To the Editor: In their Clinical Review, Dr Burt and colleagues1 assessed clinical applications of adult stem cell therapies for nonmalignant diseases. They acknowledge modest benefit from hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in cardiac disease and ameliorative but noncurative outcomes in autoimmune diseases. Although we agree that greater investments are needed in the clinical development of these therapies, we disagree with the authors' suggestion that, relative to embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells provide a superior vehicle for cell-based therapies because they lack tumorigenic activity, can be prepared by methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and have been free of ethical controversy. It would have been more appropriate to note that their review targeted hematopoietic stem cell transplantation because embryonic stem cells are not yet ready for clinical use.
Their conclusion discounts reports of improving preparative methods for embryonic stem cells that may lend themselves to future FDA-approvable techniques.2 As the authors' research illustrates, adult stem cell research has flourished since its inception in the 1960s. The use of human embryonic stem cells, first derived in 1998, deserves similar time to assess its effectiveness. One kind of stem cell research does not obviate the need for the other. The spectrum of diseases affecting patients requires a broad-based approach to stem cell research, including the study of human embryonic stem cells as well as adult stem cells.
Financial Disclosures: Drs Teitelbaum and Neaves reported membership in the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures. Dr Smith reported having been science director for Californians for Stem Cell Research & Cures, a consultant for the University of California Irvine Stem Cell Research Center, and a senior science advisor for Genetics Policy Institute and being science director for the Children's Neurobiological Solutions Foundation.
Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature
Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal
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