By Dave Andrusko
Scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Right from the beginning of Thursday’s edition, National Right to Life President and Pro-Life Perspective Host Carol Tobias reminds us that we read or hear about new advances in research using stem cells seemingly on a daily basis. But to be clear, all those advances come from ethical sources, such as stem cells from umbilical cord blood and bone marrow, to name just two.
It is a vitally important distinction, Mrs. Tobias explains. Proponents of lethal embryonic stem cell research have no incentive in getting this truth out, but all others do.
Most of today’s five-minute program found at www.prolifeperspective.com examines the work of Dr. David Prentice, whose stories are published, or reprinted, at National Right to Life News Today. In particular, Mrs. Tobias takes up a vital topic and another key advantage of adult stem cells.
Adult stem cell transplants are helping thousands of patients every year. A little less than half of the over 50,000 adult stem cell transplants per year use donor (“allogeneic”) adult stem cells, from bone marrow or umbilical cord blood–as opposed to the patient using his/her own adult stem cells.
It is critical that a proper match be made. Without a good match, the transplanted donor cells may fail to engraft, or worse, may attack their new host, a condition called “graft versus host disease.”
There have been major steps taken by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center which has shown that growing blood-forming adult stem cells in the lab for about a week can overcome much of the problem of immune rejection for these transplants. Mrs. Tobias explains that they achieved a 40-fold increase in transplantation ability, using mice as a model and “They hope to be able to achieve as least as good a result for human adult stem cells.”
You can follow the work of ethically-grounded stem cell research at www.stemcellresearch.org
A wonderful PLP for Thursday. You can hear this episode and any others you missed this week at www.prolifeperspective.com.
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