Focus is on adult stem cells

The origin, isolation, & specialization of stem cells

Let others wrestle with the ethics of destroying tiny human embryos to collect the powerful stem cells inside. Dr. Charles Vacanti of Brigham and Women's Hospital is quietly making enormous progress in coaxing the same life-saving potential out of stem cells that have been harmlessly taken from adults. Already, researchers in Vacanti's lab are using adult stem cells to successfully grow new spinal tissue in dogs who've been injured in accidents.

''Putting the ethical debate aside, there are many reasons to focus on adult stem cells," said Vacanti, one of four brothers who have become pioneers in the field of tissue engineering. Unlike embryonic stem cells, he explained, adult stem cells can be taken from the patient himself, so there is no fear that his body will reject the new tissues. Vacanti added that tissue grown from adult stem cells may prove safer in the long run because it is more predictable and less likely to turn cancerous.

Vacanti, an inventor with more than 20 patents to his name, started working with adult stem cells about five years ago when he was looking for a more efficient way to grow human tissues for the treatment of disease and injury.

Despite the buzz at the time over embryonic stem cells, which can turn into any type of cell in the body, Vacanti settled on adult stem cells as a less controversial -- though somewhat less powerful -- alternative.

So far, Vacanti's choice has paid enormous dividends: In the lab, he has grown pancreatic cells that could be vital to treating diabetes. Among the small number of dogs with spinal injuries that he has treated, he said, ''we've had some very significant return of function."

And true to Vacanti's commitment to stay out of the ethical fights that have hampered other researchers, he stresses that all of the dogs treated in his lab were injured by accident and not for research purposes. ''We're not creating any traumas," he said.

source: By Scott Allen, Globe Staff