A cure for Crohn’s Disease could be found with the use of stem cells. Scientists are evaluating the efficacy of stem cell treatment on Crohn’s Disease when they are used to ‘re-boot’ the immune system.

The possibility of long-term remission for tens of thousands of people in the UK, and many more worldwide, is being investigated in a major clinical trial by University of Nottingham researchers. The experiments will involve taking stem cells from a patient’s own body and using them as a form of treatment.

The first of it’s kind to treat Crohn’s, the study is currently recruiting patients for its Europe-wide trial. Most commonly affecting the colon and small intestines, the condition is a chronic ongoing disease. The main symptoms are weight loss, fatigue, diarrhea, and pain in the abdomen. These are caused by inflammation, deep ulcers and scarring to the wall of the intestine.

About 3,000 to 6,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, and currently, about 60,000 people in the UK suffer from the condition. Immune suppressant drugs, and steroids which can only be administered in the short term are current treatments. There is no cure for the disease.

But a cure for up to 50 percent of sufferers could be in the making according to Professor Chris Hawkey and colleagues Dr. Paul Fortun and Dr. Tony Shonde who are together, conducting the Nottingham-led stem cell therapy.

Professor Hawkey said:

In advanced aging, a cognitive decline is typically observed as the years go by. But scientists may have an answer for this dilemma as stem cell research has found a novel approach to slow and possibly prevent this phenomenon.

Giving rise to new nerve cells every single day, the adult brain contains highly “regenerative” stem cells. As the brain ages, the number of stem/progenitor cells and their progeny decline dramatically according to previous studies. The number of stem cells we have in old age could be preserved in by boosting the number of stem cells when we are young or middle aged according to Dr. Rietze and his team.

The number of stem cells typically found in the brain is increased by using two separate approaches. Stimulating resident stem cells to divide and increase in number, the first approach used by Dr. Rietze and his team involves performing an acute infusion of growth hormone directly into the brain. These results indicate that a new target for stem cell-related treatments may be growth hormone, which may also play an integral role in regulating brain stem cells.

Engineers who figure out how to take the delicate results of lab experiments and make them robust enough to survive the onslaught of industry, have a long road to follow in order to get from breakthrough to application. Thus, the news last week that adult skin cells had been reprogrammed using a novel technique, to transform them into embryonic stem cells, was seen as only the beginning and not the end by biomedical engineer PeterZandstra and others like him.

Germany’s research minister wants to ease restrictions on stem cell research after recent research revealed that common skin cells can be modified to have embryonic like power. The U.S. and Japanese research has also prompted a pledge to invest more money in adult stem cell research.

“We will double research funds for the technology for reprogramming adult cells from 5 to 10 million euros ($7 to 15 million) a year, so that work can proceed quickly,” Education and Research Minister Annette Schavan told the newsmagazine Focus.

“Germany should become the motor of adult stem-cell research,” she added, noting that the recent scientific developments are a means of ending the embryonic stem cell debate.

The two teams, one from Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan, and another from the University of Wisconsin, both worked independently in what could be described as a “race” to be the first to reprogram skin cells. Both announcements were made on November 20th.

Since embryos are discarded in the process, embryonic stem cell research has come under harsh scrutiny. Their versatility has prompted support of equal force as well. The two sides may soon have little to debate about.

The ethical controversy surrounding the research would be eliminated with the use of reprogrammed skin cells.

Stem cell research is strictly regulated in Germany. Not scientific research with embryos can be conducted, unless the embryos were imported into the country prior to January 1st, 2002. A one time change to extend the cut-off date was proposed, however, that may no longer be necessary.

“What’s important is that there is now greater hope of being able one day to do without tests on embryonic stem cells,” she said.

More countries should benefit form the finding other than Germany. Regulatory bodies around the world have unanimously supported the research, which will take the cap off funding in some cases, and allow scientists to access cells that have embryonic power.

Some 25,000 Malaysians have registered to have their stem cells stored 5 years after it was introduced to the country.

The ecstatic reaction of researchers, who are normally a less animated bunch, may be a good indicator of the importance and impact of a recent independently verified discovery: that common skin cells may be used instead of embryonic stem cells for research.

“This is a tremendous scientific milestone, the biological equivalent to the Wright Brothers first airplane,” said Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell Technology in Massachusetts., a statement echoing the view of many of his colleagues.

Federal funding has been restricted amidst political and social controversy over embryonic stem cell research and the ethical implications that the science entails. Today, the issue is more mainstream than it has ever been, so a solid understanding of biology is not necessary to understand the enthusiasm surrounding the research. Without the use of a woman’s eggs or human embryos, embryonic stem cells have been created by converting normal human skin cells using a simple technique developed by researchers in Wisconsin and Japan.

