Human-animal chimeric embryosorganisms created using cells from two or more specieshave the potential to change how researchers study disease and generate organs and tissues for human transplants. One day, scientists have proposed, it may be possible for someone with, say, pancreatic cancer to have their stem cells injected into a modified swine embryo lacking its own pancreas so it can grow the human organ for donation.
Already, human-animal chimeric embryos (HACEs) have been created using human cells injected into pigs, sheep, mice, rats, and monkeys, although none in the US have been brought to term. In fact, their very existence is ethically contentious. What happens, for example, if scientists were to grow a human brain in an animal, blurring the line between species?
In response to ethical, social, and legal concerns, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a moratorium on funding for HACE research in 2015 pending the development of a new set of regulatory guidelines. While research continues in other countriesand even in the US, through collaborations with foreign researchers and private fundingthe NIH has yet to reverse its decision, despite previous announcements that it would do so.
To gauge the American publics support for HACE research, Francis Shen, a professor of law at the University of Minnesota, recreated two recent surveys carried out in Japan, where many of the worlds HACE studies are done. In those surveys, Shens colleagues found that the majority of the Japanese public supported the use of HACEs, although their feelings varied depending on the type of organ or tissue being grown. We thought, Boy, itd be really interesting to see if the American public thinks about things the same way, Shen tells The Scientist.
Shens team directly translated the Japanese surveys into English, asking 430 participants to rate their support for each of the three steps involved in producing an organ using HACE technology: the insertion of human stem cells into an animal embryo, the transplanting of the embryo into a surrogate, and the harvesting of the resulting organ for use in a human. As before, they gauged peoples reactions to organ and tissue types, including skin, liver, blood, heart, brain, and gametes.
The Scientistspoke with Shen about the results of the US study, published today (October 1) in Stem Cell Reports.
University of Minnesota Law School
Francis Shen:Organ transplantation is a major goal, and that would be a major breakthrough. When I describe [HACEs] to . . . colleagues who maybe havent heard of them before, I talk about organ transplantation. And they understand that, yes, if you grow an organ from your own cells, it makes intuitive sense that your body might be more receptive.
I think there are also a large number of applications that fall broadly under regenerative medicine. One is to better understand the mechanisms of disease and organ function. Theres basic science advances to be achieved there. And then there are applied clinical advances and improvements in treatment across a wide range of diseases and disorders. We can develop better interventions, pharmacological and otherwise. The techniques are not just about improving organ donation. There are also a number of ways, through both basic and applied science, this work can really improve our knowledge and therefore response to any number of diseases and disorders.
FS: One of the main findings was that there seems to be very broad support, even broader than in the Japanese public, for the different steps of HACE research. Support was 59 percent, so a strong majority, support all three steps, including the returning of the organ into a human.
Second was that there are some differences across subgroups in the public. One thing that we thought was interesting is that, although lower, in some instances the support of those who are politically conservative was still quite strong . . . suggesting that this type of stem cell researchusing [induced pluripotent stem] cells and not embryonic stem cells harvested from a fetusperhaps could be more politically palatable.
FS:[People are] more accepting of using HACEs to grow things like livers and skin than sperm, eggs, or brains, and I think it gets to humanization. Its speculation, but I think its informed speculation based on other ethical scholarship and work that has been done. A liver is kind of a liver, it doesnt seem to have too many special properties, but the sperm and the egg and the brain, those are part and parcel of a person. So it feels much more ethically concerning to grow a person in a pig, as opposed to growing just some constituent part of a person.
Someone has a heart transplant or a liver transplant, and it just kind of seems to make more sense. I think theres a cultural acceptance and understanding thats easier to analogize to.
There are a series of ethical concerns, and we tried pretty hard in the paper to emphasize that. They include animal welfare, human dignity, and then the potential for the neurological humanization of chimeric animals.
I think addressing them is tremendously important. Although the NIH has a moratorium presently, it doesnt mean this type of research isnt going to happen. If the NIH doesnt fund it with these ethical guidelines in place, it could be funded and produced elsewhere outside of NIH purview. So not only is there an opportunity to set the ethics frameworks here, theres almost an imperative to do so.
The bottom line for me is that the ethics and the laws and regulation should go hand in hand with the development of the research. And to do that productively means we need to get together and work through these complicated issues. What our study suggests is that the American public would like us to do that.
Editors note: The interview was edited for brevity.
