Download Guerrero Luz Guerrero Professor Sandra Howland English 102 April

Guerrero 1
Luz Guerrero
Professor Sandra Howland
English 102
April 19, 2012
Hope and Chaos on Stem Cell Research
In January 2007 my daughter Aimee was born in Salem Ma. Aimee was a healthy baby until
she caught a cold at three months old. Her pediatrician thought she was having some type of
indigestion. The medicines did not help her and she got worse. I took her to the ER in Salem
hospital and they found that her heart was not working properly and she had an arrhythmia,
which is an irregular heart rhythm. Aimee was translated by helicopter to MGH hospital in
Boston. One day later she was translated to Children Hospital Boston. She was diagnosed with
dilated cardiomyopathy caused by a virus. Most people that develop this condition can recover
with treatment over the time. But my daughter’s heart was severe damaged for recovery and the
only option was a heart transplant. In April 26, 2007 my daughter got the heart transplant, after a
month of being connected to an artificial heart called Berlin Heart, which helped her to survive
until the heart transplant. Today Aimee is five years old. She is a healthy and active girl.
Although she has no mayor health concerns today, she will be under immune suppressor drugs
her whole life, to avoid the rejection of her heart by her own immune system. My daughter had
just one option to survive her condition and it was the heart transplant. In the future, people
suffering from the same condition, will be cured with alternatives therapies and organ transplants
will not be necessary in most cases. This will be possible by the development of stem cells
regenerative therapies, which has opened the door to a new world of regenerative medicine. Stem
cell research could be the answer to the development of new innovative therapies to treat human
diseases successfully. Although stem cell therapies promise to be an effective treatment for most
Guerrero 2
diseases that affect people worldwide, it has some opposition and people need to take in
consideration the risks and consequences of a stem cells as a new e innovative therapy that has
not being enough studied and in most countries still in trial stage.
To understand the importance of Stem Cell research, every one need to know what are stem
cells and what they do. Stem cells are unspecialized cells that have the ability to become any
type of cell in the body, for example they can become a liver cell, heart cell, blood cell etc. They
are used by the body to renew and regenerated tissues and replace death cells (medterm). The
stem cells found in the human body are called adult cells and the stem cells found in the first
stage of cell division in an embryo are called embryonic stem cells. The embryonic stem cells
can become any type of cell. On the other hand adult cells usually generate cells of the tissues in
which they reside which give the scientist some limitation in its use (stemcells). Although they
differ from the type of source they come, they all can multiply, regenerate tissues and replace
dead cells. This is call regenerative therapy. It seems to be the medicine of the future that will
limited the use of drugs and surgeries.
Stem cell research had has a slow progress due to technology limitations, and the
controversy between government, religious and prolife groups. The controversy is focused on the
embryonic stem cells research, “opponents of the stem cell research compare the destruction of
an embryo to an abortion, believing that it is immoral and unethical to destroy one life to save
another” (explorestemcells). The opposition complains is that in order to obtain embryonic stem
cells the embryo is destroyed in the process. Their comparison of the destruction of the embryos
in the research with abortion is somehow exaggerated. The embryos that research labs use came
from fertility clinics not from the womb of a woman, and they otherwise will be discharge. The
embryos are not usually more than five days old which constitute a bunch of 60 to 100 cells. At
Guerrero 3
this stage the embryo has not nervous system or organs formed. It cannot feel pain. The cells of
the embryo haven’t differentiated to become and specific cell tissue. As a result of this moral and
ethics controversy a large number of countries have prohibited federal funding for the study of
human embryonic stem cells and the progress of stem cell research has been remarkably
affected. “United States, Brazil, South Africa, Switzerland, Australia, Japan can only use the
embryos discarded after in vitro fertilization. China has one of the most unrestrictive stem cell
policies permitting the creation of embryos. Chinese cultural belief is that a person life begins at
birth. United Kingdom permits the creation and destruction of embryos, resulting in one of the
leading center of embryonic cell research” (ncbi). United Kingdom and China are getting ahead
in the acquisition of knowledge on embryonic stem cell thanks to the flexibility of their
government policies. Banning and restricting stem cell research will only postponed the
inevitable because science and human desires are unstoppable. Looking back in time, human
race had left an indelible mark of scientific progress. Nothing has stopped human curiosity and
its ability to improve in every step. Technology has been improving at a fast rate allowing people
to live comfortable and longer. The biomedical field has been the one with remarkable effect in
the life of people as Bishop stated in his work, “Biomedical research is one of the great triumphs
of the human endeavor. It has unearthed usable knowledge at remarkable rate” (Bishop 307).
