Windpipe Transplant

[AB Editor]

"Surgeons in Spain have carried out the world's first tissue-engineered whole organ transplant - using a windpipe made with the patient's own stem cells."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7735696.stm

Pretty amazing!

A milestone in stem cell research? What are your thoughts?

[LazyGun]

Definitely a milestone for stem cell science, being a very high profile example of the science being turned into a practical medical application.

People shouldnt be expecting too much though - its unlikely they will be churning out replacement hearts, lungs, kidneys etc through this method any time soon.

[jake-the-peg]

No but damaged aortas will be wigh on the agenda I'd imagine.

And if for only a few transplant patients it means a life without life-shortening immuno-suppressing drugs it's a major step forward

[Clanad]

Absolutely agree with the opinions spoken... however, it's also important to understand the milestone was achieved through use of adult stem cells and not embyonic cells as is now being advocated here in the U.S.
By the way, I see British doctors assisted in the operation!

[jake-the-peg]

Why is it important to understand that Clanad?

[Clanad]

jake, at least here in the U.S. a long debate on the ethics of using embryonic stem cells has been based, mostly, on the fact that several lines of embryonic stem cells were already available for such experimentation. These were usually left over from ex-vitro fertilization for implants on sterile women. The argument had been that such cells were the only way to develop the technology now seen in the attendant article.
Actually, it's been found for some time now that other, equally viable stem cell sources of the cells exist without the requirement that a human embryo be destroyed in the process...

[jake-the-peg]

That's nice

What do you suppose will happen to the left over embryos from in-vitro fertillisation procedures now?

[Clanad]

Well, for starters, they can be frozen indeffinitely and used for in-vitro in the future, no? More than ten million couples here in the U.S. alone are infertile at the present time, far exceeding either adoptive children (considering the current abortion rate) or the numbers of embryonic babies currently so preserved...

[rov1200]

If they ever get to the stage of using stem cells for organs can recipients expect a much extended lif? This was not possible in experiments like Dolly the Sheep because the cells used were the same age as the donor itself. Whether stem cells begin life afresh would be worth knowing.

[jake-the-peg]

Not indefinately - the longest sucessful case reported is 9 years.

I don't think this maths stacks up.

Who's taking these frozen emryos? - probably no-one who's infertile due to a male problem - sperm donorship's going to be preferable.

Where the female can donate eggs then this continues and gives you the situation first described.

Your "market" is limited to those not adopting where the female eggs are not usable.

Even if we accept what I take to be your assumption that these clusters of emryonic cells are somehow valuable what are you saving compared to the millions of fertillised embryos lost to women using the coil?

[Clanad]

As usual in the descriptive debate concerning human life, jake, there's little if any meaningful dialogue exchanged between the opposing sides. So, we'll just have to agree to disagree... without being disagreeable. Your poin(s) may be well taken and I can't address every conceivable counter idea you so well put forth, except that it has only been a few years, at most, ago, that the experts in the field stated categorically that advances in the science of regrowing human tissue could only be achieved with the use of embryonic stem cells and promoting of creating thousands of additional lines of such human embryos expressley for experimentation.
My point is simply that it's exciting such advances as reported by our Editor-in-Chief have been made (and many more, here in the U.S) without the use of embryos... and that's a good thing, no?

It is interesting, nevertheless, that the current poll question deals pointedly with this very subject.... so I would expect that AB Editor-inChief finds our discussion at least, debateable amongst the larger population.