The Nature of Stemcell and its Ethical and Political Implications

Discovery of stemcell where seen by most scientists, doctors and researchers as a new era of regenerative medicine, a branch in medicine that deals with repairing or replacing tissues and organs by using advance materials or methodologies. Researchers in the line of stemcell learned that it may be a key to cure many serious illnesses like cancer, leukemia, spinal cord injuries, diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's schizophrenia and it can prevent many birth defects and other diseases. Though advanced countries like America engaged in the improvement of stemcell research, less information is disseminated in great population and only few of them are really aware of the nature of stemcell. Why did the discovery of stemcells take so long? The answer is like the other story line in science. Some species were discovered at the time necessary instruments were developed. For example, bacteria were discovered after the development of microscope. Originally, microscope was used to count thread density in fabrics. Out of Antoine van Leeuwenhoek curiosity, he looked at a drop of water using a microscope and described for the first time tiny microorganisms moving in the water. Bacteria were first observed by that time and not only were bacteria thus discovered, but we soon realized that bacteria are everywhere to be found. The discovery of the role of the stemcells in our body follows the same story line. A spontaneously fluorescent protein called green fluorescent protein (GFP) was isolated from the deep ocean jellyfish Aequoria victoria. (Drapeau, 2008) Since it is a protein, it is possible to obtain the DNA responsible for its production and to merge the GFP-gene in the nucleus of a stemcell. In such case, all the cells derived from the original fluorescent stem cell will be fluorescent. Discovey of GFP is of great significant, that it

was actually awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Scientists observed that if an injury was applied to a specific tissue, the area of the affected tissue would soon be filled with new functional specialized cells of that tissue, but the cells were fluorescent, indicating they are stemcells (Drapeau, 2008). Stemcell are characterized by three unique properties; they are unspecialized, meaning they do not have a specific function; they are capable of renewing or replicating for a long period of time; And they have the ability to give rise to any specific cell type such as heartcell, braincell, muscle cell, blood cell etc. The reason why stemcells are unspecialized based on an article entitled What is a Stemcell? is because stemcells do not have a tissue specific structure. And in order to be specialized they undergo the process called differentiation (Drapeau, 2008). While differentiating, the cell usually goes through several stages becoming more specialized at each stage. Unlike normal cells like brain cells, heart cells, muscle cells and other types of cells that compose our body which do not replicate normally, stemcells have the ability to renew as many times as possible. When a stemcell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stemcell or to become another type of cell with a more specialized function. Stemcells function inside our body for repair and maintenance. If a person has muscle injury most muscle cells will be damaged and eventually die. Since the lost muscle cells need some replacement, stemcells would go in the damaged tissue and will differentiate into muscle cells. Same instance would happen, if our body needs more bloodcells, or brain cells, or heartcells then stemcells would give rise to any of these specific cells. These stemcells will serve as the replacement of the lost cell in our body so that the healing process of the damaged tissue will be fast, depending on the number of semcells on that injured part. Aside from being the repair system

of the body, stemcells are already tested for curing some diseases (B.A Robinson, 2009). It is also used in screening new drugs and identifying the causes of birth defects (What are stemcells and why are they important, 2002). One of the most evident use of stemcell is the bone marrow transplant, for the treatment of leukemia (Stemcells, 2009). It is said that individuals with more stemcells circulating in their body showed the fastest and the greatest recovery and a person with more stemcells shows a promising health rather than the person with less stemcells in their body. Basically there are two kinds of stemcells; embryonic stemcells and adult stemcells. Embryonic stemcells are found in blastula, the very early embryo. On the other hand Adult stemcells can be found in the brain of cadavers, from bone marrow of living patients, from umbilical cords, and from human placentas, Adult stemcell is a primitive cell that is thought to be undifferentiated and can be found among differentiated cells in a specific tissue where they reside. For example, hematopoietic stemcells are found in bone marrow and neural stemcells are found in nervous system. The primary role of adult stemcells in a human body is to maintain and repair the tissue in which they reside. According to some research, adult stemcells may remain quiescent (non-dividing) for a long period of time until they receive a signal for a need of more cells to maintain tissues or by disease or tissue injury (Adult stemcells, 2009). Typically, there is a small number of adult stemcells that can be found in each tissue. And once it is removed from the body, their ability to regenerate and divide is very limited. Some disadvantages of adult stem cells are; adult stemcells are difficult to grow in vitro (from the word glass, meaning glasswares in lab) that is the reason why it is so difficult for the scientist to manipulate adult stemcells; they do not maintain the stage of being unspecialized after many generations; they may lack the potential to generate all the tissue types needed. On the other hand, adult stemcells can be used for transplants. Infact, adult

