A remarkable success using patients' own stem cells

Diabetics cured in stem-cell treatment advance-Life & Style-Health-TimesOnline :

But research using the most versatile kind of stem cells — those acquired from human embryos — is currently opposed by powerful critics, including President Bush.

It appears that the MSM can't bring themselves to report on a medical miracle without getting in a sly and misleading dig at W.

How can a responsible journalistic enterprise claim that embryonic stem cell research is opposed by Bush when his budgets have included massive funding for research using existing stem cell lines?

How can such a news organization characterize embryonic stem cells as merely the "most versatile" type without mentioning the fact that it is precisely that versatility which has proven to be so problematic that no therapeutic success has been achieved by their use despite billions of dollars in both government and privately funded research around the world?

This truly astounding success in treating Type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetes - most patients off insulin for three years and counting - actually bolsters the case made by many critics of embryonic stem cell research. It is yet another success in the use of non-embryonic stem cells. Based on the track record, a strong case could be made that government funding in the US should concentrate exclusively on non-embryonic stem cells - cells harvested from the patient's own blood, bone marrow, nose, fat, etc.

The therapy, known as autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, has already shown benefits to individuals with a range of auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and lupus.

In this clinical trial, patients with very recent diagnoses had stem cells harvested from their own blood. They then underwent a course of chemotherapy to disable their white blood cells which were attacking the pancreatic beta cells which produce insulin. Finally, their stem cells were returned to their bloodstream where they went to work rebuilding an immune system that was no longer prone to attack their own beta cells.

These successes with autologous transplantation mentioned above, and others like the work with nasal stem cells in repair of central nervous system injuries, demonstrate the value of non-embryonic stem cell research. Money, especially government money, ought to flow toward success, not failure.