Worcester biotech reports stem cell advance

By Colin Nickerson, Globe Staff

In findings that some analysts described as of more political than scientific significance, Massachusetts researchers today said they have dramatically improved a technique for creating human embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos.

Scientists at Advanced Cell Technology, whose laboratories are in Worcester, have forged five new lines, or batches, of the prized blank slate cells from single cells extracted from early-stage human embryos, according to research published today. The embryos suffered no evident harm from the process and were frozen for eventual use in in-vitro fertilization, said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer of the biotechnology firm.

In a challenge to the Bush administration, the researchers urged the White House to quickly approve the embryonic stem cells -- and future lines created by the same process -- for use in US-funded research. In 2001, the administration banned researchers from receiving federal money to study stem cells derived by any process that destroys embryos, except for the few lines in existence when Bush issued the order.

"These stem cell lines were generated without interfering with the embryo's potential for life," Lanza said in an interview. "This is a working technology that exists here and now. It could be used to immediately increase the number of stem cell lines available to researchers -- not next year, not down the road, but now.''

Other scientists said the research, in the journal Cell Stem Cell, was important primarily because it might pressure the Bush administration to give the first federal nod to research involving stem cells derived from human embryos since 2001.

"The science is solid and shows the ability to isolate a human embryonic cell without permanent destruction'' of the embryo, said biologist Douglas A. Melton, a prominent stem cell researcher and co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, which was not involved in the research. "But the real significance is not scientific, it's political. Will this approach be eligible for federal money?"

Research using embryonic stem cells, which medical researchers believe hold the key to treating an array of horrific ailments from severe spinal cord injuries to heart disease, has been sharply stymied by lack of federal funding, despite efforts by Harvard University, the state of California, and a few other entities to spur the science with separate money. Advanced Cell uses investors' money for research.

A top federal research official called the Advanced Cell process "problematic," noting that even though the embryos used were not destroyed, there is no proof they did not sustain damage. "The data aren't in showing this doesn't do harm," said Story Landis, chief of the Stem Cell Task Force of the National Institutes of Health. "They could be fine. They might have suffered harm. All we know is that they are in a freezer and 'looked okay' when they were put there.''

Religious activists, meanwhile, said Advanced Cell's technique is unacceptable because it exploits and might do physical injury to embryos, even when they survive the process. "This fails to deliver any kind of ethical solution," said Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, education director for the National Catholic Bioethics Center.

But some specialists in stem cell issues predicted the process might win indirect approval, freeing federal money for research on such stem cells, if not for the actual creation of the cells -- a fine but critical distinction for labs across the country. "One can argue that the technique answers the concerns underlying the president's policy, and that funding for the work on the resulting human embryonic stem cell lines ought to be permitted," said R. Alta Charo, professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin.

Late last year, researchers in Japan and the United States stunned the world by creating human embryonic-like stem cells from adult tissue, without any use of embryos. No ethical issues are associated with these stem cells, which have been applauded by conservatives, and the federal government is already starting to hand out tens of millions of dollars for research on them.

It may be years, however, before such so-called "induced" cells can be used in treatment, if ever -- the genetically altered cells have the potential to become cancerous. Most scientists in the field believe that stem cells derived from human embryonic tissue will still be crucial for research and near-term therapies. For that reason, Advanced Cell's research drew praise. Scientists called it an important advance, noting that it fine-tunes a slightly different process pioneered by Lanza and his colleagues in 2006.

"I suspect this work will lead to new insights that will be fundamentally important to understanding pluripotency and human development," said Dr. Bruce R. Conklin, director of the stem cell core laboratory at San Francisco's Gladstone Institute for Cardiovascular Disease. Pluripotency refers to the ability of stem cells to form any of the body's 220 cell types, including blood, bone, nerve, and muscle.

Essentially, the Advanced Cell researchers piggy-backed on a process widely used by in-vitro fertilization clinics.

Researchers removed a single cell each from eight-cell embryos created from eggs fertilized in laboratory dishes. The process employed was similar to the procedure known as "preimplantation genetic diagnosis," or PGD, used by fertility clinics to test an embryo for signs of genetic mutation or chromosomal abnormalities before implanting it in a woman unable to conceive normally.

Of 43 embryos from which cells were extracted, 36 -- or, roughly, 80 percent -- grew normally to the five-day-old stage before being placed in the deep-freeze. That's a healthy survival rate for embryos in fertility labs, according to published research. It also seemed to answer criticism that Advanced Cell in its 2006 study failed to prove that embryos could evolve naturally after having a single cell removed.

Researchers claim that time is of the essence on the stem cell front.

"Too many needless deaths occur while this research is being held up," said Lanza. "I hope the president ... will approve these stem lines quickly."

Advanced Cell's stock price soared 69 percent today, to 25 cents, but such volatility is not unusual in so-called penny stocks.