Stem Cell Development

There may be a technological compromise that will render both M@ and April wrong.

WASHINGTON — Harvard scientists announced they've discovered a way to fuse adult skin cells with embryonic stem cells, a promising breakthrough that could lead to the creation of useful stem cells without first having to create and destroy human embryos.

The scientists said they were able to show in their early research that the fused cell "was reprogrammed to its embryonic state." Such a breakthrough could have the effect of taming a biting national debate about the ethics of stem-cell research, but not any time soon.

"If future experiments indicate that this reprogrammed state is retained after removing the embryonic stem cell DNA — currently a formidable technical hurdle — the hybrid cells could theoretically be used to produce embryonic stem cells lines that are tailored to individual patients without the need to create and destroy human embryos," said a summary of the research reported on the Science journal site.

I'm still skeptical of using embryonic stem cells at all, but if they could come up with a system whereby only existing lines could be used, guaranteeing that no new source was needed, I might be able to get onboard with it. It's a big if, but a big if could, in some cases, be better than a big no.