Scientist has found ways of manipulating living organisms, to discover new drugs and therapies.
Today, considering at the great amount of people that are affected by diseases worldwide,
biomedical research is the hope of the people that are waiting for the opportunity to recover.
Guerrero 4
Clinical use of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation was first developed at the
Hutchinson Center, and one of Hutchinson Center’s founders, Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, MD, won
the Nobel Prize in 1990, for this groundbreaking work (Seatlleca). Since then, the use of bone
marrow stem cell to treat blood cancer, bone marrow deficiencies, and immune disorders has
increased significantly being successful in most cases. As a result the mortality rate in patients
with blood cancer as leukemia has decreased. “Survival rates in leukemia have risen dramatically
in the last 40 years with improvements in diagnosis and treatment. In 1960, the overall 5-year
survival rate for all leukemia was about 14%. It is now about 50%” (emedicinehealth). Although
the improvement of a 36% is significantly, the other 50% of the patients died. This is a
considerable quantity of people dying from leukemia every year “An estimate of 23,540 people
will die from leukemia in 2012 just in United Stated” (cancer) These therapies are not perfect
due to the risk of rejection, and not all blood cancers respond to the treatment. This is one more
reason to support the study of stem cell research to find new alternative to diseases with high
mortality rate like leukemia.
Heart diseases are the number one leading causes of death worldwide. In United States the
rate of mortality is surprisingly high, “more than 910,000 Americans still die of heart disease
and more than 13 million Americans live every day with some form of heart disease” (articlescnn)
Stem cell has proved to regenerate heart tissue and recovery its normal functioning in patients
that have had heart attack. “Researchers found that on-going weakness caused by a heart attack
could be improved with an injection of one million stem cells taken from healthy areas of the
patients' own hearts” (telegraph). It has been a small approach to the problem of heart diseases,
but it can be noticed as the beginning of a new era of discoveries in regenerative medicine that
can eradicate this problem as stated by Joshua Hare, M.D., a cardiologist and the director of the
Guerrero 5
University of Miami's interdisciplinary stem-cell institute. "My prediction is that in 10 to 15
years, thanks to this new ability to repair damage, heart disease will no longer be the number one
killer in the country” (msnbc). According to Doctor Joshua, in fifteen years patients with heart
diseases will receive stem cell therapies instead of drug or surgeries. It is a major step to treat
patients with therapies; as a result they will avoid painful surgeries and the side effects of drugs.
It also reduces the costs of health care on patients. Millions of patients with heart diseases will be
cured around the world. Stem cell therapy will cure not only heart disease, but most of the
incurable disease such as, diabetes, cancer, HIV, cerebrovascular diseases, mental diseases,
immune disorder diseases etc...
All around the world stem cell research and its development of therapies has been in the
news promising cure to diseases. Some countries are offering stem cell therapy that has not even
been well research, and desperate patients are travelling to countries that can offer them a hope
to cure their condition, “there are stem cell therapies available elsewhere aimed at heart disease
and neurological conditions, even autism. Germany, Panama, Mexico and Thailand are all
popular countries for seeking these kinds of treatments” (cnn). Stem Cell therapy is a lucrative
market and it is also illegal in United States where stem cell therapies are in trial stage.
