Israeli Scientists Successfully Turn Stem Cells Into Insulin Producers

[bill j.]

Israeli Scientists Successfully Turn
Stem Cells Into Insulin Producers
By GEETA ANAND
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


In a finding certain to fan the stem-cell debate, Israeli scientists say they coaxed some human embryonic stem cells to turn into cells that produce insulin, an early-stage scientific development that suggests stem-cell research might help in the effort to cure type-1 diabetes.

The published report comes amid an intense political debate over the ethics of using the controversial cells. The Bush administration is weighing whether to ban federal funding of research in the area. Scientists have in recent weeks reported promising steps in using human embryonic stem cells to treat other illnesses, and supporters of stem-cell research have made sure key political figures know about the developments.

Hopkins Stem-Cell Test Restored Motion to Paralyzed Rats; Officials View Video (July 25)

Several Senate Republicans Urge Bush to Allow Stem-Cell Research (July 20)

As many as one million people in the U.S. suffer from type-1 diabetes, requiring daily insulin injections to stave off sometimes life-threatening complications. The disease is caused when a patient's pancreatic cells don't produce sufficient insulin, a hormone critical to maintaining proper blood-sugar levels.

In the report, to be published Tuesday in the journal Diabetes, researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology and the Rambam Medical Center, in Haifa, Israel, describe and quantify the creation of insulin-producing cells from embryonic stem cells in a lab culture.

The researchers are among the first to report that human embryonic stem cells can turn into insulin-producing cells in a lab. The American Diabetes Association, which publishes the journal, and others hope that scientists can learn how to routinely turn stem cells into insulin-producing cells that can be transplanted into people with type-1 diabetes.

"This is a very important direction for stem-cell research to go," said Christopher D. Saudek, president of the Diabetes Association.

The research follows promising findings in animals. The journal report -- and at least one other previous report -- suggest the research might be used in humans.

But even with the finding reported Tuesday, scientists still have some distance to go before achieving a cure for type-1 diabetes. They have to find a way of nudging stem cells to make lots of insulin-producing cells. And they have to show that these cells can turn on and off in response to glucose levels in our bodies.

Researchers at the Israeli institutes couldn't be reached for comment.

Write to Geeta Anand at geeta.anand@wsj.com

[bill j.]

Health
Hopkins Stem-Cell Test Restored Motion
To Paralyzed Rats; Officials View Video
By SCOTT HENSLEY, ANTONIO REGALADO and LAURIE MCGINLEY
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

In a powerful demonstration that human embryonic stem cells may treat intractable disease, a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University has restored motion to paralyzed rodents by implanting the controversial cells into their spinal cords.

The unpublished work was concluded this spring and involved 120 mice and rats suffering from a condition similar to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. A dramatic video clip of the partially cured mice, which has been showed to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and to Sen. Pete Domenici (R., N.M.), may have an impact on the debate over stem-cell funding in Washington.


A mouse infected by a virus loses control of its hind legs (top); after stem-cell treatment the animal regains some control over its hind legs (bottom).
John D. Gearhart, a Johns Hopkins professor who participated in the research, said the experiment proves that embryonic stem cells can be used to treat diseases in which nerve cells have been damaged and don't normally heal or regrow. The work received no federal research funding. Instead, financial support came from Project ALS, a New York-based philanthropic organization dedicated to finding a cure for ALS, a progressively fatal paralysis.

Critics of embryonic stem-cell research have argued the work hasn't yielded breakthroughs that scientists have promised. But this work, Dr. Gearhart said, shows that stem-cell research has moved beyond "potential" to meaningful results. "Every animal that has received human cells has recovered," Dr. Gearhart said at the Jackson Laboratory, a genetics research institute in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Dr. Gearhart planned Tuesday night to show the video of the treated mice and rats to more than 200 scientists and doctors attending a genetics meeting in Bar Harbor.

In the experiment, a team led by Johns Hopkins neurologist Douglas Kerr infected the rodents with a virus that destroyed nerve cells in their spinal cords that control the muscles used for movement. The team then infused a solution containing human stem cells into the spinal fluid of the paralyzed rodents.

The human cells then migrated to the area of the spinal cord destroyed by the virus. The implanted cells grew as nerve cells and also released proteins that spurred the regeneration of normal rodent nerve cells in the animals.

"The majority of the animals recover some function," said Dr. Kerr, who sought to moderate Dr. Gearheart's more enthusiastic description of the results. "They are not normal, but they can begin to move their hind limbs under them, and some can bear weight."

Late last year, Dr. Kerr and Dr. Gearhart presented related data on mice that had been treated with mouse stem cells.

The primitive human stem cells used in this experiment were isolated by Dr. Gearhart from five-week-old to nine-week-old human fetuses that had been electively aborted. Other scientists have found stem cells in one-week-old human embryos. The cells have similar properties -- scientists say they can form any other type of tissue.

Several Senate Republicans Urge Bush to Allow Stem-Cell Research (July 20)

GOP House Leaders Urge White House to Uphold Stem-Cell Research (July 3)

Dr. Kerr says the Hopkins team is eager to test the process in humans, since ALS is currently incurable and typically causes death within two to six years. "We all see patients, and we are seeing them die," said Dr. Kerr. "We are being cautiously aggressive. We want to advance to the clinic as fast as possible." He predicted the first human tests of the stem-cell treatment might occur within three years.

Although the research was privately financed, Dr. Kerr says that if the Bush administration decides to forbid federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research it would be a "potentially fatal blow" to the ALS project, which might be forced to move off campus. He and other research advocates hope the video clip of the treated mice could influence the decision.

Michael Manganiello, a vice president of government affairs for the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, said he showed the video clip to Secretary Thompson earlier this month. Mr. Manganiello was accompanied by Dr. Kerr and Cody Unser, who has been paralyzed since 1999, when she contracted a rare condition called transverse myelitis. Cody, of Albuquerque, N.M., is the 14-year-old daughter of race car champion Al Unser Jr.

The same day, the group showed the video to Sen. Domenici, who hasn't taken a position on whether the federal government should fund embryonic stem-cell research.

The real battleground on the issue remains the White House, where President Bush hasn't yet announced a decision. "I wish the president would see this tape. When you see a rat going from dragging his hind legs to walking, it's not that big a leap to look at Cody, or Christopher Reeve, and think how this might help them," says Mr. Manganiello.

Write to Scott Hensley at scott.hensley@wsj.com, Antonio Regalado at antonio.regalado@wsj.com and Laurie McGinley at laurie.mcginley@wsj.com


Corrections & Amplifications:

A human stem-cell test by scientists at Johns Hopkins University restored motion to paralyzed rats. The above article incorrectly indicates the test animals included mice.