2:10 p.m. 9.Dec.98.PST
A biotechnology company has secured a
patent to engineer human cells that can
be used to grow a variety of human
tissues in the laboratory. The techniques
could be used to grow an endless supply
of human organs for transplant,
researchers said.
The US Patent and Trademark Office
issued a patent to Geron Corporation on 1
December for the development of
"primate embryonic" stem cells, the
company said Wednesday.
Geron is licensing the patent from the
group that received it, the Wisconsin
Alumni Research Foundation. The patent
covers claims on purification methods
used to prepare stem cells for laboratory
growth, as well as methods for obtaining
and maintaining them.
Scientists can use the techniques to
grow stem cells into much-needed tissue
and organs: heart muscle cells for
transplants, brain cells for treating
Parkinson's disease, and spinal-cord cells
for injuries to the spine.
Dr. James Thomson, a researcher at the
University of Wisconsin at Madison,
invented the methods covered by the
patent. Thomson published his research
on the isolation of a primate embryonic
stem cell line in 1995. In November, he
published news of his successful
derivation of human embryonic stem cells.
Geron holds a worldwide license to
Thomson's patent applications
surrounding human embryonic stem cells.
The company has been funding its own
and others' research into methods for
engineering stem cells.
The versatile cell can develop into a
variety of other types of cells, such as
those forming human organs and tissues.
In addition to tissue and organ
transplants, the specially engineered cells
could improve human understanding of
reproductive and developmental biology
and lead to better treatments for
infertility, premature pregnancy loss, and
birth defects, researchers say.
Thomson's patent is the first US patent
of its kind. He and other researchers
seeking to grow human stem cells asked
Congress to provide federal funding of
their work, saying it might lead to a cure
for Parkinson's disease within a few
years.
"The number of diseases that can be
treated will increase exponentially [with
federal funding]," Thomson told a Senate
panel. "The current ban in the United
States on the use of federal funding for
human-embryo research discourages the
majority of the best US researchers from
advancing this promising area of medical
research."
Reuters contributed to this report.