Waiter, There's Some Mouse In My Stem Cells ...

From the LA Times:

"All human embryonic stem cell lines approved for use in federally funded research are contaminated with a foreign molecule from mice that may make them risky for use in medical therapies, according to a study released Sunday.

Researchers at UC San Diego and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla report that if the stem cells are transplanted into people, the cells could provoke an immune system attack that would wipe out their ability to deliver cures for diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and diabetes. (...)

Researchers have suspected that exposing the stem cells to animal products could have contaminated them with viruses, proteins or other molecules that could be dangerous to people. Now they have evidence it did.

According to the study, human stem cells have incorporated a type of sialic acid that is common in many mammals but isn't produced by people. (...)

When the acid, Neu5Gc, enters the human body — typically by eating meat or drinking milk — antibodies rush to attack it.

Dr. Ajit Varki, a professor in UC San Diego's department of cellular and molecular medicine, questioned whether stem cells containing the acid would also be vulnerable to attack if transplanted into humans. He and his colleagues exposed the stem cells to human blood serum that contained Neu5Gc antibodies.

"It kills the cells," said Varki, one of the authors of the study. "It's reasonable to assume the same thing would happen inside people."

The basic problem is that stem cells are grown among 'feeder cells' derived from animals (mostly mice.) Cells often exchange material with their neighbors, and a group at Johns Hopkins (disclosure: I was in it) had already expressed concern that stem cell lines created in this way might be infected with mouse viruses. This new study adds a new wrinkle: whether or not the cell lines are contaminated by mouse viruses, they are certainly contaminated with mouse proteins, and these proteins would provoke an immune response. Besides the fact that this immune response would kill the cells, thereby scotching any chance of their doing patients any good, a serious immune response is bad in its own right, and not something you would want to needlessly provoke. This study, if accurate, would basically mean that while the embryonic stem cell lines currently approved for federal funding are useful for animal studies and in vitro work, they are worse than useless for therapeutic purposes.

Scientists are working on safer ways to grow stem cell lines, but the Federal government's current policy would forbid federal funding for research on any safer lines that they might develop. California, on the other hand, would be happy to fund them. It's fascinating to see federalism at work in science policy.

Comments

[Timmy the Wonder Dog]

Federalism has always been fascinating, which is why I'm for it on a whole host of issues.

[JerryN]

Federalism is all well and good, but the network of university and other research institutions is not only interstate, but international. As entertaining as the application of federalism may be in an armchair quarterback sort of way, it would appear to be counterproductive to the interests of advancing the state of the art. Although, if we want to unilaterally withdraw from being competitive in attracting the best and brightest to our shores, maybe we're on to something here.

[hilzoy]

JerryN: in general I'm with you, as regards federal funding of science. I think it's much better to have the NIH than fifty little state institutes. However, in this instance I'm happy to see that it's there as a second best. My only fear is that all my stem cell scientist colleagues will move to California.

[Sebastian Holsclaw]

But if it had to be one major state, you couldn't do better than CA. The UC system alone has two excellent medical schools and four excellent biology research schools.

[JerryN]

hizoy - I'm with you. I'm thankful for small favors - in this case that there's enough state and private funding to provide for some level of support for research. I was really responding to Timmy. I'm not at all entertained by the pandering to the anti-science Christian crusaders that this adminstration has done in order to further their politcal ambitions. It's getting to the point, apparently, that folks like Instapundit have had enough.

[hilzoy]

Funny you should mention that, JerryN...

[JerryN]

Great mminds and all that ...

[fdl]

prof hilzoy:

California is really not so bad. Sebastian can show you around San Diego and I can do the same in LA and Orange County.

francis

[hilzoy]

Well, actually, I spent nine years teaching there, living first in Claremont and then in my sorely missed wonderful craftsman bungalow in Pasadena. 1200 square feet of brilliant design, all hidden beneath chocolate-colored flea-infested carpet and curtains that had, I think, once passed for lace, when I found it. Sigh. But other than the house, some friends, and Pasadena, oh and how could I forget my tangerine tree, I really don't miss California.

I mean: I am from Boston. In Boston, all sorts of people may hate one another's guts, but in the final analysis they know that they all sink or swim together. (Sort of like siblings: liking has nothing to do with it.) As far as I could tell, an awful lot of people in Southern CA truly thought that if the world went to hell in a handbasket, they could just withdraw into their gated communities and fire up the grill. If you had told me that this would really bothered me before I moved there, I wouldn't have believed it, but for some reason it did.

So thanks for the offer, but alas, no. What part of LA do you live in?

[Josh]

As far as I could tell, an awful lot of people in Southern CA truly thought that if the world went to hell in a handbasket, they could just withdraw into their gated communities and fire up the grill.

There are other parts of California, you know...

[Slartibartfast]

Yes, I hear the Mojave is fabulous this time of year.

[Slartibartfast]

JerryN, what'd that have to do with the Bush administration? Anything at all?

[JerryN]

Slarti - if you're referring to my second comment, color me cynical, but I've gotta believe that restrictions on funding for stem cell research at the Federal level reflect a political calculation on the part of this administration more than any deeply held ethical convictions.

Of course, if you're referring to my last comment, nothing at all :-)

[democritus]

Hilzoy,
As a (recently minted) JHU Ph.D. (I was up at the Homewood Campus), I'm curious as to which group you were in that worked on the stem cell issue (I'm aware of several in the past few years).

Just curious, and excellent post, BTW.

[hilzoy]

democritus: this one.

[fdl]

Belmont Shore, Long Beach.

and in defense of fellow Californians, there are lots of older communities in the LA area (like, for example, belmont shore) where there are no gates and there is a strong sense of community.

I'll bet that, unless Massachusetts funds its own stem cell research bond measure, California will rapidly become the world-wide hub for research and testing. We need a new boom after the dot-com bust.

Francis

[Sebastian Holsclaw]

And I would just like to add for the record that San Diego is awful. No one else should move here. Whatever you heard about the weather and laid back nature of the people was a pack of lies. It rains all the time. The people are nasty. Earthquakes twice a week and three times during Easter. Don't move here! I'm almost priced out of the housing market already--not that I want to live here.

Well, no one but Hilzoy. She can move here, but she has to convince someone to leave first. :)

[Slartibartfast]

Um...JerryN, you pretty much implied that Instapundit had had it with the administration's had it with something-or-other as regards the administration, when his post had nothing in it that might be construed that way.

But, in the interest of "it was a joke, dammit!" I'm going to let it slide.

[JerryN]

Slarti - got it. The Instapundit reference was tangential and really a throwaway, thanks for letting it slide.

I think I'll let this one rest in peace, too.

[Timmy the Wonder Dog]

My only fear is that all my stem cell scientist colleagues will move to California.

Don't worry hilzoy, but they may be moving to Boston ( a lab built with private capital, how clever).

[rilkefan]

Note, hilzoy, that it's Northern California you should be moving to, not soulless L.A.