A Brief Primer on Stem Cell Research

The Church welcomes adult stem cell research, because it requires no killing of anyone or anything. This research has already produced miracle cures.

RICHMOND, Va. (Catholic Online) - Chronic degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's are major causes of human suffering and misery, and thus the focus of considerable scientific attention. Celebrities, like Michael J. Fox, who have been stricken with these diseases, are seen in their pitiable state on national television talk shows advocating for research that could end their torment and that of others in their condition.

Often these diseases cause destruction of a type of tissue, e.g. the neurons in the substantia nigra of the brain that produce an important brain chemical known as dopamine in the case of Parkinson's, or the loss of neurons and synapses in the cerebral cortex and certain subcortical regions of the brain in Alzheimer's.

Unlike skin or bone cells that are constantly turning over, the neurons you have are the neurons you will have. Once they are gone, they are not replaced.

Stem cells are immature cells that have the potential to mature into virtually any kind of cell, and to renew themselves for long periods of time. These cells are said to have plasticity, the potential to develop into cells of a different type than those in the tissue from which the stem cells originate. Embryonic stem cells have more plasticity than adult stem cells.

The great hope in stem cell research is that the plasticity of the cells will allow them to grow and become the type of cells that have been destroyed by the disease, replacing cells such as neurons that normally would not be replaced. These cells would allow a person, in a sense, to become young again; to return to his state prior to the onset of the disease.

So why is there a controversy? To understand the problem, it is necessary to understand a bit about the stem cells themselves. When a male sperm cell fertilizes a female egg, the result is an embryo. This fertilized egg will become a complete being. The cells in this embryo begin to divide, and after about four days, the cells in the embryo become pluripotent, meaning that they can give rise to all tissue types. At this stage the embryo is called a blastocyst, a hollow ball of cells. It is these cells that scientists "harvest" as embryonic stem cells. In so doing, the human embryo is killed.

There is an ongoing debate in some quarters about when this embryo is just a ball of harvestable cells, and when it becomes a person. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, #2270 - "Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person -- among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life."

Why does the Church use the moment of conception, that is, when the sperm and egg unite, instead of some later time? Because unless the embryo is killed, or dies a natural death for some reason, it will grow into a fully developed human person. In fact, the Church speaks of embryonic persons. There is no time prior to some intervening event that the fetus will become a hamster, or a dog, or a Buick. It will always and everywhere become a human being, whose life must be respected. That is why it is always and everywhere wrong to kill human embryonic life by "harvesting" its stem cells in its earliest days.

There is another type of stem cell, however, called adult stem cells. These are immature, undifferentiated cells that occur not in the embryo but in the tissues of all adult humans. These cells, which can be harvested from the patient (without killing him!) have been found in many tissues, are renewable, and can grow into the cell types of the tissue in which they are found, although some research suggests the they may be at least multipotent, capable of forming cells from more than one tissue type.

Adult stem cells have been used for nearly 40 years, primarily hematopoietic stem cells used to treat patients with diseases of the blood and immune systems. Conversely, despite research dating to the 1980's, and despite the oft-touted potential of embryonic stem cells, scientists have thus far been completely unable to produce any useful clinical treatments.

Many other problems exist with embryonic stem cells. One is that they tend to spontaneously mutate to form tumors. This can happen while they are being grown, or after they are transplanted into the patient. Thus far a purity of only 80% has been achieved in the laboratory; meaning that one out of five cells grown in the lab is a tumor cell, obviously not a safe and reliable therapy. The other problem is immune rejection, where the body sees the cells as foreign invaders and destroys them, sickening or killing the patient in the process.

Adult stem cells, on the other hand, are harvested from the patient himself, overcoming the immune rejection problem. Recently it has become clear that adult stem cells have much more potential for differentiation into other tissue types than previously assumed. Transplantation experiments have caused adult stem cells to form tissues totally different than those from which they were harvested, and cells are being reprogrammed to an embryonic, pluripotent state where they behave like embryonic stem cells.

Since the beginning of the 21st Century, the positive results from research using adult stem cells has increased at an astonishing rate, whereas embryonic stem cell research, mired in technical problems, has failed miserably to live up to the promises of its proponents. The use of embryonic stem cells is condemned by the Church because it always requires that the life of an embryo be taken to produce the cells. As a culture, we would create children to be killed for research in the "hope" (does that term sound familiar?) of discovering something that could be useful clinically.

On the other hand, the Church welcomes adult stem cell research, because it requires no killing of anyone or anything. This research has already produced miracle cures, such as a patient in Spain, who lost her windpipe due to a particularly virulent form of TB, for whom scientists grew a new one using her stem cells.

When push comes to shove, picture yourself as a grandfather, hospitalized for cancer. Imagine that your physician brought your 8-year old granddaughter into the room, and offered to cure your cancer if you didn't mind that they kill her to get the cells that you need, which might or might not temporarily cure your cancer, if it didn't kill you. What would you do?

----
Frederick R. Liewehr DDS, MS, FICD is a Medical professional who is highly respected in his field. He is also a faithful Catholic and a member of St. Benedict Catholic Church in Richmond, Virginia.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'

Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online