Stem cells/growing a new kidney

[Sara]

How far away are they from doing this? 

[Naggy6]

some one in my office was just asking me about this today, weather or not it would help me.

It's not finding a kidney that is my problem. My problem is my body keeps killing the kidney. The disease is not in my kidney it is in my autoimmune system. There is some kind of circulating protein factor in my blood that causes some kind of break down in the kidney.

[Panda_9]

Isnt it something like 10-20 years away? Cant remember exactly, but wouldnt it be good!

[Hawkeye]

The government has provide very little funding into stem cell research, but the there was an article in todays paper that said there were 2 new places that are going to start stem cell research.  I believe both were collages one in chicago and one somewhere else, but instead of the government funding it they are privately funding the research.  This means they will be able to do more in the long run than the government funded facilities.  Hopefully more places like this emerge so we can move forward and possibly reduce or eliminate many of today physical aliments.  I know this research opens a huge can of worms ethically, but if done professionally I think it can help mankind.

[Gus]

It already has be done, but not in USA.....

Complete working kidneys have been grown in mice using stem cells derived from human and pig fetuses. If the feat can be repeated in humans, it will allow doctors to replace damaged organs without the need for a donor.

The Israeli team, who used three-month-old mice as recipients for the growing kidneys, were able to avoid immune rejection by using embryonic stem cells. The developing kidney takes time to acquire 'antigen presenting cells' which are recognised by the host immune system as foreign.

Embryonic stem cells are also able to adapt to their host, reducing the chance that they will be rejected later in development, says Camillo Ricordi, University of Miami, who works on transplanting islet cells into the pancreas to cure type I diabetes.

"Our data pinpoint a window ... that may be optimal for transplantation in humans," say the researchers in their paper in Nature Medicine. If the cells are too young, they do not develop into all the necessary cell types. But if taken too late, the developing kidney will be rejected.

The kidneys functioned well enough to produce dilute urine. But the organs did not connect up with the host's excretory system. Instead, the researchers, led by Yair Reisner at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, connected a catheter directly into the developing organ. If the technique were used on patients, surgery would be required to connect up the developing kidney.

[hyperlite]

Where did you get that quote from? I'd like to read more about that...because I thought that the only organs that had been grown using stemcells, were bladders

[hyperlite]

Actually I found it...

[Rerun]

No one can afford what we have now.  "Epogen" for example.  Why do more research when no one can afford it anyway.

Notice "Private Industry" is funding it?  That is not because they care for "mankind."  Remember ENRON??

[Epoman]

Actually I found it...

  SHARING IS GOOD!

[jdat]

Actually I found it...

  SHARING IS GOOD!

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3216

Google is your friend 

[Epoman]

Actually I found it...

  SHARING IS GOOD!

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3216

Google is your friend 

Why would I use google when I have YOU! 

[Zach]

No one can afford what we have now.  "Epogen" for example.  Why do more research when no one can afford it anyway.

Notice "Private Industry" is funding it?  That is not because they care for "mankind."  Remember ENRON??

I thought you were a conservative?  What's wrong with free-enterprise finding medical solutions.   Monopolies are never good, and EPO has been a perfect example of that.  But there will soon be competition for the "EPO" market.  And competition usually brings down the price.   

[Rerun]

I thought you were a conservative?  What's wrong with free-enterprise finding medical solutions.   Monopolies are never good, and EPO has been a perfect example of that.  But there will soon be competition for the "EPO" market.  And competition usually brings down the price.   

If that is true then why is dialysis so expensive and keeps going up.  It's been around since 1961 and there is competition.  Medical costs are so astronomical that you may as well buy a star.  No one can afford what we have.  We pay through the nose for a doc to look at a zit.  Kidney transplants are "routine" yet they are thousands of dollars (not a dime to the donor - which is a bunch of crap).  How much will it cost for Superman to walk again (if he were alive).  I wouldn't mind paying for research if other costs were controlled.  Would it be Capitolism if they found a cure for cancer but held it for those who could pay a million dollars  for the serum?  That is not Capitolism, that is Dictatorship (greed).

[Zach]

If that is true then why is dialysis so expensive and keeps going up.  It's been around since 1961 and there is competition.

