Stem cell transplant from fetal tissue caused brain cancer
February 18, 2009 by Grace Ibay
Filed under Genetic Diseases and Conditions, Stem cells
The potential and safety of using stem cells to treat diseases suffered a setback with the news of a botched experimental treatment of a human being.
A teenage boy who received fetal stem cells developed brain cancer four years after the transplant, reports PLoS Medicine this week.
The patient suffered from a recessive genetic disorder called ataxia telangiectasia (AT), an incurable rare disease that causes degeneration of the part of the brain that controls movement and speech. When the boy was 9 years old, his parents took him to Moscow to have experimental stem cell therapy. Russian researchers injected the boy with transplants of neural stem cells taken from the brains of aborted fetuses.
Four years later, the donor stem cells inside the boy’s brain differentiated into a cancerous tumor. (More after photo)
February 18, 2009 by Grace Ibay
Filed under Genetic Diseases and Conditions, Stem cells
The potential and safety of using stem cells to treat diseases suffered a setback with the news of a botched experimental treatment of a human being.
A teenage boy who received fetal stem cells developed brain cancer four years after the transplant, reports PLoS Medicine this week.
The patient suffered from a recessive genetic disorder called ataxia telangiectasia (AT), an incurable rare disease that causes degeneration of the part of the brain that controls movement and speech. When the boy was 9 years old, his parents took him to Moscow to have experimental stem cell therapy. Russian researchers injected the boy with transplants of neural stem cells taken from the brains of aborted fetuses.
Four years later, the donor stem cells inside the boy’s brain differentiated into a cancerous tumor. (More after photo)