Theravitae is one of the companies that offer adult stem cell treatment for heart diseases. “The
company was founded in 2003 and is based in Toronto, Canada with locations in Israel,
Thailand, and Hong Kong” (investing). Theravitae therapies are based on the use of the patient
own blood, from which stem cells are harvest artificially and then transplanted to the damage
heart tissue (investing). Theravitae therapies have not being approved in USA, this is the reason
Theravitae does not have any clinic in United States. Patients usually travel to far countries to get
stem cell therapy. Another company that performs stem cell therapies is Regenocyte. The clinic
Guerrero 6
is in Naples, Florida where they perform Nuclear Cardiology, Cardiac Catheterization
Laboratory, Peripheral Vascular Ultrasound, Stress Testing, and Pulmonary Function Testing.
The stem cell clinic operates in Centro de Otorrino Cardiovascular Center, Santo Domingo in
Dominican Republic. Regenocyte work with Theravitay in Israel who culture the adult stem cell
from owns patients’ blood. Theravitae do the culturing in Israel and Regenocyte work with the
patient and the implantation of the stem cell in the patient (regenocyte). Regenocyte cannot
perform the stem cells therapies in Florida because is not legal, but they diagnose and arrange the
treatment in Florida and a patient can travel to Dominican Republic to get the treatment done.
According to some patients their therapies had been a success and their life style had change
significantly. On the other hand people need to be sure about the credibility of these testimonies
because profit is the main objective of these companies and testimonies can be a fraud to attract
more clients.
One of the largest stem cell clinics in Europe called XCell had been in the eye of European
authorities due to the dead of two children in 2010, “an 18-month-old baby who was given a
controversial injection in the brain, In May and 10-year-old boy from Azerbaijan died when the
same procedure went wrong”(telegraph). Unscrupulous companies are making profit with the
desperation of sick people as Dr. Joshua Hare states "What I find frustrating is that they're
preying on people's desperation. Stem-cell therapy has great potential, but there's so much about
it we're still figuring out" (msnb).When people are desperate and without options, there is no
difference for any of them to try one more time to stay alive or wait for death to come without
trying. Sincerely, if something similar happens to me and I have not options, I will go to one of
the companies that offer treatment to cure my condition; I have nothing to lose, I will die
anyway, so I will be joining the thousands of people seeking alternative therapies in other
Guerrero 7
countries. As a result of the increase of people seeking these therapies some institutions had
developed some guidelines for patients seeking the treatment in those countries “International
Society for Stem Cell Research recently produced a handbook for patients who are considering
experimental therapies. It outlines the risks, which are physical, financial, and psychological”
(msnbc). People know that there are risks and they can die in the making of any attempt, but
some people seem to be willing to take some risks even if it includes death. XCell is just the tip
of the iceberg; there are more companies performing illegal stem cell therapies with unreported
cases of death that keep them away of the controversy. These companies are like Victor
Frankenstein in the essay of Mary Shelley (Shelley 285); their main focused is on making a
profit from stem therapies, but at the same time are not calculating the consequences it could
bring to humanity in a long term. Stem cell has the power to provide health, but it need to be
study on deep to understand how well it work on patients.
Scientifics in United States think that it is too early to introduce stem cells therapies to the
market ignoring its possible consequences to the recipients in a long term. Today, in United
States there are several health institutions performing approved stem cells trials on humans as the
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and National Cancer Institute (NCI) both in
Bethesda, MD. Although it does not guarantee a cure, patients with the required conditions for
the trial can benefit from new regenerative therapies or drugs. It is the most liable resource that
allows scientist to acquire knowledge practicing their techniques on humans. It could be wrong,
but it is the only way to know if the drugs and therapies will be successful for patients.
Today people search the web and can read testimonies of recovery and more and more people
are supporting the stem cell therapy around the world. On the other hand most people do not
know about the risk and consequences, because it is early to know the side effects in patients that
Guerrero 8
had been treated in other countries. Patients can develop side effect symptoms immediately after
the stem cell therapy but some can last years to develop those symptoms as the case of a boy
treated with fetal stem cells in a clinical trial “The boy in the case suffered from a rare genetic
disease known as Ataxia Telangiectasia. This disorder affects many areas of the body and can
cause significant disability. After undergoing fetal stem cell therapy at a clinic, the boy
developed abnormal growths in his brain and spinal cord. The growths were found
approximately four years after he had received the stem cell therapy” (explorestemcells). It
reflects that the level of knowledge scientists have about long term side effects of stem cell
therapies is very limited. On the other hand, it is a way for scientists to find what they did wrong
and to improve their techniques to decrease the margin of errors in the future. Scientists are
dealing with a form of life that has its own mechanism and in most cases stem cell may not react
as scientists want after their transplantation.
