• Question: can using stem cells be dangerous?

    Asked by tierney to Emma, James, Jayne, Kara, Sharon on 16 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Sharon Sneddon

      Sharon Sneddon answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      Hi tierney,
      The main danger of using embryonic stem cells is that if we do not control their growth properly, they sometimes form cancer cells, or other type of cells that we do not want which would be a disaster if we were to transplant stem cells into a patient, and maybe cure their liver disease, but as a side effect give them cancer. That is why it seems that stem cell research is taking a really long time, we need to be 100% sure that the stem cells will do EXACTLY what we want them to. The way we stop them from forming the wrong types of cells all depends on the way in which they are grown in the laboratory, we give them certain kinds of chemicals, called growth factors, and sometimes hormones and other things to make sure they behave themselves and act like they should, but we need to do the experiments over and over again, so we are sure that we are not going to harm anyone if they were to get put into a patient.

      However, bone marraow transplants which are a kind of adult stem cell transplant are very effective and safe so we at least know that stem cells can behave themselves in the human body!

    • Photo: James Chan

      James Chan answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      I’m glad you asked that, because most people focus on the advantages of stem cells and forget to ask important questions like this one. Yes, sure, there are potential dangers with using stem cells. One of the greatest worries we have is that because stem cells are non-specialised cells and have the potential to differentiate into different types of cells, it means that they can potentially turn into cancer cells. So it is very important that we understand how to get the cells to do what we want them to do before we can safely do things in humans regularly. While we are striving to help people with this technology, you are absolutely right, we have to be totally sure that what we are doing is safe. One of the first things I was taught in medical school was, first, do no harm!

    • Photo: Emma King

      Emma King answered on 16 Mar 2011:

      Hi tierney – it depends what you mean by dangerous. They are not going to suddenly explode or anything, the danger comes in us having to control them very well. If you get a cell that is dividing a lot and you put it into a patient then you could cause cancer, which is why we have such strict regulations in the UK about the sort of tests that we have to go through to prove that a treatment is safe.
      The other danger of stem cells is that people believe all the stories about what SCs might be able to do and feel they can’ t wait for all the safety tests to be done in the UK so they go abroad to countries where the regulations are less strict. Those patients are often putting themselves at risk for little or no benefit.

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