Researcher finds versatile stem cells in adult humans

WASHINGTON -- A Minnesota researcher says she has found a previously unknown type of cell in the adult body that acts much like the highly versatile stem cells from human embryos that have caused a political furor for more than a year.

Like embryonic stem cells, the cells recently discovered in adult bone marrow seem capable of turning into a wide assortment of the body's various tissues, raising hopes that they can be fashioned into transplantable material for patients whose own cells and tissues have become faulty. Previously, scientists had documented other cells of the adult body that give rise to various tissues, but nothing nearly as versatile as these bone marrow cells.

The cells were discovered by University of Minnesota researcher Dr. Catherine Verfaillie and colleagues, who revealed new details last week in an online version of the journal Nature.

Antiabortion groups said the discovery shows that scientists should try to devise cures for disease using adult cells, and that they do not need to use embyronic stem cells, which cannot be obtained without destroying human embryos.

"With adult cells, we may be able to do everything that embryonic stem cells have been proposed for, and without the ethical problems," said Richard Doerflinger, a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "This shows you don't have to forgo scientific progress when you take into account moral issues."

Verfaillie and an array of other scientists said adult and embryonic stem cells both show promise and should be vigorously investigated.

Several scientists said the experiment was one of the most dramatic illustrations of the potential of embryonic stem cells to treat disease, but that cures were still uncertain and years away.