ojunk (George Adams) wrote in
:

Also, stem cells are likely not the holy grail of medicine that many
people seem to think they are. For instance, consider Ronald Reagan.
After his death, there was a great hue and cry regarding how stem cell
research would lead to a cure for Alzhiemer's Disease. However,
according to the top Alzhiemer doctors, the nature of the disease
makes it a poor candidate for a stem cell cure, and this was widely
broadcast on the major U.S. networks, hardly bastions of the religious
right.


George Adams



Alzheimers might not be the best target, but it is a reasonable target.
Any place central nervous tissue could use replacing, stem cell treatments
might apply. We can keep going--Parkinson's, spinal cord injury, diabetes
(well, that's not nervous tissue, but there's still applications),
retinitis pigmentosa, ....

You also need these cell lines to gain an understanding of how an
undifferentiated cell becomes differentiated. That simple understanding
will open up a whole world of treatments.

Scott