Stem cells research, 2005 : hearing before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, first session, special hearing, October 19, 2005, Washington, DC.
- United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
- Date:
- 2006
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Stem cells research, 2005 : hearing before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, first session, special hearing, October 19, 2005, Washington, DC. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![and its chance to recur at a later time? Like all therapeutic ad- vances, targeting cancer stem cells must be based on outstanding basic science. For this reason, embryonic stem cells must be stud- ied to educate us on the fundamental processes and pathways that drive the growth of cancer stem cells. To be sure, studies are ongoing on adult stem cells, but these studies are incomplete and unable to answer all of the critical questions. Adult stem cells are rare in our bodies and cannot be in- duced to grow in the laboratory without also differentiating. We believe that characterizing the pathways that embryonic stem cells use to self-renew, using high-throughput screening tech- nology, will allow us to develop small molecule inhibitors to those stem cell-specific pathways. If these chemical inhibitors of self-re- newal of embryonic stem cells are isolated and characterized in the laboratory, they may actually provide the first benefit of stem cell research in patients. Paradoxically, as you just heard from Mr. Herrera, bone marrow stem cells are not only perhaps the source of some cancers, but they also have been used to treat certain cancers for the past 4 dec- ades. Many patients are unable to benefit from this potentially life- Saving treatment because they either do not have a matched bone marrow donor or their own bone marrow has been compromised by treatment or invasion of cancer cells. The technique of somatic cell nuclear transfer would enable us to insert the DNA from a cancer patient’s skin cells into an egg and reprogram that DNA to become a pluripotent stem cell again. In this way, the patient’s blood and immune systems could be reconstituted and genetically identical to the patient. It has been estimated that there are currently 400,000 frozen embryos generated in in vitro fertilization clinics that will not be used. The vast majority of these frozen cells will be destroyed. The thousands of physicians and scientists, represented by the American Association of Cancer Research and the American Society of Clinical Oncology, issued public statements this year strongly endorsing the expansion of funding for embryonic stem cell re- search to improve the prevention, detection, and treatment of can- cer. We estimate that this represents 30,000 physicians and sci- entists who believe that this important work will have an impact on the dreaded disease of cancer. PREPARED STATEMENT To be sure, my commitment to this area of research is profes- sional, but it is also personal. Three years ago next week I lost my own father to lymphoma. _ Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. [The statement follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF JUDITH GASSON Cancer is now the leading cause of death in Americans under the age of 75. This year alone 550,000 Americans will die from their disease. These numbers fail to ac- count for the additional pain and suffering felt by their family and friends. Many scientists believe that stem cell research has the power to revolutionize can- cer therapy in much the same way that “targeted” therapies have impacted cancer treatment over the past decade. There is now considerable evidence that many types of cancer including breast, prostate, brain and leukemias arise through mutations](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32229392_0013.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
