Nature changes wording of news release for work that reports method of creating stem cells without destroying embryos

The journal Nature last Friday corrected wording in a news release it had distributed in advance of a study published in the Aug. 24 edition of the journal that describes a technique that could derive human embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo, the Washington Post reports.

The "basic facts of the report remain unchallenged," according to the Post (Weiss, Washington Post, 8/26). Robert Lanza, medical director of Worcester, Mass-based Advanced Cell Technology, and colleagues described the technique as removing a single cell -- known as a blastomere -- from a three-day-old embryo with eight to 10 cells and using a biochemical process to create embryonic stem cells from the blastomere. Researchers removed 91 blastomeres from 16 thawed embryos donated by fertility clinic patients and found that more than half of the blastomeres began to multiply and that in two cases the blastomeres became embryonic stem cells. The method of removing a cell from the embryo is based on preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, which usually is used to test the cell for genetic deficiencies. Lanza said that the research destroyed some of the embryos used but that single-cell extractions that leave the embryo unharmed should be feasible in the future. In addition, the researchers wrote that single cells taken from three-day-old embryos "have never been shown to have the intrinsic capacity to generate a complete organism in any mammalian species" (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/24).

Release Challenged

The change in the release came after Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in an e-mail wrote that the results presented in the release were misleading. According to Doerflinger, the researchers in the release did not make it clear that the embryos used in the research did not survive in the experiments. He also said that it was deceptive for the researchers to write that single embryonic cells could grow into stem cell colonies because in the experiment the cells were fed on hormones secreted by other cells. This raises the question of whether the cell removed from the blastomere can develop into a cell colony, Doerflinger wrote. In addition, he wrote that it was deceptive to publish a photo of a mature embryo along with the study results because no embryos in the study grew to that stage of development. Lanza responded to the three points, saying that it previously has been proved that a cell can be removed from a blastomere without harming the embryo; that the need for hormones to help the cell grow can be provided from other laboratory cells or from the remaining seven-cell embryo from which the first cell was taken; and that the team did not provide data regarding the healthy embryo because that was not the focus of the paper. According to the Post, the data related to the picture on Friday was added to Nature's Web site (Washington Post, 8/26). In related news, Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, head of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life, on Saturday in an interview with Vatican Radio said that Lanza's method of producing stem cells remains an in vitro form of reproduction, which the Roman Catholic Church opposes. He also said that the research is "manipulation" and that it "doesn't solve the ethical problems" regarding embryonic stem cell research (Sanminiatelli, AP/Washington Post, 8/26).

Related Editorials

• New York Times: It is unlikely that the ACT's method will "open the floodgates for federal funding" for embryonic stem cell research, a Times editorial says. The study "illustrates the great lengths to which scientists must go these days to shape stem cell research to fit the dictates of religious conservatives who have imposed their own view of morality on the scientific enterprise," the editorial concludes (New York Times, 8/26).
• Washington Post: "[I]nstead of embracing the potential" of ACT's method, President Bush "registered his concerns about using any new embryonic material for scientific research," a Post editorial says (Washington Post, 8/28). A White House statement responding to ACT's announcement said, "The president is hopeful that, with time, scientists can find ways of deriving cells like those now derived from human embryos but without the need for using embryos." Peter Watkins, a White House spokesperson, added, "This technique does not resolve" ethical concerns about embryonic stem cell research, "but it is encouraging to see scientists at least make serious efforts to move away from research that involved the destruction of embryos" (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/24). Bush's initial response to the findings reveals that "he will search for new -- and far less convincing -- reasons to keep federal coffers shut from stem cell researchers," the editorial says, concluding that if Bush "stick[s] to his disappointing rhetoric of last week," he will "continue to stunt the growth of this valuable field of study" (Washington Post, 8/28).