After elaborating about the facts, risks and consequences of stem cell therapies, it is
reasonable to think about the future of this new technology and the changes it will bring with its
development. The expectancy for stem cell in the future is high, and scientists are working to
have it become reality. The purpose of the stem cell research is to give people the opportunity to
be cured and live longer. If people take the time and opportunity to think about the future of
stem cell therapies and who will be affected by this technology, the results will bring joy and fear
depending on who is in favor and who is not. The positive effect will be reflecting in patients
suffering from health conditions. People will be cure from incurable diseases such as cancer,
heart disease, cerebrovascular etc. The waiting list for transplants will no longer exist, because
organs will be able to regenerate or when regeneration is not possible, scientists will grow them
for transplant in laboratories with the same genetic material from the recipient. As a result
Guerrero 9
rejections will be almost impossible, and patient will not have to take immune suppressive
medication. Cancer patients will be cure, and chemotherapies, hospitalizations and other
medications will not be necessary. Kidneys disease will not exist; dialysis and medication will
not be necessary. Diabetes will be cure; no more diabetic patients checking their blood sugar
levels twice a day and no more insulin pumps and medications will be necessary. Also the
incidence of amputations due to diabetes will disappear, which mean patients will no need
physical therapy. Viral diseases such as hepatitis c, HIV, herpes ect, will be eradicated allowing
people to be free of medication and out of hospitals. Alzheimer, dementia and Parkinson will
disappear, keeping elderly population at their home instead of sending them to a nursing homes
or assisting livings due to the disease. Stem cell therapies will allow people to stay healthy live
longer. The list could continue indefinitely. As one can see, stem cell will bring benefits to
human being and it will give them the gift of health. Everyone see health as the most important
thing a person could have. On the other hand, stem cell therapies will change the economic and
social system worldwide. Pharmaceutical companies will be deeply affected because the demand
of medicines will be reduce significantly. The health field in general will be affected. The
number of visits to the doctors and hospitalizations will be reduced. As a consequence people
working in the health field will be losing their jobs and their salary rate will go down. Some
hospitals, nursing home and physical therapy centers will close. Colleges and universities will
see a decrease on enrollment on most health program. As a result some careers will become
obsoletes. The rate of mortality will be very low compared to the rate of birth, which will lead to
a growth in population and cities will be overpopulated. As a result the demand of food supply
will increase as well as housing. One cannot imagine the type of imbalance it will bring to the
economic, health and social system people know today. What if people need to die to keep this
Guerrero 10
balance and this is the reason there are diseases, to control population. Greeks and Rome use to
control population killing the babies that were born in times of over population. Today diseases
and environmental disasters are the ones that keep population down. This is just part of my
imagination of what could happen in the future. My thoughts are based in the expectation of
most scientists that believe stem cell therapies could cure people.
What about if it results in the opposite? People 10 or 20 years later, after being treated start
developing mutations and malignant conditions never seen before. Millions of people will died
or will suffer incapacities. Scientist will be in a rushing to find ways to stop and reverse the
mutations; but the mutations develop so quickly after the reaction is triggered by a specific
factor, that makes almost impossible to stop it. It creates a health and social chaos as well as
economic. Hospital will be overcrowded; people will start to protest against the practice of stem
cell therapies. Affected patients and their families will start suiting the responsible companies of
the fatalities. Those companies won’t be able to afford it and will go in bankruptcy. As one can
see there is a balance in nature that people need to maintain and if it is interrupted it will bring
consequences. On one hand, the result of stem as a success will save the life of millions, if not
billions of people around the world, but it will change everything around. The negative effect
will impact economy, specially the health field. On the other hand, if stem cell therapies failed in
long term basis, the result will be the death of millions and the destabilization of the social,
economic and health system worldwide. Although this is part of imagination, people need to
understand that it could happen; it could be for go or bad, but it is better to be preparing for both
results.
