Christopher Reeve, the Superman actor paralyzed in a horse-riding accident, died on 10 October 2004 after years of advocating for stem-cell research. His campaign gave an under-appreciated scientific field unusual public visibility.
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells capable of developing into any of the more than 200 tissue types in the body. Embryonic stem cells are the most versatile, but their use has drawn fierce opposition from conservative religious groups who equate embryonic clusters with human life. The United States and several other countries have restricted embryonic stem-cell funding, and the issue entered the 2004 presidential debate.
Early human trials are producing tentative results. A German team extracted stem cells from the bone marrow of 28 heart-attack patients, reinfused them four days later, and found after four months that damaged cardiac tissue had shrunk by more than a third while heart function improved by 10 percent. Dublin biotech TriStem Group reports success treating aplastic anemia in four patients in India, though the results have yet to appear in a peer-reviewed journal.
Two core obstacles remain: directing stem cells to form the intended tissue rather than tumors, and preventing the body from rejecting cells taken from a donor. One proposed approach inserts a patient's DNA into a donor egg to generate cloned embryonic cells, raising fresh technical and ethical complications.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in October 2004, in its own words.