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Neuroscientist Comments On Stem Cell Study's Success In Helping Primates With Parkinson's
Science Daily — A University of South Florida neuroscientist reports that the cutting-edge research study of human stem cells in primates with Parkinson’s disease is compelling on several fronts – particularly how the transplanted cells did their job of easing disease symptoms.

Paul R. Sanberg, DSc, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of the Center for Aging and Brain Repair at USF Health, wrote the commentary “Neural Stem Cells for Parkinson’s Disease: To Protect and Repair” published July 9 in the early edition online version of journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The expert commentary is a companion piece to the study conducted by Gene Redmond and colleagues at Yale and Harvard Universities and the Burnham Institute.

That NIH-funded study showed that only a small number of stem cells turned into dopamine-producing cells – not enough to improve the primates’ function by replacing missing neurons. Instead, some stem cells turned into astrocytes, a supportive brain cell that produces neuron-nourishing chemicals.

The researchers also identified in the brains of the primate recipients a significant amount of dopamine-producing neurons that were not derived from stem cells. The results suggest that stem cells may actually trigger the brain’s own self-repair mechanisms by pumping out molecules that boost nerve survival and blood vessel development and decrease neural degeneration.

“We at the Center for Aging and Brain Repair at USF Health have been arguing, for some time now, that stem cells are important for brain repair because they provide growth factors and because they send signals to the brain to help it repair itself,” Dr. Sanberg said. “This study in primates showed the same effects — that the stem cells are there to act as facilators of repair versus the original hypothesis that stem cells are transplanted to merely replace an injured cell.”


...Dr. Sanberg said the study has relevance to all audiences. “This was one of the first studies to look at stem cells in primates with Parkinson’s disease. It’s the first step in translating that research,” he said. “We hear about new sources of stem cells monthly, but how we take those cells and treat disease is going to be a significant amount of translational work. This is one of the first studies that starts that process — looking at primates before going into people with Parkinson’s disease.”

While the transplanted cells appeared not to form tumors following transplant, Dr. Sanberg said the translational research in primates raises questions that need to be addressed before moving to human trials, including determining the most effective cell dosing and brain sites to target. “Pending further preclinical studies,” he writes in the commentary, “the results so far from the current study are supportive for developing a safe and effective stem cell treatment for Parkinson’s disease.”

....Dr. Sanberg also commented on the PNAS study of neural stem cells in Parkinson’s primates for an article appearing June 11 in Nature.com.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of South Florida Health.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0711001436.htm

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Ex-surgeon general: Bush muzzled me

12:33 AM CDT on Wednesday, July 11, 2007
From Wire Reports

WASHINGTON – Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona on Tuesday accused the Bush administration of muzzling him on sensitive public health issues, becoming the most prominent voice among several current and former federal science officials who have complained of political interference.

Dr. Carmona, a Bush nominee who served from 2002 to 2006, told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that political appointees in the administration routinely scrubbed his speeches for politically sensitive content and blocked him from speaking out on public health matters such as stem cell research, abstinence-only sex education and the emergency contraceptive Plan B.

"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is often ignored, marginalized or simply buried," he said. "The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science, or marginalizing the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds."

In one such case, Dr. Carmona, a former professor of surgery and public health at the University of Arizona, said he was told not to speak out during the national debate over whether the federal government should fund embryonic stem cell research, which President Bush opposes.

"Much of the discussion was being driven by theology, ideology, [and] preconceived beliefs that were scientifically incorrect," Dr. Carmona said.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto rejected claims of political interference, saying Dr. Carmona had all the support he needed to carry out his mission.

"As surgeon general, Dr. Carmona was given the authority and had the obligation to be the leading voice for the health of all Americans," Mr. Fratto said. "It's disappointing to us if he failed to use his position to the fullest extent in advocating for policies he thought were in the best interests of the nation."

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the House panel's chairman, called for Congress to take steps to insulate the office from political influence. "We shouldn't allow the surgeon general to be politicized," he said.

Dr. Carmona is the latest in a string of government employees to complain that ideology is trumping science in the Bush administration:

• In January, the National Institute of Health's stem cell task force leader, Story Landis, said that because of the Bush policy – which aims to protect three-day-old embryos – the nation is "missing out on possible breakthroughs."

• Last year, NASA scientist James Hansen and other federal climate researchers said the Bush administration had made it hard for them to speak in a forthright manner about global warming.

• In 2005, Susan Wood, an assistant FDA commissioner and director of that agency's Office of Women's Health, resigned, citing her frustration with political interference that was delaying approval of the over-the-counter emergency contraceptive known as Plan B.

Two other former surgeon generals, Dr. David Satcher and Dr. C. Everett Koop, said at the hearing that political interference appears to have grown worse under Mr. Bush, although they noted that this administration has not been the only one to take a political approach toward the office.

Dr. Satcher, Dr. Carmona's predecessor, who served from 1998 to 2002, said that under President Bill Clinton he could not release a report on sexuality and public health, in part because of sensitivities triggered by the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Mr. Clinton also forced out Joycelyn Elders as surgeon general in 1994 after her controversial remarks that public schools should consider teaching about masturbation.

Dr. Koop, who served as surgeon general from 1981 to 1989 and spoke out on AIDS despite political pressure not to do so, said President Ronald Reagan was pressured to fire him every day – but he did not.

"If he had not been the kind of person he was, I would not be here today," Dr. Koop said.

The House hearing comes two days before a Senate panel is to meet to consider the nomination of Kentucky cardiologist Dr. James Holsinger Jr. to succeed Dr. Carmona. Dr. Holsinger already has drawn political fire from leading Democrats and major gay and lesbian organizations. As a prominent lay member of the United Methodist Church, Dr. Holsinger has strongly opposed liberalizing church policies toward gays.

The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times contributed to this report

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...a.2716eeb.html