SEOUL, South Korea — The self-professed purpose of South Korea’s Histostem Corporation is music to the ears of pro-life advocates waging a difficult war against deadly embryonic stem-cell research. According to its website, Histostem “is pioneering cell-based therapy with stem cells, free of ethical problems.” Hoon Han, CEO of Histostem, received his Ph.D. from the Catholic University of Korea in 1979.
There are few who would argue that Histostem’s research and experimentation — with treatments involving only stem cells isolated from the blood in umbilical cords collected after birth — poses any notable ethical conundrums. The corporation claims numerous successful treatments to date for dozens of varied diseases, using newly developed cord blood stem cell techniques.
Riding the wave of its medical successes, Histostem announced last month that it would be pairing up with an unnamed European investor to create the world’s first hospital dedicated solely to umbilical cord stem-cell treatments. Each partner will pony up $80 million to build the hospital on the southern resort island of Jeju sometime in 2007. The hospital will have 100 beds.
Among those conditions that Histostem claims to have treated with varying degrees of success are spinal cord injuries, liver cirrhosis, Buerger’s disease, diabetes, chronic renal failure, and dozens of others. Last November Histostem received wide publicity after televised images showed the world’s first patient paralyzed by a spinal cord injury and treated with cord blood stem-cell research taking a number of steps.
Bone Marrow Stem Cells Help Restore Fertility in Sterile Mice
BOSTON — A team of Harvard scientists have discovered a reservoir of stem cells that appear capable of restoring the fertility of sterilized mice. While cautioning that such cells have yet to be found in human women, the researchers are hopeful that the discovery may contribute to the understanding of the reproductive system and aid the infertile.
“This may launch a new era in how to think about female infertility and menopause,” said Jonathan L. Tilly, a reproductive biologist at Harvard Medical School.
The researchers found that some cells in the bone marrow and blood of mice can “restock” a depleted ovary with new egg cells within weeks.
The team found that bone marrow or blood cell transplants appear to completely revive the ovaries of female mice sterilized by chemotherapy. Just 24 hours after a transplant, the sterilized mice had new egg cells.
Tilly said that the findings may mean that women could bank egg-producing cells in case they have health problems that leave them infertile later in life.
“In theory, these cells could provide an insurance policy. We could harvest them and store them away for 20 years. Then you put them back in, and they are going to do exactly what they are supposed to — find the ovaries and generate new eggs” to restore fertility, Tilly said.
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(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
