In the year 1998, the first human embryonic stem cells had been harvested to grow in the laboratory; a long awaited step since the first embryonic stem cells had been collected from mice in 1981. This was a promising lead in the understanding of human biology and bioengineering research that could lead to hundreds of cures and treatments to diseases thought incurable, but in 2001 legislation was passed that would restrict funding for embryonic stem cell research. This was based on the idea that life begins at cell fertilization, and while there is a need to create a unified idea of what defines a human being from a clump of cells, this was a major hit to the research in all forms. Since then stem cell research has not had the backing from the government that could create new types of medical treatment. This paper is to promote an increase in federal funding to create cures for many types of diseases, creating a safe alternative to test new drugs and treatments, and progressing research into human biology, while addressing moral issues against embryonic stem cells and concerns of cell manipulation leading to other health issues.

Stem cells are a wonder to the world of biology, as they are referenced as undifferentiated cells. This is of great value in that they can be treated to express any type of cell in the body and implanted to replace missing cells like those who suffer from diseases like diabetes or those with degenerative eye diseases. In an article from the Journal of Ocular Pharmacology & Therapeutics they reference “…2 human clinical studies using hESC-derived cells for the treatment of ocular ailments injected RPE suspensions into the subretinal space of patients with either dry-AMD or Stargardt’s macular dystrophy. In both cases, many patients acquired slight visual improvement after 4 months.” (Pennington, Clegg, Pluripotent Stem Cell-Based Therapies…). With more federal funding to research programs such as this we could open the possibilities of having slight improvement to complete retinal regeneration. This is just the beginning, as these cells can be cultured to repair vital organs that don’t regenerate themselves, like kidneys, or even work towards their applications in the targeting of cancer in the human body. As Corsten and Shah put in The Lancet Oncology, ”Stem cells show powerful preferential migration towards local and disseminated malignant disease and are attractive vehicles for the delivery of apoptosis-inducing proteins, immunostimulatory signals, antiangiogenic factors, cell-cycle modulators, inducers of differentiation, and oncolytic viruses” (The Lancet, Oncology) This would eliminate one of the most devastating disease in mankind if there was more effort into the applications of stem cells in cancer treatments.

Giving more federal funding to agencies that would create cell lines would not only be beneficial to the patients that receive the therapies, but would also create enough cell lines to facilitate testing of medications and other medical treatments directly to cells instead of animal or human trials. This would eliminate the harsh effects on animals who suffer from the side effects of medications and treatments that are being tested. As many medications have made it past clinical animal testing to make it to retail prescription use, even some of those medications have even developed negative side effects for people years after the medications have been put on shelves. These instances could be avoided by allowing for long term treatments on cell lines generated by more stem cell research, providing for a safer product for consumers who use those medications in the future.

To even this day the world still has little insight into the workings of the human mind or how certain diseases and illnesses affect it. Two of the most common forms of neurodegenerative diseases of the brain are Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, which affect millions of people today and will continue to affect those in the future until there is enough understanding to prevent these diseases. Stem cells have the capacity to be transformed into any number of different cells in the body they can even be differentiated to express a neuron cell in the brain which are cells that cannot be replaced. Now stem cell research is being acknowledged as a serious type of therapy using induced pluripotent stem cells (stem cells from another tissue that can be modified to become pluripotent), as a way to replace the damaged neurons as a result of the disease. In an academic journal, Cell Proliferation the authors of the work deem that “these experiments offered strong immunological, functional and biological rationales for using midbrain DA neurons derived from iPSCs for future cell replacement in PD (Xu et al. Induced pluripotent stem cells and Parkinson’s disease: modelling and treatment.). This research demonstrates the understanding of the brain biology has a lot of room for growth. More funding of experiments like these could develop the understanding of human biology immensely which would establish the United States at the forefront of medical advancements. This kind of stature would allow a more steady flow of currency into the United States by other countries wanting to recreate these therapies or fund these therapies in their own countries.

Embryonic stem cells are ideal for the healing of injuries and diseases but there are many people who would still argue that these types of stem cells are an abomination against human life. While it is true that by harvesting embryonic stem cells results in the destruction of the embryo they are hosted by, this is not a process that is done by unwilling donors or those who would like the embryo to develop. There are no scientists sneaking into homes to steal the embryos of unwitting Americans, this sort of thinking that states that the embryos were not willingly contributed to science is a faulty line of thinking. Most of the embryos used to create stem cells were taken from fertilization-assistance facilities after the client has received treatment and the remaining embryos that will either be frozen or discarded are donated to research.

Although stem cells have many great uses it is still a dangerous line between what healthy cells are, and with bad scientific practice, could be unhealthy cells that are dangerous to humans (a.k.a. cancer). While it is possible that some stem cells that are created through induced pluripotency as well as those that are harvested in embryonic extraction can defunct and become what is known as a teratoma tumor, there are still practices that allow us to eliminate the cells that are dangerous. Unfortunately these strategies of scraping out the defunct cells are very costly and time consuming and without further exploration into the ways we can remove them at a less costly rate it is still a challenge we face today. Investing in safe applications of stem cells into patients without the risk of them turning to cancer themselves could be majorly beneficial in how to implement stem cells to go to clinical trial.

Stem cells are amazing organs that have the ability to be molded into any number of different types of cells that can be used by the body. This has an unlimited potential in the diseases that we could find cures to through regenerative medicine, providing safe alternatives to animal or human clinical testing as well as the knowledge that could be gained in their research. While we still need to create a definition of what it means to be human as well as the dangers of manipulating cells there are answers and compromises that can be made. With clinical trials having started in 2016 it is a step in the right direction but it is time to take action as the people of this nation and push for legislation that would give more federal funding to these agencies.

Works Cited

Pennington, Britney O. and Dennis O. Clegg. "Pluripotent Stem Cell-Based Therapies in Combination with Substrate for the Treatment of Age-Related Macular Degeneration." Journal of Ocular Pharmacology & Therapeutics, vol. 32, no. 5, 6/1/2016, pp. 261-271. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1089/jop.2015.0153.

Xu, Xiaoyun, et al. "Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Parkinson's Disease: Modelling and Treatment." Cell Proliferation, vol. 49, no. 1, Feb. 2016, pp. 14-26. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/cpr.12229.

Corsten, Marten F. MD, Dr. Khalid Shah MD. “Therapeutic stem-cells for cancer treatment: hopes and hurdles in tactical warfare.” The Lancet Oncology, Volume 9, Issue 4, April 2008, Pages 376-384. Accessed via Rio Salado College Library, 2/28/2018