Guest guest Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 This morning on the Today show there was a news report about the announcement from a California lab that it had successfully cloned a human stem cell. Two medical experts interviewed, based on the information they had, thought the report was creditable, unlike the bogus one from Korea. My question is: Could it have ramifications for metastatic prostate cancer, down the line? ________________________________________________________________________________\ ____ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 > > This morning on the Today show there was a news report > about the announcement from a California lab that it > had successfully cloned a human stem cell. ... > > My question is: Could it have ramifications for > metastatic prostate cancer, down the line? Speaking from my lofty position of ignorance, I can answer with completely unwarranted assurance - yes, this will have ramifications down the line, but no, not in the short term future. Why will it have ramifications? Because all basic biological research has ramifications for medicine. Why not in the short term future? Because stem cell research is still in very early stages. It will take many years, probably decades, for practical medical therapies to become available. Stem cells, especially fetal stem cells, are relatively " undifferentiated " cells. That means that they are generic cells that have not yet acquired the specialized characteristics of bone cells, muscle cells, nerve cells, skin cells, prostate cells, etc. They are important because they can divide and reproduce themselves, and they can grow into different kinds of cells depending on what chemical signals they receive from their surroundings in the body. Many other types of cells cannot divide and reproduce, nor can they transform themselves into some other kind of cell. A muscle cell cannot become a brain cell or vice versa, but a stem cell can become either one. If a brain cell is destroyed, it's neighboring cells cannot just divide and reproduce to replace it. But a stem cell can. I would think that stem cells would be of most immediate interest for repairing damage in areas where new cells are not growing. Examples include brain and nerve injuries, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, heart disease, wounds, damage to various kinds of organs, etc. I don't know what their applicability is to cancer - which is not caused by the death of cells that need to be replaced, but by the opposite problem, cells that reproduce and spread over the body when they should not. So why do I say that there will be long term ramifications? I think that if cancer is ever overcome it will be because we have a much, much deeper understanding of the whole disease process, all the way down to how individual molecules react inside the cell. This may or may not lead to actually using stem cells in cancer treatment, but I'm sure it will help us to understand the basic molecular biology involved in all cell processes, including the development of cancer. Alan Meyer ameyer2@... ________________________________________________________________________________\ ____ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 Norman Maitland has been isolating and growing PCA stem cells for some time in the University of York, Yorkshire England B Re:Human stem cell cloned >> This morning on the Today show there was a news report> about the announcement from a California lab that it> had successfully cloned a human stem cell. ...> .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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