The future for stem cell research outlined at the Facial Surgery Research Foundation's meeting Stem cell research: hope or hype
, held last week in London, was a heralded with a sober prediction: no safe and effective stem cell therapy will be widely available for at least a decade, and possibly longer. And the hype? Take a look at any one of the numerous sensationalist headlines that greeted the report 2 weeks ago
by South Korean scientists who had created embryonic clones and you will get the general idea.
The message from the meeting was that hype, and its stark contrast with reality, should not disguise the technological strides that are being made in stem cell research. The difficulties are unique, involving major practical and ethical issues. Adult stem cells are hard to grow in large enough numbers; embryonic stem cells are more amenable to culture but come from supernumerary (after in-vitro fertilisation) or experimentally created embryos. Harvesting, culture, purification, and administration need much more research before clinical trials become widespread. The use of embryos as a source of stem cells creates immediate ethical dilemmas, as does the creation of clones by somatic-cell nuclear transfer. Evidence of the strong feelings aroused by such debates came last Friday, when the US House of Representatives voted to raise federal funding for embryonic stem cell research to allow the use of supernumerary embryos, which is currently banned. President Bush immediately threatened to veto the bill.
Collaborations in cardiovascular medicine, as John Martin outlines in an online Comment
, may provide more hope for the future. Stem cell research holds much promise: in-vitro work will provide insights into disease mechanisms, and one day there will be new treatments for intractable congenital and chronic diseases. 4 years ago, we said that cloning to obtain stem cells was a step too far (because there were sufficient supernumerary embryos available), but the research community is now beyond that step. Consensus about the use of embryonic stem cells will probably remain fluid, as the science evolves and as the public and patients join the debate with scientists, ethicists, and politicians in response.