STEM CELL RESEARCH -- (House of
Representatives - September 10, 2008)
---
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman
from Florida (Mr. Weldon) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. WELDON of Florida . Mr. Speaker, this summer has been a breath-taking
one for stem cell researchers around the world, but not because of embryonic
stem cells or cloning. Building on important work published last year
showing that it is possible to reprogram an adult cell back to its primitive
embryonic-like state, researchers led by Doug Melton at Harvard University
have done what was thought impossible only a few short years ago.
STEM CELL RESEARCH -- (House of
Representatives - September 10, 2008)
---
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman
from Florida (Mr. Weldon) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. WELDON of Florida . Mr. Speaker, this summer has been a breath-taking
one for stem cell researchers around the world, but not because of embryonic
stem cells or cloning. Building on important work published last year
showing that it is possible to reprogram an adult cell back to its primitive
embryonic-like state, researchers led by Doug Melton at Harvard University
have done what was thought impossible only a few short years ago. Melton and
his team used mice to show that it is possible to directly reprogram support
cells or exocrine cells of the pancreas into insulin-producing beta cells
without ever removing any cells from the pancreas. Amazingly, it appears
that one adult cell type has been directly and specifically transformed into
another adult cell type. In other words, a simple injection of three
critical reprogramming factors successfully produced insulin-producing beta
cells and gave patients with diabetes and their families new reason to hope
in the power of regenerative medicine.
Melton and his colleagues have brought us one step closer to what many have
called the ``holy grail'' of regenerative medicine. He has shown that, in
principle, it is possible to induce the body to heal itself by reprogramming
one cell type into another. Imagine that; your beta cells can no longer make
insulin and you are diabetic, perhaps because of immune destruction of your
insulin-producing cells like in Type I diabetes, or perhaps because, like in
Type II diabetes, your insulin-producing cells have just given up.
If the work Melton describes can be reproduced in human patients, diabetes
patients would have to receive a simple injection, maybe two or three times,
and with that, their pancreas could resume producing insulin and they would
be cured of their diabetes, no longer requiring insulin injections, no
longer requiring painful pinpricks.
Of course, Melton's work is a long way from the clinic. Mice are not people,
and some of the details must be modified to ensure that the injection is
safe and won't cause tumors. But this work represents an enormous step
forward and should be pursued with all of the resources NIH can provide.
This exciting news comes on the heels of another announcement also this
summer, that researchers from Harvard and Columbia have used the
reprogramming protocol to create 21 disease-specific stem cell lines that
will enable researchers to intimately study diseases such as Lou Gehrig's
disease, Type I diabetes, Parkinson's and muscular dystrophy. And it is
important to note that this technique also does not require the creation,
destruction or even the presence of human embryos. These cells may not be
ready to transplant into humans in the near term, but they will be available
for research today and for use in screening for drugs.
So in a few short months, the promise of regenerative medicine comes closer
to reality. Just last year, scientists and cloning advocates told us that we
had to do human cloning--or at least to create cloned human embryos--so that
we could accomplish these two goals that were deemed essential for moving
regenerative medicine forward; creating disease-specific cell lines, and
regenerating stem cells that could be a perfect match for patients affected
by these diseases.
Both of these goals have been accomplished with the reprogramming protocol;
no cloning, no human embryo stem cells required. To say it another way,
there is no medical reason to proceed with research into cloning human
embryos for their stem cells because that science is obsolete, it is more
cumbersome, it is more expensive. We have a better, quicker, easier way to
do it.
Now, I will note that these researchers who were involved with these
breath-taking breakthroughs have done the politically correct thing and have
said we still have to move forward with embryo stem cell research for
compelling reasons. What those compelling reasons are I do not know. And I
disagree with them. It cannot be denied that research is moving forward at a
breakneck speed, and the Bush policy is still fully in place.
This work also lends more support for all the adult stem cell work that we
have been talking about in this body for years. For years, embryonic stem
cell research advocates have claimed that only embryonic stem cells can be
transformed this way. Now we have direct evidence that it is not necessary.
Science is moving beyond the debate. Science is taking us in a direction of
ethically responsible research.