Visit link:
Majority of Respondents Support Chimeric Animal Research: Survey - The Scientist
- Shinobi strikes deal with electronics powerhouse Panasonic to create new cell therapy manufacturing platform - FiercePharma - April 19th, 2024
- The Stem Cells Market expected to grow at the value of USD 28.1 Billion by 2030 with a 10.48% CAGR. - WhaTech - April 19th, 2024
- Scientists produce in vitro model of cell differentiation during early facial development - Phys.org - April 19th, 2024
- Somite: AI-Based Stem Cell Therapy Company Closes $5.3 Million In Funding - Pulse 2.0 - April 19th, 2024
- Paralyzed man who can walk again shows potential benefit of stem cell therapy - ABC News - April 5th, 2024
- Stem Cells Market Innovations Investigated by Industry Overview and Global Forecast - WhaTech - April 5th, 2024
- New tool provides researchers with improved understanding of stem cell aging in the brain - University of Wisconsin-Madison - April 1st, 2024
- The PTM profiling of CTCF reveals the regulation of 3D chromatin structure by O-GlcNAcylation - Nature.com - April 1st, 2024
- Signatures of Autofluorescence Used To Study Stem Cells Aging in the Brain - Technology Networks - March 30th, 2024
- Two decades of embryonic stem cells: a historical overview - March 28th, 2024
- Researchers at Phoenix Children's First in the World to Produce Mouse Lungs in Rats - The Malaysian Reserve - March 26th, 2024
- Unlocking the mysteries of early human development through blastoid models - News-Medical.Net - March 24th, 2024
- Unlocking the Secrets of Aging: Researchers Reveal Key to Intestinal Balance - SciTechDaily - March 17th, 2024
- Human stem-cell-based therapy for Parkinson's disease proven safe PET - BioNews - March 13th, 2024
- Exploring the inner workings of stem cells: When location changes the message - Phys.org - March 9th, 2024
- Confronting IVF: Human Embryos Are Persons With a Right to Life - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence - March 7th, 2024
- When Location Changes the Message - UConn Today - University of Connecticut - March 7th, 2024
- Distinct pathways drive anterior hypoblast specification in the implanting human embryo - Nature.com - March 6th, 2024
- In light of the Alabama court ruling, a look at the science of IVF : Short Wave - NPR - March 3rd, 2024
- The weird way Alabamas embryo ruling takes on artificial wombs - MIT Technology Review - February 25th, 2024
- Alabama's biggest hospital to suspend transfer of embryos after court ruling - ABC News - February 24th, 2024
- Stem Cells: FAQs Answered for Patients and Caregivers - Corporate Wellness Magazine - February 22nd, 2024
- Charles River Collaborates with Pluristyx, Expanding its Portfolio of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells - Business Wire - February 22nd, 2024
- Breakthrough Stem Cell Treatments for Stroke Recovery: What You Need to Know - Medical Tourism Magazine - February 20th, 2024
- Global Cell Isolation Market Size To Worth USD 13.4 Billion By 2033 | CAGR of 12.5% - Yahoo Finance - February 20th, 2024
- The Mechanism of Positional Cues in Embryonic Development and Signaling Molecules in Cell Fate - Medriva - February 18th, 2024
- Regeneration of the Retina Using Pluripotent Stem Cells: A Comprehensive Review - Cureus - February 5th, 2024
- CRISPR/Cas9-mediated deletion of a GA-repeat in human GPM6B leads to disruption of neural cell differentiation from ... - Nature.com - January 29th, 2024
- Global Human Embryonic Stem Cell Market Analysis 2024-2034: A Deep Dive into Applications, End-users, and ... - GlobeNewswire - January 26th, 2024
- No, Rep. Steve Scalise Didn't Vote Against Stem Cell Research From Which He Is Now Benefiting - Yahoo News - January 14th, 2024
- Clinical applications of stem cell-derived exosomes | Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy - Nature.com - January 12th, 2024
- How Stem Cell Embryo Models Won Method of the Year - Technology Networks - January 12th, 2024
- Changing the public perception of human embryology - ESHRE - January 11th, 2024
- How the Human Body Regenerates New Cells Every Year - Laughing Squid - January 4th, 2024
- Lab-grown models of embryos increasingly resemble the real thing | Mint - Mint - January 4th, 2024
- Singapore should ban reproductive applications of synthetic human embryos - BioEdge - January 4th, 2024
- Machine learning-based estimation of spatial gene expression pattern during ESC-derived retinal organoid ... - Nature.com - December 21st, 2023
