Pro-Life News in Brief.

Study Shows Great Potential for Adult Stem Cells

Muscle-derived adult stem cells have the ability to multiply in large numbers, which is necessary to develop effective treatments for diseases, according to a study published in the July 1 issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell.

This study directly contradicts proponents of embryonic stem cell research, who have long insisted that only embryonic cells are versatile enough to be grown in large quantities. Embryonic cells are harvested by killing developing human beings, while adult cells are extracted without harming the donor.

Researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) and the University of Pittsburgh found that adult stem cells are able to multiply in the same amounts as embryonic cells. They extracted adult stem cells from the muscle tissue of mice and watched as the cell population grew, counting the number of times the cells doubled, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

The cell population doubled more than 250 times, and the new cells were as healthy as the original ones.

"Scientists have typically believed that adult or post-natal stem cells grow old and die much sooner than embryonic stem cells, but this study demonstrates that is not the case," said Dr. Johnny Huard, senior author of the study, in a CHP press release.

Huard and his colleagues plan to conduct the same type of study on human adult stem cells, according to the Tribune Review. If successful, it would mean that doctors could extract stem cells from a patient, grow them so there is enough for treatment, and use the patient's own cells to fight the disease. This would solve any problems of rejection by the patient's immune system that occurs when cells from a different source are used.