News

Jan 25, 2012

An expert on the subject says a recent success with embryonic stem-cell research is really not success at all.

An online report in the medical journal The Lancet suggests that use of embryonic stem cells has helped improve eyesight in two patients with macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness. The report is the first to describe the effect on patients. But Dr. David Prentice of Family Research Council (FRC) questions why the results were published, since the two-year clinical trial is only four months into research.

"This is a safety study. Four months is far too short a time to know whether some of these cells will perhaps make tumors or cause other problems," Prentice notes. "That tends to take years when we're talking about a person instead of a mouse."

David Prentice (FRC)The Lancet piece admits that in one patient, one eye that received the injection improved; but the other eye, which was not treated, also improved. Doctors say it is difficult to judge much based off of two patients, especially when there is no control group. Also, the improvement the two women are reporting could be a placebo effect.

"In fact, there [are] several studies that show that adult stem cells from bone marrow or from the eye itself can probably do as well or better than these embryonic stem cells," the FRC spokesman points out, "and, of course, without the worry of tumors or having to destroy any human being to get the cells."


Embryonic stem-cell research means a human embryo is destroyed. Advanced Cell Technology, which paid for this study, has been criticized in the past for overstating results. And so far, embryonic stem cells have not produced any proven treatments.