- The development of embryos may be less shaped by genes than we thought - New Scientist - December 21st, 2023
- Embryonic stem cell - Wikipedia - December 13th, 2023
- Researchers discover a mechanism that controls the identity of stem cells - Phys.org - December 9th, 2023
- 'Fascinating and completely unexpected': Tiny robots fix neurons - FierceBiotech - December 5th, 2023
- Establishment and characterization of matched immortalized human ... - Nature.com - December 5th, 2023
- Proteomic insights into the associations between obesity, lifestyle ... - BMC Medicine - December 5th, 2023
- New therapy can treat rare and hereditary diseases - ScienceNorway - December 5th, 2023
- Scientists Still Can't Be Trusted on Gene Editing - Progressive.org - December 5th, 2023
- Harvard Apparatus Regenerative Technology and Renowned ... - Yahoo Finance - December 5th, 2023
- 4.4 Million Funding Injection Fuels World-Class Bioscience Research Programme - India Education Diary - December 3rd, 2023
- A two-kinesin mechanism controls neurogenesis in the developing ... - Nature.com - December 3rd, 2023
- What happens when nature and cities collide - CNN - December 3rd, 2023
- Pro-Life This Week: December 1, 2023 | ALL - All.org - December 3rd, 2023
- A look at the international race to create human eggs and sperm in ... - NPR - December 1st, 2023
- Synthetic genetic circuits to uncover the OCT4 trajectories of ... - Science - December 1st, 2023
- Why the Novo Nordisk Foundation is betting big on stem cells - pharmaphorum - November 29th, 2023
- Charity Watchlist Helps Donors Ensure Their Year-End Gifts Don't ... - All.org - November 29th, 2023
- A green glowing monkey has been created in China. What were the ... - Genetic Literacy Project - November 29th, 2023
- Fetal Bovine Serum Market to reach USD 1.26 Bn by 2029, emerging at a CAGR of 5.3 percent according to a ne... - WhaTech Technology and Markets News - November 29th, 2023
- Implications of Gene Therapy in Dentistry and Periodontics: A ... - Cureus - November 27th, 2023
- Study shows how to treat hereditary, rare diseases - ETHealthWorld - November 27th, 2023
- Drugs identified that may reverse brain fog caused by COVID-19 - New Atlas - November 27th, 2023
- The genes that made us truly human may also make us ill - BBC.com - November 25th, 2023
- Therapy to treat rare, hereditary diseases: Study - Hindustan Times - November 25th, 2023
- How the growth of a giant single cell is intertwined with daily self-rhythms - Phys.org - November 25th, 2023
- On this day: Mahmoud Abbas becomes leader of Fatah in 2004 - In-Cyprus - November 25th, 2023
- Evaluation of A-ring hydroxymethylene-amino- triterpenoids as ... - Nature.com - November 25th, 2023
- Disruption of the autism gene and chromatin regulator KDM5A alters ... - Science - November 23rd, 2023
- Scientists Created a Monkey With Two Different Sets of DNA - Smithsonian Magazine - November 23rd, 2023
- Genomic tug of war could boost cancer therapy - Science Daily - November 23rd, 2023
- What are stem cells? Throw light on various types of stem cells and ... - Insights IAS - November 23rd, 2023
- The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation awards $10.5 million to new ... - EurekAlert - November 23rd, 2023
- Daily briefing: Why these PhD scientists went into teaching - Nature.com - November 23rd, 2023
- Innovative Therapy Targets Rare, Hereditary Diseases - Mirage News - November 23rd, 2023
- Scientists uncover "genomic tug of war" that influences ... - News-Medical.Net - November 21st, 2023
- DOT1L is a barrier to histone acetylation during reprogramming to ... - Science - November 21st, 2023
- Tumor microenvironment composition & related therapy in HCC | JHC - Dove Medical Press - November 21st, 2023
- T-Therapeutics raises $59M in series A for T-cell receptors - BioWorld Online - November 19th, 2023
- A $3bn bet on finding the fountain of youth | Mint - Mint - November 19th, 2023
- A better way to study Parkinson's disease in the lab could lead to ... - EurekAlert - November 17th, 2023
- Global Stem Cell Therapy Market to Reach USD 928.6 Million by ... - GlobeNewswire - November 17th, 2023
- MKL/SRF and Bcl6 mutual transcriptional repression safeguards the ... - Science - November 17th, 2023
- METTL1-Related Genes and Immune Characteristics in SLE | JIR - Dove Medical Press - November 17th, 2023
Recent Comments