Stem cells take aim at body’s top three killers

By Dick Pelletier

      

     In two recent PBS programs, Innovations and Charlie Rose, experts declared we are at war with the three leading causes of death in America – heart disease, cancer, and obesity.

     The challenges are enormous, researchers said, but all were confident we could win this war. Within the next decade, they claimed, death from all three of these horrible diseases could be eliminated. The diseases may not be completely cured during this time, they cautioned, but drugs will be available to prevent all the pain, suffering, and death that these killers now dish out.

     Stem cells are rapidly becoming the "magic bullet" of choice in our war against killer diseases. Scientists are identifying the genetic signals that instruct stem cells to grow new tissues in hearts, bones, brains, skin, and other body parts.

     However all is not clear sailing with this revolutionary science. Although stem cells offer tremendous potential to fight disease and save lives, the Bush administration has denied federal funding for embryonic stem cell research based on a controversial belief that an embryo created in the lab as a medical tool represents a human life that should not be destroyed.

     Many religious doctrines state that "life begins at conception." When researchers clone an embryo and extract stem cells, its activities cease. This, opponents say, destroys a potential human life. Advocates counter that the embryo never achieves "personhood;" it is only a medical tool created to save human lives.

     The Bush policy has forced some patients to seek help in foreign countries. Terminally ill ALS patient Drew Schemera recently traveled to Beike Biotech in China where he received injections costing $42,500. Explaining his decision, Schemera said, "There were no clinical trials in the US of any significance and no cure on the horizon." So I thought that doing something was better than just waiting around to die.

     Truly, the US healthcare system, which now exceeds more than $3.2 trillion in costs annually, needs to change. And biotechnologist Leroy Hood, founder of the Institute for Systems Biology believes he knows what some of the changes will be. The 69-year-old visionary says that medical care will shift from treating illness (reactive) to managing health (proactive).

     Hood sees the following changes over the next decade:

     Personal genomes – the cost of genome sequencing is now under $1,000. Doctors can soon inexpensively determine a patient’s probability of developing diseases and prescribe therapies to prevent most illnesses from ever happening, which will replace today’s trial-and-error approach.

     Changing habits – drugs will soon be available that blunt the desire to overeat, drink, smoke, or act hostile. This could extend average healthy lifespans by 30 years or more.

     Patients in charge – people will maintain their own health; not just by treating existing illnesses, but by becoming aware of weaknesses in their genome, which will enable them to avoid major health problems in the future.

     Could this "magical future" ever become reality? Positive futurists believe that during the next decade, 2010-to-2020, biotech advances and new healthcare approaches will allow doctors to replace aging skin, bone, and organs at affordable prices, thus restoring many ‘boomers and seniors (hopefully including this writer) to a healthy, more youthful state.

This article appeared in various print publications and on-line blogs. Comments always welcome.