There is limited competition, since there are three big chains.  But it costs about $148 per treatment.  Not cheap, but not as expensive as you think.  I know, others have said differently, and your private insurance pays a hell of a lot more.  But this figure is pretty close to the truth.

[BigSky]

I have read different articles over the years on stuff like this.

One was about growing human kidneys in pigs for transplant.  Don't think I will go for one of them.


However here is a link to an interesting article from a few years ago. 

First few lines from the article.

"In Minnesota, pigs are being born with human blood in their veins.

In Nevada, there are sheep whose livers and hearts are largely human.

In California, mice peer from their cages with human brain cells firing inside their skulls"     

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63731-2004Nov19.html

[Panda_9]

Zach, is that $148 per dialysis? Over here it is apparently around $800 or more per session. I once overheard a nurse talking to a chinese patient who didnt have a medicare card, and they told him it was going to be $1500 per dialysis if he didnt get a medicare card 

[nkviking75]

Please be specific when referring to stem cells.  A lot of people and media types speak of stem cell research as though there's only one kind, embryonic stem cells.  In fact, stem cells can also be taken from adults and from placental blood.  Adult stem cells already have produced some practical applications.  Embronic stem cells are a bust so far.

To each his own, but personally, I'd rather die from my kidney failure than accept a kidney created from embroyonic stem cells.  IMHO I would consider that deliberately ending an innocent life to spare mine.  On the other hand, I think it would be ideal if they could harvest my body's stem cells and grow me a new kidney.  I would imagine that would totally bypass rejection problems, or nearly so.  Unfortunately, I think that possibility is a long way off.

[Panda_9]

I dont see a problem with using embryos, as long as the woman who owns them is ok with it. After all its not a life, its just cells. If its going to save lives or make them better Im all for it.

[Zach]

Japanese researchers cloned a human kidney by cultivating human stem cells from adult bone marrow into rat embryos.

[Rerun]

And how much will it cost and who will pay for it?

[Panda_9]

The government can pay for it with the 10 million (or was it billion?) they had left over from the budget that they have stuffed in a draw for a rainy day.

[Rerun]

The government can pay for it with the 10 million (or was it billion?) they had left over from the budget that they have stuffed in a draw for a rainy day.

At least you didn't say "Money they would spend on war planes".  Thank you~

[waitlisted]

I dont see a problem with using embryos, as long as the woman who owns them is ok with it. After all its not a life, its just cells. If its going to save lives or make them better Im all for it.

I agree with aMbEr. I cannot understand why the US government is hindering stem cell research, which generally is understood to be a possible future treatment/cure for various diseases.

In Oct 2006 Nephrology News & Issues there was following article:

Italian stem cell researchers make kidney repair breakthrough
TWO TEAMS OF ITALIAN SCIENTISTS HAVE MADE important advances in stem cell research that could pave the way for new kidney disease treatments. A Florence, Italy team, led by top immunologist Sergio Romagnani, identified kidney stem cells that can help damaged kidneys repair themselves.

“Chronic renal diseases and terminal renal insufficiency are viewed as the medical emergency of the new century,” Romagnani told a press conference after the publication of his team’s findings in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. “This is particularly important because the drugs we currently have are only able to slow down kidney damage.”

In mice affected by kidney degeneration, Romagnani explained, the stem cells proved effective in repairing the damaged organs. The researchers say the cells appear able to turn into an array of other body cells. The cells can be cultivated in the lab so as to “multi-differentiate” into other types of cells: bone cells, adipose ( fatty tissue)  cells, and even nerve cells.

The discovery was made using stem cells from adults, a considerable achievement as researchers are looking for alternatives to embryonic research. Stem cell research has been hindered in the U.S., as President Bush vetoed a bill that would have provided federal funds, citing objections to embryonic research. However, the research has continued in other countries, often with government assistance.

[Panda_9]

I have never really understood how the economy works. Call me dumb I guess. But who sets the budget? Cant they make it more? Why does it have to be so limited? And why can the prime minister give himself a 1 million dollar pay rise, but they cant help the failing health system? Apparently he/they (the other pollies) "needed" a pay rise. What shit!!!!

[Zach]

Whatever you think of the US government's policy toward embryonic stem cell research, it has caused a major increase in research with other types of stem cells.