dozens of other procedures at a fraction of their cost in the United States. (Stuff)

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has called for greater transparency and open evaluation of stem cell therapies. It is worried about stem cell clinics directly marketing to patients and using anecdotal evidence to support their medical claims. Most medical travel agencies venturing into stem cell treatments are quick to advise patients that many treatments are untested, and that not all therapies will work for all people. (IMTJ)

Nature Biotechnology (Volume 28, Issue 6 June 2010) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Relief Over Stem Cell Lines” by Jeffrey L. Fox
• “Obama Appoints Bioethics Panel to Offer Practical Advice” by Jeffrey L. Fox
• “Scalable Pluripotent Stem Cell Culture” by Larry A. Couture

The Ohio Senate passed a bill that would outlaw the mixing of human and animal cells to create “human-animal hybrids,” such as the implanting of a human embryo into an animal’s womb. (MedCity News)

Costa Rica has ordered the country’s largest stem cell clinic to stop offering treatment, saying there is no proof that it is effective, the country’s health minister said on Wednesday. (Reuters)

By discovering how adult neural stem cells navigate to injury sites in the central nervous system, UC Irvine researchers have helped solve a puzzle in the creation of stem cell-based treatments: How do these cells know where to go? (PhysOrg)

his paper explores the notions of hope and how individual patient autonomy can trump carefully reasoned ethical concerns and policies intended to regulate stem cell transplants. We argue that the same limits of knowledge that inform arguments to restrain and regulate unproven treatments might also undermine our ability to comprehensively dismiss or condemn them. Incautiously or indiscriminately reasoned policies and attitudes may drive critical information and data underground, impel patients away from working with clinical researchers, and tread needlessly on hope, the essential motivator of patients, advocates and researchers alike. We offer recommendations to clinicians and health care providers to help balance the discourse with individuals seeking treatment while guarding against fraud, misconception, and patient harm. [Premium (The American Journal of Bioethics)]

While the clinical promise of much stem cell research remains largely theoretical, patients are nonetheless pursuing unproven stem cell therapies in jurisdictions around the world—a phenomenon referred to as “stem cell tourism.” These treatments are generally advertised on a direct-to-consumer basis via the Internet. Research shows portrayals of stem cell medicine on such websites are overly optimistic and the claims made are unsubstantiated by published evidence. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that parents are pursing these “treatments” for their children, despite potential physical and financial risk. Physicians are in a unique position as they can be expected to be involved in, or privy to, such decisions. In this paper, we consider what duties physicians may have toward minor patients whose parents/guardians wish to engage in stem cell tourism on their behalf. We use the Canadian perspective to address the broadly relevant issues raised by this trend. [Premium (The American Journal of Bioethics)]

The American Journal of Bioethics (Volume 10, Issue 5, 2010) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “Bioethics and President Obama” by David Magnus, 1-2.
• “Stem Cell Tourism and Doctors’ Duties to Minors—A View From Canada” by Amy Zarzeczny and Timothy Caulfield, 3-15.
• “Stem Cell Tourism and the Power of Hope” by Charles E. Murdoch and Christopher Thomas Scott, 16-23.
• “Hope, Hype and Help: Ethically Assessing the Growing Market in Stem Cell Therapies” by Arthur Caplan and Bruce Levine, 24-25.
• “Taking Care of Hope” by Chris Feudtner, 26-27.
• “Stem Cell Tourism: Doctors’ Duties to Minors and Other Incompetent Patients” by Jennifer Chandler, 27-28.
• “Insights from Patients’ Blogs and the Need for Systematic Data on Stem Cell Tourism” by Aaron D. Levine, 28-29.
• “Tweeting Science and Ethics: Social Media as a Tool for Constructive Public Engagement” by Alan C. Regenberg, 30-31.
• “In Pursuit of ‘Informed Hope’ in the Stem Cell Discourse” by Joanne Reimer, Emily Borgelt, and Judy Illes, 31-32.
• “Hope Alone is Not an Outcome: Why Regulations Makes Sense for the Global Stem Cell Industry” by Douglas Sipp, 33-34.
• “Regulations Are Needed for Stem Cell Tourism: Insights From China” by Dominique McMahon and Halla Thorsteinsdóttir, 34-36.
• “Stem Cell Tourism and The Role of Health Professional Organizations” by G. K. D. Crozier and Kyle Thomsen, 36-38.
• “Traveling Across Borders - The Pitfalls of Clinical Trial Regulation and Stem Cell Exceptionalism” by Christine Hauskeller and Dana Wilson-Kovacs, 38-40.
• “Stem Cell Tourism - A Challenge for Trans-National Governance” by Carmel Shalev, 40-42.
• “A Three-Pronged Management Strategy to Stem Cell Tourism” by Timothy Dolan, 43-45.
• “Growth of an Industry: How U.S. Scientists and Clinicians Have Enabled Stem Cell Tourism” by Mary Devereaux and Jeanne F. Loring, 45-46.
• “Hopes and Illusions” by Jim Guest and Kim Anderson, 47-48.
• “The Role of Patients and Patient Advocacy Groups in Educating Patients on the Importance of Legitimate Scientific Research” by Susan Foster, 49.
• “Response to Open Peer Commentaries on ‘Stem Cell Tourism and the Power of Hope’” by Charles E. Murdoch and Christopher Thomas Scott, W1-W3.

