Israeli Teams Grows Heart Cells and Insulin Producing Cells From Human Embryonic Stem Cells
(Top Posts - Science - 080101)

Date: Posted 8/1/2001

Source: American Society For Technion,
Israel Institute of Technology
(http://www.technion.ac.il/)

Excerpt:

"HAIFA, Israel and NEW YORK, N.Y., - Since the
isolation of human embryonic stem cells three years
ago, scientists have been excited about the prospect
of using these cells to produce all the different types
of tissues in our body, such as heart tissue to repair
damaged hearts.

Now researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of
Technology have for the first time succeeded in
growing the precursors of heart cells from human
embryonic stem cells. This puts the researchers
considerably closer to clinical application in humans.

...

In a second study, another team of researchers at the
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology demonstrated
that human embryonic stem cells can produce insulin,
a result that could signal an important step toward a cure
for type 1 diabetes.

Their research, led by Dr. Karl Skorecki of the Faculty of
Medicine at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology,
is published in the August Diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is a disease that generally results from
the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic islet cells, which
produce the insulin that "unlocks" the cells of the body
allowing glucose to enter and fuel them.

The only way to cure the disease is by pancreas transplan-
tation. However, due to the shortage of organ donations
and other factors, there remains a greatly insufficient supply
of organs.

The study "offers the promise that stem cells might provide
a rich source of insulin-producing cells and put us closer to
a cure for this serious disease," said Dr. Christopher D. Sau-
dek, president of the American Diabetes Association.

...

"Embryonic stem cells have advantages over stem cells
derived from adult tissues," Dr. Gepstein points out.

"They can proliferate far more than can stem cells from
adults, producing far more descendant cells.

This is important, because many millions of cells are
needed to repair organs. In addition, we know that embry-
onic stem cells can differentiate into all the tissues of the
body, while a given type of adult stem cell seems to differ-
entiate into only a small set of tissue types." As a result, the
techniques that the Israel Institute of Technology group has
developed could be modified to produce other types of
human tissue. ..."

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Stem Cell Research - Comprehensive
Report (073101)
http://prohuman.net/science/stem_cell_research.htm
"Stem Cells: Scientific Progress and Future
Research Directions From the National Insti-
tutes of Health ... Stem Cell Debate - Can
Information Change Opinions? ... Type 1 Dia-
betes - The Risks ... NIH Report - Chapter 7
(Stem Cells and Diabetes) ... Stem Cells - Basic
Information (NIH Report - Executive Summary) ...
Christopher Reeve on politics and stem cell re-
search ... Human Choices Regarding Concep-
tion Compared to Acts of Nature (or god, if one
prefers) ... ..."

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-Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
(type 1 diabetic for 40+ years, since the age of 5)

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