Top Ten Stem Cell Myths and Urban Legends

Stem cells.

Understandably, just that phrase evokes all kinds of different reactions from people.

They might reflect a preference in favor of a particular type of stem. Or against another type. There is fear, anger, excitement, greed and hope.

All kinds of emotions.

There are also some popular myths and urban legends about stem cells that feed some of the cultural and emotional reactions to stem cells.

Here's my top 10 list of stem cell myths and urban legends for 2012 based on reader feedback to my stem cell blog on stem cells so far this year.

10. There are stem cells in Pepsi.
9. iPS cells will solve all our problems and end the stem cell debate.
8. ES cells are derived from abortions.
7. Adult stem cell treatments are by definition safe.
6. ES cells are a panacea.
5. Science has proven that life begins at conception and zygotes are persons.
4. Sports stars have been demonstrably helped by stem cells.
3. What is good news for adult stem cell research must be bad for embryonic stem cell research, and vice versa.
2. Patient testimonials can substitute for clinical trials.
1. The FDA and Big Pharma have a secret, evil plot to suppress stem cell research.

 

Follow Paul Knoepfler on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pknoepfler

Comments

[RealAnise]

11:59 PM on 11/02/2012

I have spent the last year researching stem cell studies. Every piece of information I can find anywhere. I beg everyone, BEG, to support the embryonic stem cell work. We are a few years away from treatments for most forms of blindness-- IF the research is permitted to go forward. I don't care about anything else. I just don't. Neither would you, if the sight of your mother, your father, your child, YOURSELF, was at stake. We can get there, but people have to be educated. Everything is at stake here. Think about how ethical or moral it is to allow a child to go blind in order to "save" a clump of cells that could never possibly have turned into an embryo.

[Ira Pastor]

06:20 PM on 10/02/2012

Here may the biggest urban legend - stem cells will make good regenerative or repair therapeutic candidates.

They may not.

Contrary to popular belief, cells by themselves are NOT very regenerative in any way - cells can be "generative", when operating in a generative micro-environment, whereby an integrated group of cells executes on a generative development program - i.e. where a small group of cells grows, differentiates, interacts, and organizes as a group to form a final structure in a "bottom-up" process - where each step is dictated by genetic blueprints within our DNA, and each sequential step dictates the next step in the process via slight modifications to those stepwise genetic instructions.

But that type of process, which builds flawless babies, as well as perfect new limbs and organs in the amphibian and invertebrate kingdoms (including hearts, brains, eyes, spinal cords, etc.) , is 180 degrees opposite from what the stem cell research infrastructure has been trying to achieve for a couple decades now - "top-down" regeneration, introducing millions of cells into a morphostatic micro-environment and hoping they miraculously become something.

Cells by themselves are quite oblivious to the organ that they will ultimately become part of - they know nothing about the final game plan - they just know their one step in the process and learn it from their closest cellular neighbors, and learn that step in a precisely timed sequence - and top down regeneration completely ignores this.

Ira S. Pastor
CEO
Bioquark Inc.
www.bioquark.com

[adeejeclare]

09:34 PM on 10/02/2012

so all the potential people belive in as far as stem cells go is based on the medium? very interesting with all the hype...
so basically, cells are not programmed to become a certain type, but rather adapt with other cells?

[Ira Pastor]

05:27 AM on 10/03/2012

Correct.

3D Form, shape, size, etc. is not a function of the cell but of the cellular micro-environment.

When this can be controlled, then true regenerative events can be realized in humans