Stem Cell Research

1. Stem Cell Research Health Law and Bioethics Prof. Dr. Helena Pereira de Melo Lena Jasmin Seiberlich

2. What are Stem Cells? can develop into many different cell types in the body they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells when a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function u u u

3. Embryonic and Adult Stem Cells Adult Stem Cells: undifferentiated, found among differentiated cells in a tissue or organ can renew itself and can differentiate to yield some or all of the major specialized cell types of the tissue or organ primary roles in a living organism: to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found u u u

4. Embryonic Stem Cells: able to develop into almost any cell in the human body found in blastocysts when a fertilized egg has undergone cell division for 5 days it forms a hollow ball of cells (blastocyst). The Embryonic Stem (ES) Cells are derived from this u u u

5. Differences u Unlike ES cells, which are defined bytheir origin (cells from the preimplantation-stage embryo), adult stem cells can be gained from nearly every organ. Different abilities in the number and type of differentiated cell types they can become. ES cells can become all cell types of the body because they are pluripotent. Adult stem cells are thought to be limited to differentiating into different cell types of their tissue of origin Adult stem cells are not that powerful than ES cells. They can transform to different blood cells but not to nerve or muscle cells u u

7. Research and Results • in order to derive or extract the stem cells found within the embryo, the embryo is destroyed in the removal process • offers the hope of cell-replacement therapy for diseases such as Parkinson disease, diabetes and cardiac myopathy, but formidable scientific and clinical challenges must be overcome before such therapies could become available

9. Stem Cells and Cloning • Nuclear transfer: involves replacing the nucleus of an egg cell with that from a cell from the patient’s body, and allowing it to develop to form a blastocyst • Cells from the interior of the ES cell would then be harvested and used to establish an ES cell line that has the genetic makeup of the patient. These cells would then be directed to develop into the tissue needed for transplant. This tissue would display the same antigen markers as the patient’s, and therefore would not be rejected

10. Ethical an judical point of view moral dilemma: It forces us to choose between two moral principles: The duty to prevent or alleviate suffering The duty to respect the value of human life Ü u u when does human life starts and when does the protection of human dignity and the right to life relating to constitutional law begin? must be considered the benefit of embryonic stem cell research u u

11. u other major ethical issue: combination of ES cell and cloning technologies leading to generation of an embryo that is a genetic clone of the donor of the nucleus the embryos are genetic clones of the patient, and thus could, in theory, be used to generate a new human Ü

12. Stem Cells in context of the World The Portuguese Council of Ministers approved a bill of law on February 24, 2011, regulating the use of stem cells for human research on the prevention, diagnosis, and detection of the origin and treatment of degenerative diseases and diseases that cause irreversible destruction of tissues and organs In Germany the production of human embryos for extraction of stem cells is forbidden. Exceptions are imported stem cells dated before may 2007 In GB and Southcorea and USA is cloning allowed u u u

13. Why to prefere studies on adult stem cells? on one hand ES cells great hope for the progress in medicine on the other hand they are juridical and ethical problematical adult stem cells are differen, there are no embryos required adult stem cells exist in nearly every organ – brain, skin, liver although they are not that powerful than embryonic stem cells they have great potential to heal diseases, as they can transform to different blood cells u u u u Ü

14. Embryonic stem cell research and religion • Different religions view the status of the early human embryo in different ways: the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and conservative Protestant Churches believe the embryo has the status of a human from conception no embryo research should be permitted Judaism and Islam emphasize the importance of helping others and argue that the embryo does not have full human status before 40 days permit some research on embryos Ü Ü

15. Conclusion • Athough most of ES cells were gained in the laboratory or by abortion and there would be destroyed anyway, life must be seen in the earliest stage and so be respected • Also cloning crosses the borders of human dignity and the respect of human life • research on adult stem cells is an acceptable alternative for studies on embryonic stem cells, these promising development in fields of medicine cannot withhold from mankind