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CNN Live At Daybreak

Your Health: Proof That Stem Cells Help People

Aired September 04, 2001 - 08:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In "Your Health," scientists think they have what might be the first proof that stem cells can really help people.

CNN's medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen shows us, even in its early stages, the research is very promising.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One researcher said these blood cells represent the holy grail in stem cell research. They're an actual indication that you can convert human embryonic stem cells into spare parts for human beings.

DAN KAUFMAN, STUDY AUTHOR: And we can see red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelet or platelet precursor cells all derived under these conditions.

COHEN (on camera): Embryonic stem cells by themselves aren't useful. They're just blank. The trick is to turn them into something that is useful because it has a specific purpose. This study is the first published report that shows scientists seem to have done just that.

(voice-over): The blood cells, made by the University of Wisconsin researchers, may one day be used to treat a variety of blood diseases, including leukemia, lymphoma and anemia. An account of the work was published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

So how'd they do it? Researchers started with three embryos from fertility clinics. They scooped out the stem cells, allowed them to multiply, and put them in a culture with blood, human bone-marrow cells and vitamins. Then, the stem cells grew into blood cells.

KAUFMAN: This is a potential way of alleviating the sort of chronic shortage that we're always in for blood cells and blood products.

COHEN: Now there's a race to turn stem cells into other building blocks of the human body, such as muscles and neurons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we learn to appropriately shunt them down toward a particular cell lineage, then they have the potential to treat a wide variety of diseases, and that's really an important next step.

COHEN: But don't expect results too soon.

KAUFMAN: I don't want to give false hope to anybody that we're able to treat cancers or blood disorders now.

COHEN: Dr. Kaufman says there are several hurdles to overcome. For example, how to make sure the body doesn't reject these lab-made cells. He said he thinks it'll take at least five to 10 years to transform these blood cells, made in a lab, into something that could truly help people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: So you were saying that this is truly, though, a landmark. This is what they have been waiting for.

COHEN: Exactly. Because stem cells by themselves aren't useful. They don't do anything. They just kind of sit there. They are blank. You have to make them into something, and this is the first published report that someone has done that.

LIN: OK. This is a lay person speaking. They transformed these stem cells into blood cells. Did they make blood?

COHEN: No, they didn't make blood. They made blood cells, which is a component of blood. The trick is -- you're smart, you are getting there -- the trick is if they could mass produce -- if they could make blood out of this and mass produce it, then you could have a treatment for all sorts of things -- for anemia, lymphoma, leukemia. Potentially you could try to treat all of those diseases.

LIN: And so, how far away, then, are they from transforming these cells into an actual, you know, quart of blood that I might need in an operation?

COHEN: I mean, I guess I could say eons. I mean, I don't know if that really describes it well. But we're talking years and years. I mean, the researcher said in this story 5 to 10 years until this would become a potential treatment. And he said that's an optimistic view.

LIN: All right.

COHEN: It's going to take a long time.

LIN: Now, you're saying when we talk about human cloning, and when we talk about stem cells, we're really talking about two different things. But if we're taking -- if we're talking about taking stem cells and actually creating blood or creating an organ, isn't that almost the same thing -- that you're creating a form of human life?

COHEN: Well, you're not creating another person. I'm not taking stem cells and making another Carol or another Vince or another Elizabeth. I'm creating -- or they're creating spare body parts basically. They are creating blood. They could conceivably produce maybe a liver, an organ tissue, cells, but not a whole new person.

LIN: Wouldn't that be great, though, for all of the people who are waiting for a transplant?

COHEN: Exactly. That's the hope. That would be the Holy Grail in all of this is if they could really make spare body parts for people.

LIN: All right. Thanks so much. Well, thanks for making the spare time early in your morning, Elizabeth.

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