A limitless supple of research material will more than likely be created, and ethical issues will be completely eliminated, as the experiments are repeated and the methods perfected in giving embryonic power to skin cells.

Embryonic stem cells are considered to have the potential to develop into every type of human cell. Developing treatments for a long list of diseases and injuries which affect virtually every organ is the focus of scientists using embryonic stem cells for research. But ethical concerns, and more importantly, scientific/technical roadblocks have plagued the science, which has yet to produce even one successful treatment.

Stem cell research as a whole should be accelerated thanks to the new discovery. Many researchers who once had their hands tied because of limited cell lines, limited funding, and ethical concerns, will have now have an entire new frontier open in front of them. A much broader scope of expertise will be brought to the laboratory, which will lead to a much wider array of funding.

The discovery could be the catalyst for a new era in medicine, and Mr. Lanza’s Wright Brothers analogy may be spot on. It took 42 years for humans to walk on the moon after Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic Ocean 24 years after the Wright brothers’ maiden flight. But society should not be accustomed to this rate of innovation. Medicine and technology, with today’s global reach, could set a new precedent for the pace of discovery.

Democrats have been spending ample time planning for next years elections. Specifically, on the topic of embryonic stem cell research. But a breakthrough by Japanese and American research teams could give President Bush and those who mirror his sentiments more than enough support to end the debate.

Progress in embryonic stem cell research was potentially blocked earlier this year when President Bush vetoed two separate bills which were in favor of allocating taxpayer dollars for the science.

The destruction of human embryos was not necessary in order for medical advances to be made in the field of stem cell science advocated Bush.

He may have been on the right track with his statements. On Tuesday, two separate research teams from Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, reported stem cell advances that could end the controversy over embryo use forever.

The journals Cell and Science published papers by both teams on Tuesday regarding the breakthrough. Science published the work of Junying Yu, who was working in the lab of stem-cell pioneer James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Cell published a paper by the team led by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University.

Both teams were able to take regular human cells, in this case skin cells, and use a technique called “direct reprogramming” to alter the cells to have the same potential as embryonic stem cells. All this without destroying, or even touching, a single human embryo.

White House officials are calling the debate over.

“This is evidence … that we can get the good results we want from science without cutting corners on ethics,” said Karl Zinsmeister, Bush’s domestic policy adviser. “Let’s not set up a false choice between on the one hand, progress, and on the other hand, ethics.”

The greatest potential in stem cell research is believed to be synonymous with embryonic stem cells. This is a conviction that many individuals adhere to, despite the existence of evidence pointing to some forms of adult stem cells having similar potential. However, the debate begins and ends with the human embryo, which is destroyed in the cell harvesting process. Bush and his allies do not want to force taxpayers into what may be an ethical dilemma for many. Supporters of embryonic research say that the embryos, left unused, would be discarded regardless, and that public money would only be directed towards these specific embryos.

Some defenders of embryonic research say that all types of this science should be federally funded, and that the breakthrough changes nothing about the debate.

“The argument that we need to have all types of ethical research is the argument that sways voters,” DeGette said Tuesday. “The White House and the opponents of stem cell research have been saying for years that they think adult stem cells are substitutes. This is not a new argument that they’re making.”

“Scientists may yet find that embryonic stem cells are more powerful,” said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

“We need to continue to pursue all alternatives as we search for treatments for diabetes, Parkinson’s and spinal cord injuries.”

But these comments seem indefensible thanks to the new technique. If skin cells, or any adult cell for that matter can be easily modified to have the exact same potential as an embryonic stem cell, than the debate is truly over. What researchers are left with is essentially, an embryonic stem cell, without the destruction of an embryo.

Scientists who have long supported embryonic science and cloning are beginning to switch sides. Even the most notable have applauded the breakthrough.

Scottish researcher Ian Wilmut, famous for his role in cloning Dolly the sheep a decade ago, has given up his embryonic cloning approach to produce stem cells and switched to direct reprogramming instead.

The Japanese method has more potential than embryonic stem cell research; Professor Wilmut said his own research team held a meeting at which this point was agreed on.

He said: “The work which was described from Japan of using a technique to change cells from a patient directly into stem cells without making an embryo has got so much more potential.”

If those who know more about stem cell science than the politicians agree that using the new technique offers more potential than embryonic stem cells, than the an end to embryonic stem cell research may be on the horizon.

“It solves the ethical dilemma,” said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. “This should put an end to” the debate.

“Maybe we can all now reach agreement on what has been an all-too-divisive issue and advance this promising research through the power of federal funds,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Despite any results, the debate should still make an appearance on the campaign trail in 2008.

“It’s terribly wrong for any politician to be trying to pick and choose one type of ethical research over another,” DeGette said. “That issue isn’t going away.”