Stem Cells (Volume 28, Issue 5, May 2010) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells : It Looks Simple but Can Looks Deceive?” by Majlinda Lako, Lyle Armstrong, and Miodrag Stojkovic, 845-850.
• “Human Cardiospheres Are a Source of Stem Cells with Cardiomyogenic Potential” by Darryl R. Davis, Rachel Ruckdeschel Smith, and Eduardo Marbán, 903-904.
• “Concise Review: Bone Marrow-Derived Stem/Progenitor Cells in Cutaneous Repair and Regeneration” by Yaojiong Wu, Robert C. H. Zhao, and Edward E. Tredget, 905-915.
• “Concise Review: Mind the Gap: Challenges in Characterizing and Quantifying Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapies for Clinical Translation” by Erin A. Rayment and David J. Williams, 996-1004.

It’s not often that the Vatican gets directly involved with a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and while the Catholic Church is not making a financial commitment in the deal, it is a kind of “Vatican Seal of Approval.” (Fox News)

Nature Medicine (Volume 16, Number 5, May 2010) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “Regulators must step up stem cell oversight,” 492.
• “Vaccine contamination prompts safety review” by Megan Scudellari, 493.
• “Survey details stem cell clinics ahead of regulatory approval” by Elie Dolgin, 495.
• “Telemedicine has more than a remote chance in prisons” by Christian Torres, 496.
• “‘Universal’ immunizations get a boost in India” by Killugudi Jayaraman, 497.
• “US health reform burden falls on medical devices” by Christian Torres, 500.
• “On the pill” by Ellen Friedrichs, 506-508.
• “‘Denialism’ has no place in scientific debate” by Michael Fumento, 515-516.
• “Revisiting Reproduction: What a difference a gene makes” by Bruce D. Murphy, 527-529.
• “Lethal graft-versus-host disease in mouse models of T cell receptor gene therapy” by Gavin M Bendle, Carsten Linnemann, Anna I Hooijkaas, Laura Bies, Moniek A de Witte, Annelies Jorritsma, Andrew D M Kaiser, Nadine Pouw, Reno Debets, Elisa Kieback, Wolfgang Uckert, Ji-Ying Song, John B A G Haanen & and Ton N M Schumacher, 565-570.

The cell’s membrane, which under normal circumstances acts as an impermeable barrier to the passage of most molecules, will develop transient pores when hit by highly localised laser beams. These pores will make it possible for foreign DNA in the surrounding medium to enter before the cell heals itself. Therefore making it possible to genetically modify a range of cells from humans to plants. (The Engineer)

Young researchers will now be trained for the first time by the Australian Stem Cell Centre (ASCC) in scientific techniques of using and growing human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells in research. This training will be through StemCore iPS Cell Workshop, the ASCC’s national facility for the provision of stem cells and advice. (Medical News)

Thousands of MS sufferers could benefit from a revolutionary treatment that injects them with stem cells taken from their own bone marrow. (Telegraph)

Scientists appear to have broken another barrier in stem cell research by creating a better research model to study human illnesses – a pig – actually 34 pigs. (CNN)

Powerful stem cells made by reprogramming adult tissue could reduce the need for animal testing of new drugs, according to a scientific pioneer of the technology. (Times Online)

JAMA (Vol. 303; No. 14; April 14, 2010) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “The Next Frontier for Stem Cell Transplantation: Finding a Donor for All” by Lucy A. Godley and Koen van Besien, 1421-1422.

Stem Cells (Volume 28, Issue 4, April 2010) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Law, Ethics, Religion, and Clinical Translation in the 21st Century - A Discussion with Pete Coffey” by Majlinda Lako, Alan Trounson, and Susan Daher; 636-638.

The National Institutes of Health announced Tuesday that 13 additional lines of human embryonic stem cells are eligible for federal funding, including the most widely used line.

The NIH’s approval of the lines should alleviate mounting concerns among some supporters of stem cell research that the Obama administration was hindering the work. (Washington Post)