Researchers await Bush decision on stem cells

Reeve was paralyzed in a horseback-riding accident in 1995

By Elizabeth Cohen
CNN Medical Correspondent

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Actor Christopher Reeve says his best hope for walking again relies on the use of stem cells, a very promising but controversial form of medical research.

But doctors and patients' groups worry that President Bush will decide not to allow federal funding of stem cell research because it has become wrapped up in the abortion debate.

In scientific circles, hopes are high for stem cells, which are essentially blank slates that can be turned into practically any cell or tissue in the human body. Doctors envision a day when someone like Reeve could receive an injection of stem cell-derived nerve cells to fix the ones that do not work.

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"It's a miracle. It's something that has unlimited potential for curing people," Reeve, who was paralyzed in a 1995 horseback riding accident, told CNN.

The source for stem cells is usually embryos -- either ones that are aborted or ones sitting in infertility banks that couples have decided not to use to start a pregnancy. Extracting stem cells involves destroying the embryos.

Anti-abortion groups have fought vigorously against federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

"Bush has said his inclination is that he thinks it's wrong to mess with anything that might be close to life," said Dr. Curt Civin, editor of the journal Stem Cells and professor of pediatrics and oncology at Johns Hopkins University. Civin and others are pinning their hopes on Tommy Thompson, the new secretary of Health and Human Services, who said Tuesday the administration will decide by summer whether to grant federal funding for stem cell research.

"This guy Thompson, from Wisconsin, we hear good things about him so there might be some hope there," Civin said of the former Wisconsin governor. Alta Charo, professor of law and medical ethics at the University of Wisconsin Law School, said Thompson was a supporter of biotechnology while governor.

The source for stem cells is usually frozen embryos

"In Wisconsin, Thompson would lay down in the road for biotech, even if it involved standing up to right-to-lifers," she said. But she added she would be surprised if Thompson would encourage Bush to allow federal funding of stem cell research.

"From a political standpoint, to advocate against federal funding gives you the sound bite you need to stand up against the right wing," she said. "But since you're not stopping the research from going forward, you're not going to catch flak from patient interest groups."

No federal funding would mean much slower research, scientists said.

"It'll be a setback to patient care," said Dr. John Gearhart, a leading stem cell researcher and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Hopkins. Scientists also worry that other countries will get ahead of the United States.

"I already know some companies are putting their subsidiaries in other countries because of lack of federal funding in the U.S.," said Helen Blau, chairwoman of molecular pharmacology at Stanford University School of Medicine. "It would be a shame if other countries surpassed the U.S. because of a lack of federal funding since the pioneering work was done in the U.S."

Blau and others are working on an alternative to embryonic stem cells -- using cells from adults. Blau has found that stem cells from bone marrow, when injected into mice, go to various areas of the body, such as the brain and liver, and convert into that type of cell. In addition to solving the ethical issues, using stem cells from someone's own bone marrow would help avoid the immunological problems of using stem cells from an embryo.

But Blau said she didn't know yet if adult stem cells could replace embryonic stem cells. "Research on both should be pursued in parallel because we have to learn about their different potentials," she said.

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NIH Stem Cell Information
MedLine plus - Stem Cells/Stem Cell Transplantation
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services home page

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