Because my mother suffers from Parkinsons Disease I have a personal interest in the treatment options being developed for these patients. In Parkinsons disease there is a significant loss of brain cells and these cells cannot be replaced. Treatment consists largely of minimising the result of this loss. Up to now the greatest hope for the future has been in stem cell research but this is a very controversial topic. Scientists have worked with two types of stem cell, either embryonic or adult. However there has been an exciting new development coming from Dr.Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University who has developed a third option.

Embryonic Stem Cells. These cells are harvested from embryos and in doing so the embryo is destroyed. The cells are ideal for research  as they can be induced to form any of the more than 200 different cell types we have in our bodies. They are referred to as pluripotent and represent very powerful tools in the potential treatment of many diseases. The main problem here is the ethical issue which I believe is insoluble. Either you believe you are destroying human life in harvesting stem cells or you believe you are dealing with an undifferentiated clump of cells.

Adult Stem Cells. These are stem cells  are found in the tissues of our bodies. They can generate an unlimited supply of cells but only of the specific tissue from which they come. A well known example is bone marrow transplant. Blood cells are formed in bone marrow. Stem cells found in bone marrow have been successfully transplanted to people suffering from various blood disorders. There are very few ethical issues associated with the use of adult stem cells and there are no major issues associated with the source of the adult cells. However it has always been considered that embryonic cells offer greater potential for  future developments.

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS). Dr.Shinya Yamanaka  has developed a technique for transforming ordinary adult cells into pluripotent stem cells. The benefit is that there can now be a supply of cells equivalent to embryonic cells but which carry no ethical problems for  scientists. The possibility for research and development is immense. This is all in the very early stages of development but Dr. Yamanaka hopes to have clinical trials running within 10 years.

This development will be too late for people of my mothers generation but the outlook for future sufferers of degenerative diseases is suddenly brighter.