An Interview with Dr. Derek van der Kooy about His Recent Work on Retinal Stem Cells

Kimby N. Barton, MSc
Assistant Editor
Geriatrics & Aging

In August, this year, the National Institutes of Health generated a firestorm of controversy when they released their new guidelines allowing scientists to use stem cells derived from human embryos for their research. Reactions varied from great praise from the publicly funded Ameri-can scientific community, to a papal condemnation of the action as 'not morally acceptable'.

The various reactions aside, it is widely recognized that stem cell therapy may be one of the only avenues available for treating a number of neurodegenerative disorders, spinal cord injury, and diabetes. The recent success of the 'Edmonton Protocol', which relies on the injection of pancreatic islet cells into a donor pancreas, has raised the possibility of a 'cure' for diabetes. Unfortunately the limited availability of current donors, and the need for two or more pancreases per patient, raise the spectre of a long waiting list of people desperately hoping for a donated organ. One means of overcoming this organ limitation is to develop a renewable line of pancreatic stem cells.

Several articles in this issue offer discussions on the limited success of treatments for such age-related eye diseases as macular degeneration and glaucoma.

The US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Biological Response Modifiers Advisory Committee convened in July to begin the process of formalizing regulations for the development of stem cell products. Dr. Jay Siegel, director of the FDA's Office of Therapeutic Research and Review, said that they are trying to get information on what would constitute appropriate controls and testing to set the grounds for human research.

Kimby Barton, BSc, MSc
Assistant Editor, Geriatrics & Aging

The hematopoietic system is comprised of all the elements of the blood, together with the stem and progenitor cells that give rise to these elements, and these play a vital role in the functioning of a healthy person. The hematopoietic system is unusual in that most of its components have a short life span, a multiplicity of cell types are required for its normal function, and a wide dispersion of cells perform specific functions throughout the body. The short life span of many of its components renders necessary the continuous production of enormous numbers of cells. Consequently, stem and progenitor cells must be maintained in adequate numbers to meet this demand for cell production throughout a person's lifetime.

Age-related alterations have been found in almost all components of the hematopoietic system but historically it has been difficult to distinguish between changes that occur with advanced age and changes that occur as a result of an illness. This article will review some of the literature dealing with the effects of age on the hematopoietic system. Conflicting studies will leave some questions unanswered and a paucity of information in other areas suggests the need for further research.