hematopoietic, or blood forming, stemcells from bone marrow have been used in transplants for 40 years. (Drapeau, 2008) According to Focus on the Family Action: "... more than 70 diseases and ailments are being treated and more than 1,500 clinical trials are using adult stem cells for treatment. In the early 2002, New Scientist Magazine reported that Catherine Vertailles team of the University of Minnesota had found stemcells in the bone marrow of adults that may ba capable of becoming almost any of the 220 tissue types in the human body. Adult stemcell research has a great advance in embryonic stemcell research since the research does not violate any moral and ethical issues. Embryonic stemcell is just on its infancy on research. As the name suggests, it comes from early stage embryos that develop from eggs that were fertilized in vitro. Embryonic stemcells are easily grown in cell cultures or in laboratory, they can remain undifferentiated or unspecialzed for a long time. They are said to be pluripotent, meaning they can become virtually any type of cell. This is obvious since from these cells will develop an entire human body. Many scientists are confident that embryonic stemcell has great promising potentials compared to adult stemcells since embryonic stemcell can give rise to all 220 types of cells in our body. They believed that embryonic stemcell can cure many diseases that adult stemcells cannot. But the delay on its research is due to the fact that in getting the embryonic stemcell, embryos were destroyed which is believed to be an immoral act since an embryo has the potential of becoming a human.(Embryonic Stemcells, 2009) Aside from the difference in obtaining the embryonic stemcell and the adult stemcell, there are also differences regarding their potential uses. One major difference between the adult

stemcell and the embryonic stemcell is their different abilities in the number of types of cells that they can differentiate or specialize. Embryonic stemcell can be all the specific type of cell in the body. On the other hand adult stemcell can give rise to limited number of cells. Embryonic stemcells can be grown in laboratories or cell cultures so easily while Adult stemcells are rarely seen in mature tissues and the process of separating these cells is very challenging, and the methods to increase their number in a cell culture have not yet been worked out. After years of research in embryonic stemcells there are still no approved treatments or human trial using these cells while adult stemcells have already proven its effectiveness in various transplants and treatments. There are many issues and debate regarding the extraction of stemcells from an embryo. It is divided into two sides, the pro-choice which supports the embryonic stemcell research and the pro-life which opposes the research. When embryonic stemcell is extracted in an embryo, it causes the destruction of the embryo. Pro-lifers believe that the process of extraction is a form of killing or murder. Pro-life supporters which consist of mostly religious and conservative people believe that an embryo has souls; they believe that a just fertilized ovum is a full human being and has the right to live. And once a person believe to become a child killer, the age doesnt matter. Many pro-lifers are also opposed to the use of existing embryonic stemcells since, if we will trace where the stemcells came from, these cells are still from embryo, which they believe has been murdered. Also there are evidences that injecting embryonic stemcells may lead to tumors or teratoma, an encapsulated tumor containing various tissue or organ components. Pro-life supporters promote the adult stemcell research, since adult stemcell research already show many uses in various fields and successful stories from the patients that had been cured using adult stemcell therapies. Also there

