A Setback for Adult Stem Cell Research

Scientists say multiple tissue experiment failed

FRIDAY, Sept. 6, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- There's discouraging news for researchers hoping to avoid the moral debate over stem cell research.

Scientists at Stanford University Medical Center say they've failed to make stem cells in mice form tissues other than blood and immune cells.

The hope had been that adult stem cells could be used to create a variety of tissues, the same way embryo stem cells do. President George W. Bush's administration has opposed funding for stem cell research using embryo stem cells beyond the 60 lines that already exist.

The Stanford study appears in the latest issue of Science Express, an online publication of the journal Science.

A press release from Stanford University quotes Dr. Irving Weissman, an expert in bone cancer and lead author of the current study, as saying that only embryonic stem cells can form all adult tissues.

"This is the first time somebody injected a single adult stem cell and showed that it made only blood," the statement says.

More information

Stem cell research is a complicated labyrinth that combines several scientific disciplines. This primer from the National Institutes of Health guides you through the maze.

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