June 14, 2000

ON STEM CELLS AND SCIENCE'S ABILITY TO REINVENT ITSELF

Recently, scientists at a research institute in Princeton claimed they were able to accelerate light pulses to a speed 300 times faster than the accepted velocity of light, 186,000 miles per second. This is in direct violation of Einstein's contention that the speed of light is a constant value which can't be exceeded.

What's more, scientists have suggested that pulses traveling at such a super fast speed would in effect be able to arrive at their destination at a point in time before they had left, assailing the notion of causality which underlies all modern scientific thinking.

Until the details of the experiment are published and subjected to peer review, it's hard to tell whether or not the current laws of physics have been seriously threatened.

What is clear, though, is that scientists in various fields may be wondering: "Is nothing sacred?"

And others may be replying, "Yes, thank goodness."

In medicine, one particularly surprising area of research has dashed cold water on the belief that the body lacks the ability to regrow certain kinds of cells and tissues once they are damaged.

The research deals with stem cells, immature cells found in the body that haven't yet differentiated into particular cell types such as muscle, blood, bone, nerve, etc. In 1999, stem cell research was singled out for the "Breakthrough of the Year" banner bestowed by Science magazine. (For more on stem cells, see the Quest article, "Renewing Muscles and Nerves: Could Stem Cells be the Ultimate Repair Kit?" in the Publications section of this Web site.)

MDA-funded researcher Margaret Goodell is working to develop a stem cell-based therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

One maxim that's been challenged by stem cell research is the idea that, after infancy, brain cells are irreplaceable once lost. In fact, it's been discovered that adults possess stem cells in their brains which not only have the capacity to replace damaged brain cells, but also have the potential to be transplanted to other parts of the body to become other kinds of tissues.

The other long-held belief that's been challenged is the notion that stem cells produced in the bone marrow can only produce blood cells. Recent research suggests that, like the stem cells found in the brain, stem cells from bone marrow can develop into other kinds of cells.

In the neuromuscular arena, it's been shown in mice that transplanted stem cells from bone marrow have the ability to form new muscle tissue at the site of a muscle injury. Scientists want to learn if the Duchenne and Becker forms of muscular dystrophy as well as other genetic muscle disorders will be treatable via stem cells.

It's conceivable, in such diseases, that stem cells taken from a healthy donor could be inserted into the blood stream and let loose to find their way to areas of damaged muscle tissue to effect repair.

It's possible, too, that for such genetic illnesses stem cell technology will work hand in hand with gene therapy technology. That is, stem cells may be removed from the person with the disease, treated with gene therapy to correct the genetic flaw, and returned to the body.

Scientists are intrigued with stem cells' potential to repair the damage to the nervous system which has taken place in such diseases as the spinal muscular atrophies (SMA), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). Stem cells in the nervous system might reconnect the brain to the muscles in people with SMA or ALS or speed the transmission of impulses in people with CMT.

As exciting as these possibilities seem, stem cell science, like stem cells themselves, is still nascent. MDA is currently funding a number of research studies seeking ways of using adult-derived stem cells to replace muscle tissue damaged in the course of neuromuscular diseases. Much work needs to be done before we can begin to assess stem cells' potential in halting or ameliorating the effects of neuromuscular diseases.

MDA remains committed to supporting this kind of research as well as numerous other avenues that may lead to definitive answers in the war on neuromuscular diseases.

And we'll continue to maintain a healthy respect for science's ability to overturn its own sacred totems in favor of new ideas, particularly in the hope that such revolutions may yield fresh ways of tackling old problems.

As scientific thinker T.H. Huxley put it: "I am too much of a skeptic to deny the possibility of anything."

With every best wish . . .

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