Stem Cell Debate

Finding an Ethical Treatment for Cancer

           Think about how much better the world would be if doctors came up with a treatment for the major diseases that corrupt our lives. Imagine the euphoria, if a loved one was diagnosed with cancer and was told that he or she could be cured and live a normal life.   According to Joanne Kurtzberg, MD, Director of the Stem Cell Laboratory at Duke University, leading scientists will most likely have a stem cell treatment for all the major diseases in ten years. Stem cells have the possibility to morph into many different cell types, therefore replacing the cancerous or diseased cells.  The two prominent types of stem cells are adult and embryonic. Adult stem cells are found within tissues and organs, which can be replaced to withhold most, or sometimes all, the major cell types. Embryonic stem cells are acquired from the human embryo of an unborn child.  Stem cell research has been a controversial and debated topic; researchers must find an alternative to embryonic stem cells to find a cure for cancer which will save million’s of lives.           

  Sacrificing unborn human infants for disease treatment is seen as unethical.  The technology uses embryonic stem cells, which are extracted from the human embryo (blastocyst) four to five days post fertilization. In the process of obtaining these stem cells from the blastocyst, the human embryo is destroyed, killing the unborn infant.  Is it worth killing unborn babies to treat living humans?  Shouldn’t we let fate decide the outcome?  These are all questions that need to be answered to decide if stem cell research should be conducted. Along with the ethical questions about embryonic stem cells, according to scientists at Columbia University Medical Center, leading scientist’s “... have identified an inherent feature of stem and progenitor cells that may promote initiation and progression of cancerous tumors."(NewsRX.com) After these cells are injected into the body, they have the potential to grow into any cell type. Researchers have been examining the effects and have observed that the stem cells may contribute to the growth of tumors. These counterclaims against stem cell research causes many researchers to feel guilty for the work they are doing. Even if the motivation is to treat an living human with cancer, knowingly destroying the human embryo is an unjust and immoral act. (Morris 6) That’s why the leading researchers should use adult stem cells or other options to avoid killing an unborn baby in the process. The following method is much more ethical and can be seen as a positive to both sides of the debate.

          Leading scientists are telling us that they can pursue the most promising stem cell research without using--much less killing--human embryos. This breakthrough enables researchers to create human embryonic stem cells directly from adult cells. In fact, the new method may actually prove superior to embryo-destructive alternatives. This is the biggest stem cell advance since James Thomson became the first scientist to isolate embryonic stem cells, less than a decade ago. (Anderson)

Since treatment with embryonic stem cells are seen as controversial and cruel, doctors must use adult stem cells for repairing damaged cells from cancer.  Today, “...adult stem cells are already used in therapies to treat several diseases and are being tested in hundreds of clinical trials, while not a single embryonic stem cell therapy exists, even in trials.” (Anderson)  With the elimination of the unjust and corrupt techniques in obtaining embryonic stem cells, there is little debate regarding research of adult stem cell therapies and treatments. These adult stem cells are mostly found in tissues and organs, including the skin, skeletal muscle, bone marrow, brain, and blood vessels. (National Institutes of Health) The obvious advantage of using adult stem cells is that embryos do not have to be invaded and then discarded after cells are extracted. The vast majority of people would prefer this type of therapy because it avoids the ethical and moral dilemma of destroying developing embryos for the treatment of diseases.

Perhaps the most important potential application of human stem cells is the generation of cells and tissues that could be used for cell-based therapies. Today, donated organs and tissues are often used to replace ailing or destroyed tissue, but the need for transplantable tissues and organs far outweighs the available supply. Stem cells, directed to differentiate into specific cell types, offer the possibility of a renewable source of replacement cells and tissues to treat diseases including Alzheimer's diseases, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. (National Institutes of Health)

Despite ongoing research with stem cells, we currently do not possess a treatment or cure for cancer. According to Joanne Kurtzberg, MD., "... stem cells have a lot of promise but we are in the infancy because real stem cells are very difficult to control as therapy...  There are no current stem cell cures for these major diseases.” (Kurtzberg). The future for stem cell therapies is positive since the Appeals Court lifted the ban on stem cell research in 2011 and granted federal funding. Scientist’s have been conducting animal tests using adult stem cells, which have been very promising. Scientists have done tests on mice using stem cells and they have been successful in treating diabetes and Parkinson's disease, repairing heart tissue, and treating spinal cord injuries. (Morris) Significant successes have been performed using adult stem cells. “Human adult stem cells have been used to treat human blood diseases such as leukemia and lymphoma for over 40 years. The cells used for this treatment are called adult hematopoietic stem cells.” (Morris). These cells are capable of doing many things such as  developing into different types of blood cells.  With federal funding and the top researchers in the country conducting clinical trials for stem cells, it is estimated that we will have a cure for most diseases in about 10 years.

           Some Scientists believe that embryonic stem cells may offer an advantage over adult stem cells. Despite the ethical controversy, embryonic stem cells are thought to develop into many different cell types in the body since they are pluripotent. Embryonic stem cells are very easy to cultivate while on the other hand, it is extremely challenging with adult stem cells due to the mature tissue. Although embryonic stem cells are seen as unethical, “...adult stem cells are thought to be limited to differentiating into different cell types of their tissue of origin.” (Stem Cell Basics) Researchers looked beyond adult stem cells to find a more beneficial technique to use embryonic stem cells without injuring the embryo. “William Hurlbut, a physician and bioethicist at Stanford University pondered this issue [and] presented his own solution: altered nuclear transfer (ANT) -- an approach that might permit researchers to use ‘embryo-like stem cells’ without creating or destroying actual embryos” (Desmond). This approach would take advantage of benefits of undifferentiated embryonic without sacrificing unborn babies. Altered nuclear transfers would satisfy the views of both sides of the debate and solve the stem cell controversy with its ethics and production .
           Stem cell research should be conducted in an ethical way by preserving the human embryo and using human adult stem cells or altered nuclear transfer (ANT).  Destroying a human embryo and killing an unborn baby is not acceptable while trying to find a cure for cancer.  Society should support alternative ways of procuring these undifferentiated stem cells without sacrificing human embryos. Embryonic stem cells have almost unlimited potential since they can divide and multiply into almost all cell types replacing damaged ones. “Every day that we wait, more than 3,000 Americans lose their lives to diseases that may someday be treatable because of stem-cell research." (Desmond) Scientific researchers must persist in the efforts to find an ethical way of using stem cells to find a cure for cancer.