is no risk in injecting adult stemcell inside a body unlike embryonic stemcells that pose some danger. Here are some statements quoted from several people who oppose the embryonic stemcell research; "I just cannot equate a child living in the womb, with moving toes and fingers and a beating heart, with a frozen embryo sitting in a lab somewhere." Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) on NBC's Meet the Press. "Do I want to see again? Dance again? Hear like I once did? I do not want those things at the cost of any living person and I consider live embryos to be people." Testimony of a disabled woman at a Congressional hearing. Linda Bevington, director of research for the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity has stated: "A lot of proponents of the stem-cell research are saying these embryos are extras, and they'll never be implanted, and they're doomed/destined for destruction anyway, so we might as well just take their cells and create some therapies and some good. However, it is possible to adopt those embryos. It's often termed 'rescue surrogacy,' and so those embryos aren't necessarily destined for destruction. They can be implanted, and a healthy baby can be born." On the other hand, the pro-choice movement, which consists of many religious liberals, social liberals and secularist, believe that an embryo has only potentiality of becoming a person, but this cannot be considered as life or a person since it has no brain, central nervous system,mouth, heart, lungs, or other intenal organs; it has no senses to see, touch, taste, hear, taste and feel; it lacks a body, head, arms and legs; it has no self awareness, thoughts; memories and consciousness, thus an embryo cannot be regarded as a person. Their death does not correspond to a serious moral matter; particularly if humanity will benefit from their death so killing

an embryo is not murder (Ethics of the extraction and use of stemcells, 2009). Here are some statements quoted from several people supporting the embryonic stemcell research. "In embryonic stem cells may lay the key to healing within the human body..." Yvette Cooper, Junior health minister, British government, 2000-DEC. "Stem cell research holds the promise of hope for 100 million people living with incurable diseases from diabetes to heart conditions to Alzheimer's to Parkinson's, ALS, MS, and spinal cord injury. It will affect the entire American family. I believe this is why we find in this new survey such strong support from people with such diverse religious and ethical beliefs." Christopher Reeve, Chairman of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. He suffered a spinal cord injury in 1995, and died on 2004-OCT. We can have an analogy related to the ethics of stemcells: Suppose a person is murdered during a bank robbery. The body of the victim is rushed to a hospital. The next of the relatives, like a father or a mother, give their permission for organs to be removed from the body and donated to someone in need. Doctors operate and extract eye corneas, kidneys, the heart, etc. These are later supplied to other doctors who transplant them into many ill people -- restoring sight, replacing a diseased heart, transplanting a kidney, etc. Some of these organs might be used for research. The tragedy of the death of an innocent person is somewhat alleviated by the knowledge that many peoples' lives have been saved, extended or improved in quality. If we accept the belief of most pro-choicers, then the analogy between the bank robbery and the use of stem cells is not exact. That is because they reject the concept that an embryo is a human person.

However, if we accept the beliefs of most pro-lifers -- that each frozen embryo is a human person -- then we have a close analogy between the above scenario and the harvesting of stem cells: On the bank robbery case: A person, in the form of a human adult, is murdered.His internal parts (organs) are removed from his or her body, generally with the permission of the next of kin. Parts of the body are generally transported to another hospital and these parts directly used to cure or treat disorder or disease while some parts are used for research. On the stemcell case, a person, in the form of a human embryo, is murdered and the internal parts (stem cells) are removed, generally with the permission of the next of kin. Stem cells transported to a laboratory and cultured there. Stem cells that are removed from the original cells are used in research, hopefully leading to cure or treatment of disorder and diseases. In this case, many may argue if it would be ethical to use living human organs or stemcells for medical researchers even the way the material is obtained is through an immoral act. Former president George W. Bush took the following actions regarding stemcell research: In 2000-MAY, then presidential candidate Bush wrote to Culture of Life Foundation -- a pro-life group. He said "I oppose federal funding for stem cell research that involves destroying living human embryos." He also vowed that he would not allow tax dollars for experiments that destroyed human embryonic stemcells further by removing their vital stemcells. In January 2001, he placed a freeze in government funding in stemcells research. On August 2001, sixty moderate and prochoice movement wrote a letter to the president requesting him to fund the embryonic stemcell research. Since "...many Democrats, much of the scientific community, organizations fighting for disease cures, the American Fertility Association, and celebrities such as actors Michael J. Fox...Mary Tyler Moore and Christopher Reeve" (Politics of extracting new stemcell lines, 2009) supported the continuation of research, On August 2001 he released federal funding for existing

