The Indian guidelines for stem cell research and therapy issued by the ICMR last year allows the creation of embryos for research. This is not only in contradiction to its opposing abortion done for the purpose of research, but also contrary to the the ART (artificial reproductory techniques) guidelines.

It could lead to trading in human embryos from a poor country like India, said Sangeetha Udgaonkar, Legal Expert, Stem Cell Policies. The West forbids destruction of human embryos created in the US but has no problem with doing the same with embryos imported, she noted, cautioning on what it could lead to. “In fact there has been no public debate on this aspect,” she said, speaking to this newspaper.

She was among a panel of experts addressing the audience at a seminar on stem cell research. Organised by Stem Cell Research Forum of India and Vidya Sanchar, the seminar was intended to educate the common man on the topic of stem cell research.

Promise and limit
Can stem cells cure a person in a coma? Can someone with bone cancer hope for successful treatment with stem cells? Will they make it possible for humans to live for thousand years?

“Stem cells are magical cells but no, they can’t do everything,” replied Dr Vijay Sharma, dean, Manipal Institute of Regenerative Medicine. Stem cells have been isolated from more areas in the past few years, including the dental pulp! They have made it possible for the time delays in drug discovery to be reduced by allowing the drug to be tested in vitro on the specific cell or tissue, as Dr Sharma pointed out.

However while in many ailments stem cells have shown to stop the progression of the disease, it is not yet clear whether it can be completely stopped, he added.

Scientist Dr M M Panicker from NCBS noted how there is promise in the field of neural and cardio regeneration using stem cells, but all the work has been done in mice and may show different results in humans.

Again as most of it has been done in labs in culture, one needs to be cautious about the reactions in vivo, he said. More work will have to be done before they can be translated to clinical therapy.

The DBT has invested over Rs 100 crore in the area and has helped set up many centres across the country. But, there is  a shortfall of trained manpower in the area of stem cell research. Hence the growth is slow.

Problems include how many patients should the method be tried on before deciding safety in clinical trials, or the maximum impurities in a cell. The biggest questions are the guidelines. They are not binding on researchers as they are not issued by the DBT which is the body most researchers are affiliated with. Under the ICMR, doctors are bound by the guidelines, said Udgaonkar.

Making marrow transplant quicker
Bangalore, DHNS: Most blood related disorders can be treated by bone marrow transplants. But the problem is that of matching the types. Dr Sharat Damodar, Narayana Hrudyalaya, explains, “It would be much easier for those requiring transplants if there was an available registry of marrow types. It is done in US and can be done here too. If for all the blood donated such a check is done and data recorded, the search time would be drastically cut down.”

Bone marrow transplant is easy as the stem cells home in to the new bone marrow and can be introduced intravenously. “The donor loses nothing. A growth factor kicks some extra white cells from his marrow into the peripheral blood which can be collected just like blood is collected.”