Guerrero 11
Stem cell research is a controversial and complex field today. . Stem cells has a big potential
to cure almost anything, the concern is how some people are using it today. Although it had
demonstrated to be a regenerative therapy, it has a long way to go in order to perfect its
techniques making it safe for all patients. I believe in science and what it can do for us if we use
it correctly. I have faith on it, but the reality is that we are who manage and delivery science.
Science is subject to errors and our human condition makes us susceptible to make mistakes.
People today live longer thanks to the advances of science and the development of new
technology. It is amazing the level of knowledge we had reach in science and how it has been
apply to the welfare of humanity. The technology of stem cell will give people a hope, a new
opportunity to enjoy life and this is one of the most important things a person can have; health
People will do anything necessary to stay alive, not matter what they have to go through. There
is not wrong or right in it, it is just part of the human behavior. Scientist will continue the
seeking of a technology that allows them to cure and eliminate the pain from the life of patients
and their families. Although technology and science had brought some negative effects to
people, it is true that the benefits we are getting from science are innumerable.
Guerrero 12
Cite Page
"MedicineNet.com." Medterms. MEDTERMS, 03 Mar. 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10597>.
"Frequently Asked Questions." Stem Cell Basis. The National Institutes of Health
Resource for Stem Cell Research. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
<http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics2.asp>.
Dhar, Deepali, and John Hsi-en Ho. "Stem Cell Research Policies around the World."
Yale Journal Biology and Medicine. YJBM, Sept. 2009. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc2744936/>.
Hu, Wendy, and Kathryn Hale. "Leukemia." EMedicineHealth. EMedicineHealth. Web.
10 Apr. 2012. <http://www.emedicinehealth.com/leukemia/article_em.htm>.
"National Cancer Institute." Leukemia Home Page -. National Cancer Institute. Web. 10
Apr. 2012. <http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/leukemia>.
Carter, Mary. "Heart Disease Still the Most Likely Reason You'll Die." CNN. CNN, 30
Oct. 2006. Web. 10 Apr. 2012. <http://articles.cnn.com/2006-1030/health/heart.overview_1_heartdisease-american-heart-association-obesity?_s=PM:HEALTH>.
Smith, Rebeca. "Heart Repair with Stem Cells 'biggest Breakthrough in a Generation'"
The Telegraph. The Telegraph, 15 Nov. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8888447/Heart-repair-with-stem
-cells-biggest-breakthrough-in-a-generation.html>.
Landau, Elizabeth. "Experts Caution against Stem Cell Treatments Abroad –
CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/22/health/peyton-manning-stem-
Guerrero 13
cells/index.html?iref=allsearch>.
"Businessweek." TheraVitae Co., Ltd.: Private Company Information -. Bloomberg
Businessweek. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.
<http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?
privcapId=12917604>.
Murnaghan, Ian. "A Rare Side Effects of Stem Cell Therapy: A Case Study." A Rare
Side Effects of Stem Cell Therapy: A Case Study. Explore Stem Cells, Mar.
2010. Web. 10 Apr. 2012. <http://www.explorestemcells.co.uk/rare-side-effectsstem-cell-therapy.html>.
Cohen, Mark. "Sick and Desperate Fueling ‘stem-cell Tourism’." Msnbc.com. Msnbc
Digital Network, 11 May 2010. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36849354/ns/health-heart_health/t/sickdesperate-fueling-stem-cell-tourism/>.
"Fred Hutchinson Transplant Program at SCCA." Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Seattle
Cancer Care Alliance. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.seattlecca.org/diseases/bone-marrow-transplant-overview.cfm?
gclid=CKPY5fmfwa8CFcXc4AodJ1ChxQ>.
"Regenocyte." Regenocyte. Regenocyte. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.regenocyte.com/index.html>.
Bishop, J. Michael. "Enemies of Promise." The Presence of Others: Voices and Images
That Call for Response. By Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 304-09. Print.