Karpus 1

Morgan Karpus
Professor Dursema
English 1010
August 5, 2016
Stem Cell Research
In medicine science, doctors, and researchers are always looking for the most innovative
way to save lives. Countless lives are lost to multiple sclerosis (MS), cancer, and Parkinsons
disease. There are many barriers when it comes to stem cell research in the United States. When
President Obama came into office he lifted some of the bands that were placed on the stem cell
collection when President Bush was in office. But a lawsuit quickly followed saying that if the
embryo was going to be destroyed or damaged then it was harmful to the embryo then it could
not happen. Now there is a point to the misgivings about where the people doing the research get
the stem cells. With stem cell that are donated for this purpose and there are the ones that are
received from donated cord blood. The researchers should be able to use those. With all the all
the possibilities that the scientists can reach with the research it is time to lift some of the bands
and let people try to cure some of these diseases. One of the diseases that they want to do more
research on is MS. MS is not a fatal disease anymore, but they want to finally make it so there is
a cure not just something to cover the symptoms. The scientists are also tying to see if the stem
cell research can help with cancer as a treatment. They have also made great strides when it
comes to cancer research. Scientists are getting closer and closer to finding out what causes it
every day. They have found that in the tumors of the cancer are the stem cells that are turning
into the cancer themselves. So if they put in healthy stem cells then the tumor would stop
growing. With having so many limitations on what the researchers can do to the embryo, they are
falling behind on finding cures. The research for a cure for Parkinsons would be much farther

Karpus 2
along if there were not so many stipulations. Its time to let go of some of the misgivings that
people have and time to start to save lives of people that are dying from things that we could
treat.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord
(central nervous system). In MS, the immune system attacks the protective sheath (myelin) that
covers nerve fibers and causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your
body, said the Mayo Clinic staff. With each case of MS being different from one another it is
hard to pin point where to start the research. Luckily most of the cases have a few things in
common. So researchers had a place to look when they wanted to find a cure. Right now they are
just making the symptoms better and hoping that people go into remission. With stem cell
research they are trying to replace the myelin sheath that is damaged from the body attacking
itself. As a new treatment they are trying to combine chemotherapy with the stem cell transplant.
Sheena McKenzie stats that they are doing an aggressive form of Chemotherapy to destroy the
immune system and then rebuild with stem cells taken from the patients blood. Now that is a
very rough treatment, but when it is your own immune system that is attacking itself. Then you
have to kill the immune system first. The best way to do that is to go through chemotherapy.
With going through chemotherapy you have all of the negative effects, but it could possibly
make it so people no longer had MS. So with researchers making greater and greater strides to
make it so no more people are suffering from MS.
With bone marrow it is a very sensitive thing. People can get graft versus host really
quick. That can kill people very fast. Transplant patients that cannot find a match from anywhere
are just waiting around to die. Now that they have one other option that could potentially save
their lives, even if it is just from donated cord blood. That is normally just discarded after a

Karpus 3
patient delivers their baby. With the donated cord blood that could be put into the national
database, could then potentially save a life. Which takes away one of the hang-ups that people
have, that we are taking discarded embryos. Cord blood transplantation provides leukemia
patients with stem cells, enabling them to produce healthy blood cells in a procedure previously
shown to be highly effective in children with the disease. As a stem cell source, umbilical cord
blood is not controversial and readily available; in fact, cord blood is normally discarded after a
baby's birth states University Hospitals Of Cleveland. If the hospital staff is just getting rid of
them why not put them to better use. If we can start to save lives we should start with things that
we already have readily available.
The research for a cure for Parkinsons disease is ongoing. We have so many regulations
on the research mediums that we can use. That it is difficult for us to find a better way.
Approximately one to two percent of the population over the age of sixty receives a diagnosis of
Parkinsons disease, although scientists believe that may be a very conservative estimate. At least
one million Americans are currently known to be living with the condition, which begins with a
slight tremor of the hands and progresses until the patient cannot walk without assistance. These
symptoms are associated with the death of cells in a part of the brain called the substantia nigra,
which produces the neurotransmitter dopamine. The cause of the cell death that begins the
symptoms of Parkinsons is unknown, although a combination of genetic and environmental
factors is suspected, states the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) (Parkinsons Disease).
They are trying to train the stem cells to make the dopamine for the body so it no longer has the
tremors. They are making great progress, but there are a lot of setbacks. With it involving the
brain makes it just that much harder. When it comes to getting stem cells to do the research on
that is where they are having the biggest problem. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH),

Karpus 4
which distributes the majority of federal funding for stem-cell research, prohibits research on
cells taken from embryos created solely for research, states David Cryanoski (Cyranoski). There
is a law that pretty much states if the embryo that is created for research cannot be used if it is
going to be destroyed, damaged, and going to be thrown away. That is what they do with them if
they dont work. They get rid of them. Plus they take out most of the things inside the cell to
make it into what they want. So in essences we are destroying the cell. So that is why most of the
researchers cant get funding to further their research. Because they do not fit into the guidelines
that have been set out for them.
So with all the research that we could be doing and all the progress that could be made, it
is unfortunately halted by the many rules and regulations. We have so much potential that we
could have and so many things that we could have people no longer suffering from if a few laws
were lifted. Now we have those laws for a reason, but maybe they should make stronger
guidelines that the scientists and the doctors have to follow. When people donate their bodies to
science they know what they are getting into. We should just make very hard guidelines for them
to donate also. No money should exchange hands, because that would create a bias on the
research. It should only be donated eggs and donated stem cells from cord blood. With all of the
lives that we could save just from a few rows of red tape being lifted just think of the
possibilities.

Karpus 5
Works Cited
Cyranoski, David. US Scientists Chafe at Restrictions on New Stem-cell Lines. Nature.com.
Macmillan Publishers Limited, 5 June 2013. Web. 5 Aug. 2016
Mayo Clinic Staff. Multiple Sclerosis. Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education
and Research, 01 Oct. 2015. Web. 5 Aug. 2016.
McKenzie, Sheena. New Stem Cell Treatment 'Halts' Effects of Multiple Sclerosis. CNN.com.
Cable New Network, 10 June 2016. Web. 5 Aug. 2016.
Parkinson's Disease. HSCI Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Harvard University, n.d. Web. 5 Aug.
2016.
University Hospitals Of Cleveland. "Leukemia Patients Survive With Stem Cell Transplant."
ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 Nov. 2004. Web. 5 Aug. 2016.