stemcell lines but he still kept his word that no more human embryo are to be destroyed for their stemcells. This decision of the former president is one of the crucial choice he made, his credibility and integrity at stake here since he pledged that he would not allow federal tax funding, but also if he hadnt enable the research to go through he would take -away the hopes of million of people who had various diseases and disorders that may be cured by stemcells. On the other hand, current president Barrack Obama removed all the restrictions on embryonic stemcell research. He allows federal funds or direct tax for the embryonic stemcell research. The deliberation was also watched by the opponents of the research or the pro-lifers. They were saddened by the news, knowing that more embryos would be destroyed. This was a slapped to their face since they believe in the dignity and importance of life. They stated that it is like they are eating their own off spring and paying the bill afterwards. Sen. Sam Brownback, RKan, also reacted and said he was astonished that the FDA or the Foods and Drugs Agency was considering human trials in testing ESC (Embryonic Stemcells). Human beings are not guinea pigs, as he stated. Currently a new stemcell line was introduced, the induced pluripotent stemcells (iPSCs), these cells are adult cells that can be reprogrammed to an embryonic stemcell-like state by forcing to express genes same like the properties of embryonic stemcells. Although additional research is needed in this field, induced pluripotent stemcells are already useful tools for drug development. Since scientists see many similarities between induced pluripotent stemcells and embryonic stemcells, they are confident that the diseases that can be possible treated by the embryonic stemcells could possibly be treated by the induced pluripotent stemcells. (Induced pluripotent stemcells, 2008) Pro-lifers support this stemcell line since it does not destroy an embryo in the process. But still, embryonic stemcell supporters and researchers believe that the quality that may

be given by the embryonic stemcell is not the same as the quality that may be given by the induced pluripotent stemcells. This debate is a very delicate issue since both sides purpose is for the well-being. Though, one side is valuing the essence of a potential human being which is sacred and considered to have souls while the other is valuing the existing lives that may be saved. It is very difficult to decide since both parts would be affected once a decision is made. Valuing life is important and both sides show how they value life, they just differ on the time each of them started giving importance to life. Since, pro-choice supporters is valuing existing human-life while pro-life supporters are valuing early-life. This is a very difficult debate since it all involves individual beliefs and perceptions on the time they should value life, or when do they considered that an embryo has life.

The Nature of Stemcell and its Ethical and Political Implication

A Library Research Paper Requirement For English II-C2

By Ladylyn Castaneda

Professor

Mendoza 15 May 2009

References

What are stemcells and why are they important (2002) Available: http://www.stemcell.nih.gov [April 22, 2009] Drapeau C. (2008). What is a stemcell? Available: http://www.christiandrapeau.com [April 22,2009] Drapeau C. (2008). The stemcell theory of renewal and the discovery of the first natural stemcel enhancer. Unity International B.A Robinson (modified, 2009) Stemcell research: All viewpoints Available: http://www.religioustorance.org [April 22, 2009] Stemcell (modified,2009) Available: http://www.wikipedia.com [April 23, 2009] B.A Robinson (modified, 2009) Adult Stemcells Available: http://www.religioustorance.org [May 1, 2009] B.A Robinson (modified, 2009) Embryonic Stemcells Available: http://www.religioustorance.org [May 1, 2009] B.A Robinson (modified, 2009) Ethics of the Extraction and Use of Stemcells Available: http://www.religioustorance.org [May 7, 2009]