MARCH 2010
Action would expand pool of stem cell lines eligible for federally funded research
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is proposing a technical revision to its guidelines on human embryonic stem cell research in acknowledgement that the current definition of a stem cell eligible for use in federally funded research is overly restrictive.
As they stand, the guidelines permit researchers to use stem cells that are “derived from the inner cell mass of blastocyst stage human embryos, are capable of dividing without differentiating for a prolonged period in culture, and are known to develop into cells and tissues of the three primary germ layers.”
Based on feedback from the research community, the NIH has come to the conclusion that the definition unintentionally excludes cells, such as those derived from an embryo that fails to develop to the blastocyst stage, that otherwise meet ethical standards for federally funded research.
In the Feb. 23 Federal Register, the NIH issued a proposal to change the definition to include “pluripotent cells that are derived from early-stage human embryos, up to and including the blastocyst stage, are capable of dividing without differentiating for a prolonged period in culture, and are known to develop into cells and tissues of the three primary germ layers.” The change in wording will expand the pool of eligible stem cells to those that have been derived earlier in the development of the embryo.
Comments on the proposal may be submitted on the NIH website until March 25.
Links:
Read More from the March 2010 Edition of the AACR Cancer Policy Monitor:
Top