LIFE DIGEST: Adult stem cells restore vision
- Jun 29, 2010 -
Adult stem cells have restored sight to more than three-fourths of patients blinded by chemical burns to their sight, according to a new research study.
The results, reported at the International Society for Stem Cell Research meeting in San Francisco, showed success in 77 percent of people in the study after one or two procedures, according to Bloomberg News. It showed partial success in 13 percent of the cases and failure in 10 percent.
Also in this edition: Birth defects more likely in IVF babies and S.C. lawmakers vote to expand abortion waiting period.
Italian researchers tracked participants in the study for an average of three years, some for as many as 10 years.
The procedure involved taking healthy stem cells from a patient’s eye and, after growing them, layering the tissue onto the injured eyes, Bloomberg reported June 18. The stem cells were taken from the limbus, which is at the intersection of the cornea and the sclera, the white portion of the eye. The cells produced a healthy cornea in the successful cases, resulting in an eye that is normal in color and appearance.
“The patients, they are happy, even the partial successes,” said lead researcher Graziella Pellegrini of the University of Modena’s Center for Regenerative Medicine, according to Bloomberg. “We have a couple of patients who were blind in both eyes. Can you imagine for these patients the change in their quality of life?”
The study involved treatment of 112 people.
The method may assist in other therapies, a researcher said.
“This is bigger than just the surface of the eye,” said Ivan Schwab, a stem cell researcher at the University of California-Davis, according to Bloomberg. “She may be making a model for how to regenerate livers or other organs.”
The study is another success for adult, or non-embryonic, stem cells, which have produced therapies in trials for at least 73 ailments in human beings, according to Do No Harm, a coalition promoting ethics in research. Embryonic stem cell research, which results from the destruction of human embryos, has yet to generate successful treatments in human beings.
Birth defects more likely in IVF babies
Children conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF) are nearly twice as likely to be born with congenital defects as those conceived naturally, a recent study reported.
The report said 4.24 percent of IVF babies had problems, including defective hearts and reproductive systems, according to a June 14 article in the Daily Mail. Meanwhile, the rate for naturally conceived children was two to three percent.
Geraldine Viot, the study’s author, urged fertility clinics to inform potential parents of these risks and called for further research into the reasons for what she described as a “public health issue.”
Pro-life advocate Josephine Quintaville of Comment on Reproductive Ethics told the British newspaper, “Given the degree of unnatural manipulation involved in assisted reproduction, we should not be surprised that nature still does it better.
“Infertility treatment should focus much more on restoring natural fertility to patients and far less on engineering in the laboratory,” she said.
The study was based on a survey of more than 15,000 births from 2003 to 2007 in France.
S.C. lawmakers vote to expand abortion waiting period
South Carolina’s legislature has passed legislation to expand the waiting period for an abortion from one hour to 24 hours.
Under the bill, women seeking an abortion will have a day to review information given to them by a doctor regarding such things as the risks of the procedure and the development of their unborn babies. The legislature agreed to the measure June 17. Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican, is expected to sign it into law.
“You now have a real reflection period that can make a difference between life and death,” said Mary Spaulding Balch, director of state legislation for the National Right to Life Committee.
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