The convergence of biotechnology and stem cell research has revolutionized 21st-century medical technology, offering new possibilities for treating intractable diseases such as neurological disorders and muscular atrophy. But it also raises ethical issues and research uncertainties.
The 21st century has seen a quantum leap in medical technology because of its convergence with biotechnology. This is because the ability to treat diseases at the cellular level, rather than simply through surgery, has allowed us to tackle diseases at a more fundamental and smaller scale. In particular, the combination of advanced biotechnologies such as gene editing has greatly improved the efficiency and accuracy of treatment. For example, gene editing using CRISPR technology is being used to correct the mutations that cause certain diseases and eliminate the root cause of the disease, which is a radically different approach from traditional therapies. Among the many technologies in this space, stem cell technology is the shining jewel in the crown. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that have the ability to reproduce themselves by dividing over and over again and, in the right environment, to differentiate into the cells that make up the various organs and tissues that make up the body. This ability can be harnessed to replace malfunctioning organs and tissues, opening up new avenues of treatment for intractable diseases such as neurological disorders and muscle atrophy that are currently incurable. In fact, the importance of stem cells has been emphasized by Professor Hans Scheller, a leading German stem cell researcher, who once said, “Stem cells will play an organizing role in the Industrial Revolution.
Stem cells can be divided into three main categories depending on how they are generated. First, embryonic stem cells are literally taken from embryos. When a fertilized egg, which is the result of the fertilization of a sperm and an egg, undergoes fertilization, there is a period of time when there is a hollow space inside called the blastocyst. During the blastocyst stage, the embryo is composed of an outer layer of cells and an inner mass of cells, which will later form the placenta, while the inner cells divide to form an individual. These inner cells are the embryonic stem cells. The concept of a fertilized egg is sometimes confused with the concept of an embryonic stem cell, as the latter is a single cell that results from the fertilization of a sperm and an egg, while the former is a fertilized egg that has divided into multiple cells. Embryonic stem cells have the powerful advantage of rapid proliferation and pluripotency, the ability to differentiate into all cells and tissues. However, bioethical issues can arise depending on whether you consider the beginning of life to be an embryo or a fetus. There is also the risk of immune rejection when injecting embryonic stem cells from another person.
The second is adult stem cells, which are undifferentiated cells found among cells that have differentiated into tissues or organs and remain so after reaching adulthood. They are derived from already grown body tissues, so there are no ethical issues and no rejection, but they are present in small quantities, which makes them difficult to extract and limits their ability to differentiate into specific tissues. For example, adult stem cells harvested from bone marrow can only be used to make blood cells. Despite these limitations, adult stem cells have shown promise in the treatment of a variety of diseases, including cancer, degenerative diseases, and cardiovascular diseases, making them another important pillar of stem cell research. Lastly, there are reverse differentiated stem cells. These are still in the research phase, but they are created by injecting certain substances into already grown body cells obtained from adults and reversing their differentiation to create stem cells. Reverse differentiation involves using specific factors to return adult cells to their initial undifferentiated state, which has the advantage of avoiding ethical issues. This technique was first successfully implemented by Professor Shinya Yamanaka in Japan in 2007, and various researchers have been working to advance it ever since. Currently, adult stem cells are the most commonly used.
However, as with everything, there are two sides to every coin. There are many issues behind the utilization of stem cells and their effectiveness. First of all, stem cells can undermine human dignity. At a time when the world is undecided on whether life begins at the embryo or the fetus, the use of embryonic stem cells could be unethical as it utilizes a life that will later become an individual. Opponents of stem cell use argue that one life cannot be sacrificed for another. They point to the situation where a woman’s eggs can be traded on the market to harvest embryos. According to data from the US Census, infertility rates are on the rise, a trend that could have an impact on making it easier to trade eggs. In addition, stem cell therapies have not yet been developed with certainty, and their use would require more funding than has been available so far to make them completely safe. Therefore, some argue that it would be more efficient to invest in other technologies other than stem cells.
However, it’s not all bad news. Although stem cell research has yet to show tangible results, it has the potential to contribute significantly to human well-being and could be the key to curing many patients. Recent studies have shown this potential, for example, in 2016, Yoonbae Kim and colleagues at Chungbuk National University developed a treatment for several brain diseases and Alzheimer’s disease using neural stem cells expressing acetyltransferase, an enzyme gene that synthesizes the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is responsible for memory. These examples show that while stem cell research is still in its infancy, the effects of success could be enormous for human health. While naysayers point to the uncertainties and human and material limitations of research, scientists say that science is inherently a search for truth in the face of uncertainty. It is not the attitude of a scientist to abandon research that holds great promise simply because of uncertainty; it would be to give up the chance to cure countless people. It has also been argued that controlling stem cell research through legislation could backfire, as research could be done illegally behind the scenes.
In the end, the stem cell research debate requires a complex balance between three pillars: scientific research, ethical considerations, and human welfare. What we must remember in this process is that there are areas where scientific advances can conflict with human dignity, but at the same time, it is an important challenge for us to imagine what positive changes scientific discoveries can bring to the future of humanity. As Marie Curie said when she discovered the radioactive element radium, “We must remember that when she discovered radium, no one thought it would be useful in hospitals. The discovery of radium was a feat of pure science, and it shows that scientific research should not be viewed in terms of its direct usefulness. Scientific research should be done for its own sake, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the opportunity to benefit humanity with a scientific discovery like radium.” Stem cell research is likely to have an even greater impact than the discovery of radium: its scientific utility and the ongoing debate over bioethics and the extent to which pure science and science should be viewed as useful are the reasons why it is in the spotlight.
