Presentation

Prayash kc

Professor. Edds

ENGL-1301

28 April 2018

Stem Cell Research

What are stem cells? Why are they regarded important? The stem cells are types of cells from which all body tissues originate from. Stem cell research offers great promise in understanding the mechanisms of human body development and treatment of chronic conditions including diabetes, myocardial infarction, and Parkinson’s disease. As such, they are regarded as super-cells with vast clinical potential in tissue repair (National Institute of Heath). These tissues serve as an internal repair system by dividing without limit thereby replenishing other cells as long as the individual is still alive. For example, the human intestinal wall shade every four days and is replaced by new cell linings (National Institute of Heath). This highlights that when the stem cells divide, they can become another cell type with a specialized function. Despite the clinical potential of the stem cells, their use, particularly embryonic stem cells, have elicited controversial remarks from opponents on ethical grounds. Primarily, this is because they are obtained from human preimplantation embryos (Wert and Christine). Therefore, stem cell research holds the promise of improving clinical outcomes for chronic conditions, but its use is impacted by ethical issues.

The excitement on stem cell research is based on the medical benefits it possesses such as therapeutic cloning and regenerative medicine. Stem cell research provides an array of medical benefits as it can improve the treatment outcomes of chronic conditions such as diabetes (Wert and Christine). Additionally, under certain physiological consisting, the cells can be induced to become tissues for specific organs with specialized functions (National Institute of Heath). Through different experimental trails, both the adult and embryonic stem cells have been used to improve the treatment therapies for different conditions including cancer and autoimmune diseases. Their ability to differentiate into multiple cells enables them to be stored in the laboratory for later use. Therefore, there is endless potential for the use of the stem cells as scientists continually undertake experiments to study further the development of the stem cells.

The laboratory studies have enabled scientists to study the differentiation of stem cells and how they are different from other cell types (National Institute of Heath). For example, advance in regenerative medicine bears the significant potential of treating cardiovascular diseases. Annually, approximately 1.1 million Americans suffer from heart attack. Both cancer and the cardiovascular diseases are the two most killing conditions as highlighted by the center for disease and drug control. With stem cell research, cardiovascular damages can be repaired while cancer treatment therapies can be improved. Currently, healthcare providers are interested in improving the treatment outcomes of patients, an aspect that can be enhanced by the adoption of stem cell therapies in the healthcare organizations. The potential for this research to improve the current therapies used in treating a wide range of conditions is the major contributing factor behind its continual support for use (Ware, Caro, et al.). Thus, stem cell research seeks to improve the quality of treatment therapies in medicine by improving the outcomes of clinical treatments.

The potential benefits of stem cell research are numerous. This ranges from the development of new drugs to individualized cell-based therapies in which the stem cells can be used to replace the defective tissues (Ware, Caro. et al.). Besides, the treatment therapies will be tailored to meet the individual needs of a patient. By obtaining the adult stem cells from an individual, they can be banked in a laboratory for later use as they differentiate. Additionally, plasmapheresis is often used by scientists to separate the adult stem cells (Lo and Lindsay). Through this, they have been used to modify the effect of cancer chemotherapy on patients and treating hematological malignancies (Lo and Lindsay). Significantly, the autologous stem cells are currently being used in clinical trials to treat patients with the myocardial infarction. While many claims have been presented by research institutions claiming that the treatment of other conditions has experimented, it is important to note that its use in the treatment of other conditions is yet to be validated by government bodies such as the FDA (Lo and Lindsay).

Notably, the human embryonic stem cell is politically and ethically controversial as it entails the destruction of human embryos (The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity). It is important to note that questions of when the human life begins have been an issue of contention for decades. Besides, this is the main reason behind the debating topics on whether abortion should be legalized. To some, the destruction of the human embryos is unethical as it involves the destruction of human life (Lo and Lindsay). Despite this, the significant benefits posed by the human embryonic stem cell have supported the continual research developments undertaken by the scientists to improve clinical treatments. Undisputedly, human embryos have the potential of becoming human beings (Lo and Lindsay). When implanted in the woman’s uterus at the right hormonal phase, it can develop into a fetus and become a live-born being. From this perspective, the removal of the human embryonic stem cell is tantamount to abortion or murder (Lo and Lindsay). Therefore, the controversial hurdles on the use of human embryonic stem cell have impacted the research developments of scientists as they are confined to the use of adult stem cells.

Considerably, some people believe that the embryo is a human being with a moral status similar to an adult or a live born infant. According to moral perspectives and religious faith, it is believed that the life of human being starts at conception; thus the embryo should be regarded as a human being. Based on this viewpoint, the embryo has rights that ought to be respected. In this regard, many people think that the extraction of the human embryonic stem cell for use in research should not be permitted without restriction as it entails the destruction of human life. Despite this, proponents of stem cell research state that stem cell research bears the potential of curing conditions that currently burden the world (Lo and Lindsay). Based on this perspective, the extraction of the blastocyst and removal of inner cell mass to obtain human embryonic stem cell is necessary as this is just a clump of cells. They are not regarded as fully matured adults; thus the research should not be restricted on ethical or moral grounds (Lo and Lindsay). Therefore, ethical issues are currently hurdles faced by researchers as they intend to advance their developments on stem cell research.

Stem cell research offers great promise in understanding the mechanisms of human body development and treatment of chronic conditions including diabetes, myocardial infarction, and Parkinson’s disease. Through experimental trials, especially the human embryonic stem cell, they offer potential on alleviating chronic conditions. Despite this, only a few pieces of research have been experimented to validate the claims on the different conditions that can be treated through these trails (Wert and Christine). Significantly, ethical issues on the use of human embryonic stem cell have been raised by opponents of these new developments as they seek to protect the interest of the embryos similar to that of adults.

Works Cited

Lo, Bernard, and Lindsay Parham. "Ethical issues in stem cell research." Endocrine reviews 30.3 (2011): 204-213.

National Institute of Heath. Stem Cell Basics. (2018). [Retrieved from] https://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/1.htm

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. An Overview of Stem Cell Research. (2018). [Retrieved from] https://cbhd.org/stem-cell-research/overview

Ware, Carol B., et al. "Derivation of naive human embryonic stem cells." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences111.12 (2014): 4484-4489.

Wert, Guido de, and Christine Mummery. "Human embryonic stem cells: research, ethics and policy." Human reproduction18.4 (2009): 672-682.