Stem Cells and Birth Defects

The stem cell revolution marches on, this time into the realm of birth defects. According to this article in technologyreview.com's biomedicine file, birth defects that were induced into embryonic mouse brains by the use of heroin by their pregnant mothers were subsequently reversed by injection of neural stem cells directly into the brain. An interesting effect called the "chaperone" effect comes into play. Even though a sizable number of the injected stem cells die, they induce activity in resident cells that go on with the repair activity.

Joseph Yanai, director of the Ross Laboratory for Studies in Neural Birth Defects at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, in Jerusalem, says that stem-cell therapies are ideal for treating birth defects where the mechanism of damage is multifaceted and poorly understood. "If you use neural stem cells," says Yanai, "they are your little doctors. They're looking for the defect, they're diagnosing it, and they're differentiating into what's needed to repair the defect. They are doing my job, in a way."

The article goes on to say:

Transplanted stem cells have previously shown promise in reversing brain damage caused by strokes, as well as by neurological diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Huntington's. But their use in treating birth defects is relatively new.

While these stem cells were from embryonic mice, the next thrust will be into stem cells derived from the defective mouse itself, regressed from normal cells. This is intended to reduce the propensity for tumors and cancers inherent with embryonic stem cells.

The revolution in medicine that is needed to reduce health costs might well be contained in such research. And the need for human embryonic destruction might well be eliminated by procedures just like these.