Human Blood Cells Grown

exceed writes: "MSNBC has an interesting article on researchers that have developed the first human blood cells by growing embryonic stem cells in a culture containing mouse tissue which encouraged development of blood cells. The result, they report, was cell colonies that 'appear identical to those produced from human bone marrow cells.' Similar work has been done like this with mice, but this is the first time human blood cells have been developed from embryonic stem cells."

Comments

I can see the paranoid rallying cry now

[rknop]

Evil Stem Cell Researchers Work to Stop Red Cross Blood Drives!!

...followed by a long set of statistics about how many lives blood drives have saved and about how awful it will be if they stop happening, or even become less common.

-Rob

Gene crossover ?

[purduephotog]

I hope there is at least some study done on whether or not there has been any gene contamination from the mouse cells. There is concern that several of the strains of 'allowed' stem cell lines are already contaminated with mouse DNA and not viable for placement into humans...

Perhaps a Genome project again?

Good research...

[MeanSolutions]

Very good work by the scientists, but this by no means mean that there is going to be help tomorrow for people with bonemarrow cancer or other problems where bloodcells are of use. The scientists face years of work before they can have a method available that would allow large scale manufacturing of bloodcells of any possible type. And that is if they are allowed to continue their work that is.

That flip-side of the coin is of course if this is just research that will lead on to something darker, more sinister. Personally I would much prefer if cloning of full beings, human or not, was prevented until it can be proven that the human race is capable of coping with all aspects of the philosophy and mindset around cloning. Unfortunately I can see this already being ruined by corporate greed and to be used as a tool by the rich to get richer and to "keep the masses at bay"...

Cynic - who, me?

This work & the stem cell debate

[hillct]

Unfortunately, the findings of this research will take a back seat to this information, on most national news outlets:

Thomson is a pioneer in the development of embryonic stem cells and his university holds five cell lines that are available for research under federal rules. Kaufman said this particular work was not done using federal funds.

How namy institutions are able to carry out research of this type given the fact that only a few cell lines exist that are eligable for federal funds. While lack of federal funds clearly don't prevent research (as demonstrated here) the federal government is one of the largest contributors to academic research in the United states. The policy of the currant administration has made this type of research into a closed market, that only the select few may now work in.

--CTH

Re:Can there be a shortage if they reproduce?

[dragons_flight]

Stem cells do have the ability to continue reproducing themselves (for longer than we've ever studied if not indefinitely). The problem is that they don't grow especially fast and they are notoriously fragile. If they don't have the right nutrients, temperature, pH, etc. they will die. If each stem cell line could be coaxed into being a huge vat of cells then we'd have no shortage (except possibly too little genetic diversity amongst lines). More typically it occupies the space equivalent to a few petri dishes.

Regarding federal funding, no researchers have that yet. Bush opened up the process to allow stem cell research to be considered (subject to his restrictions). It won't be until sometime next year when the requisite government bodies start approving projects and handing out money. The process itself typically takes several months to complete.

Stem Cell Question?

[dragons_flight]

The question I am about to ask may be horribly naive, but I am trying to be serious as this would have weight with me when considering the ethical implications of stem cells.

Is it possible to take stem cells, possibly subject them to some procedure, and then reinsert them into a uterus such that they will function as a new zygote?

Afterall a zygote (fertilized egg) is a type of cell, albeit a rather special one. Typically stem cells are harvested from relatively early in the embryonic development cycle, and hence are not far removed from the zygote. I know the possibility sounds like something out of Brave New World, but if I understand correctly identical twins do something similar. In the formation of identical twins, cells from the original embryo seperate at an early stage but continue developing to form another whole person, or at least that's what I've been told.

Maybe it's a bit much to hope for, but maybe one of Slashdot's readers has enough background in stem cell research to comment on the possiblity I raise.

Re:Stem Cell Question?

[myc]

In theory it's possible, but it would be extremely difficult. When sperm fertilizes an oocyte, the position of sperm entry plays a critical role in embryonic development; that is, the position of sperm entry defines the polarity of the embryo.

Further, the oocyte is, for the most part, transcriptionally inactive. Many genes that function during embryogenesis are expressed maternally; the mRNA is expressed and stored but not translated during oogenesis until the gene products are needed later. To use a computer analogy, these maternal-effect genes are loaded into memory when the oocyte was still not yet an oocyte, and cached for later use after fertilization. A stem cell would lack such "cached" genes.

This is not to say it couldn't be done, but a developing organism is much more than just dividing stem cells.

*LOL*

[CrosseyedPainless]

I don't think the human race has proven to be capable of coping with all aspects of the philosophy and mindset around, say, agriculture. Or living around other people. Or any number of things we've had around for our whole history as a species.

You think we're going to do a full ethical analysis on *cloning* before getting into it? It is to laugh!

No no.

[Tim]

Our cells will not exchange DNA between themselves, or with cells of other types. Not naturally, anyway.

The concern is that mouse cell lines may be contaminated with viruses that could infect human cell lines. Just like several new strains of flu seem to come out of China every year due to pig/people interactions, this type of contamination could have serious public health implications.