Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007

STEM CELL RESEARCH ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2007 -- (Extensions of Remarks - January 17, 2007)

Mr. FORTENBERRY. Mr. Speaker, please find attached references which conclusively demonstrate the therapeutic benefits experienced by human patients who have undergone a variety of adult stem cell treatments. These references are available at www.stemcellresearch.org. Also, please find attached the text of a Wall Street Journal article on November 16, 2006, citing progress on amniotic stem cell research as referenced in my floor statement during the January 11 debate on H.R. 3.

PEER-REVIEWED REFERENCES SHOWING APPLICATIONS OF ADULT STEM CELLS THAT PRODUCE THERAPEUTIC BENEFIT FOR HUMAN PATIENTS
ADULT STEM CELLS--HEMATOPOIETIC REPLACEMENT CANCERS

Brain Tumors--medulloblastoma and glioma. Dunkel, IJ; ``High-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell rescue for malignant brain tumors'; Cancer Invest. 18,492-493; 2000.

Ovarian Cancer--Stiff PJ et al.; ``High-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem-cell transplantation for ovarian cancer: An autologous blood and marrow transplant registry report'; Ann. Intern. Med. 133, 504-515; Oct. 3, 2000. Schilder, RJ and Shea, TC; ``Multiple cycles of high-dose chemotherapy for ovarian cancer'; Semin. Oncol. 25, 349-355; June 1998.

Testicular Cancer--Bhatia S et al.; ``High-dose chemotherapy as initial salvage chemotherapy in patients with relapsed testicular cancer'; J. Clin. Oncol. 18, 3346-3351; Oct. 19, 2000.

Lymphoma--Josting, A; ``Treatment of Primary Progressive Hodgkin's and Aggressive Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Is There a Chance for Cure?'; J Clin Oncol 18, 332-339; 2000. Koizumi M et al.; ``Successful treatment of intravascular malignant lymphomatosis with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation'; Bone Marrow Transplant 27, 1101-1103; May 2001.

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia--Laughlin MJ et al.; ``Hematopoietic engraftment and survival in adult recipients of umbilical-cord blood from unrelated donors', New England Journal of Medicine 344, 1815-1822; June 14, 2001.

Breast Cancer--Damon LE et al.; ``High-dose chemotherapy and hematopoietic stem cell rescue for breast cancer: experience in California'; Biol. Blood Marrow Transplant 6, 496-505; 2000. ADULT STEM CELLS--IMMUNE SYSTEM REPLACEMENT AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES

Systemic Lupus--Burt RK et al., Nonmyeloablative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for systemic lupus erythematosus, Journal of the American Medical Association 295, 527-535, February 1, 2006.

Crohn's Disease--Burt RK et al., ``High-dose immune suppression and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in refractory Crohn disease,' Blood 101, 2064-2066, March 2003.

Juvenile Arthritis--IM de Kleer et al., Autologous stem cell transplantation for refractory juvenile idiopathic arthritis: analysis of clinical effects, mortality, and transplant related morbidity, Ann Rheum Dis 63, 1318-1326, 2004.

Multiple Sclerosis--Saccardi R et al., Autologous HSCT for severe progressive multiple sclerosis in a multicenter trial: impact on disease activity and quality of life, Blood 105, 2601-2607, 15 March 2005. ANEMIAS and OTHER BLOOD CONDITIONS

Sickle Cell Anemia--Klein A et al., Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for severe sickle cell disease, Rev Med Brux. 2005; 26 Spec no: Sp23-5.

Chronic Epstein-Barr Infection--Fujii N et al.; ``Allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation for the treatment of chronic active epstein-barr virus infection'; Bone Marrow Transplant 26, 805-808; Oct. 2000. ADULT STEM CELLS--REPAIR/REPLACEMENT OF SOLID TISSUES METABOLIC DISORDERS

Osteopetrosis--Tsuji Y et al., Successful nonmyeloablative cord blood transplantation for an infant with malignant infantile osteopetrosis, J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 27, 495-498, Sept 2005. OCULAR

Corneal Regeneration--Inatomi T et al., Midterm results on ocular surface reconstruction using cultivated autologous oral mucosal epithelial transplantation, American Journal of Ophthalmology 141, 267-275, February 2006. WOUNDS & INJURIES

Limb Gangrene--Tateishi-Yuyama E et al., ``Therapeutic angiogenesis for patients with limb ischaemia by autologous transplantation of bone-marrow cells: a pilot study and a randomized controlled trial'; Lancet 360, 427-435; 10 August 2002. HEART DAMAGE

Acute Heart Damage--Joseph J et al., Safety and effectiveness of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor in mobilizing stem cells and improving cytokine profile in advanced chronic heart failure, American Journal of Cardiology 97, 681-684, 1 March 2006.

Chronic Coronary Artery Disease--Strauer BE et al., Regeneration of human infarcted heart muscle by intracoronary autologous bone marrow cell transplantation in chronic coronary artery disease, Journal of the American College of Cardiology 46, 1651-1658, 1 November 2005. NEURAL DEGENERATIVE DISEASES & INJURIES

Stroke--Shyu W-C et al., Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor for acute ischemic stroke: a randomized controlled trial, Canadian Medical Association Journal 174, 927-933, 28 March 2006. Parkinson's Disease

Using Direct Stimulation of Patients' Endogenous Adult Neural Stem Cells--Love S et al., Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor induces neuronal sprouting in human brain, Nature Medicine 11, 703-704, July 2005.

Slevin JT et al., Improvement of bilateral motor functions in patients with Parkinson disease through the unilateral intraputaminal infusion of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor, Journal of Neurosurgery 102, 216-222, February 2005.

Spinal Cord Injury--Lima C et al., Olfactory mucosa autografts in human spinal cord injury: A pilot clinical study, Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine 29, 191-203, July 2006. LIVER DISEASE

Liver Cirrhosis--Terai S et al., Improved liver function in liver cirrhosis patients after autologous bone marrow cell fusion therapy, Stem Cells published online 15 June 2006; DOI: 10.1634/stemcells.2005-0542. BLADDER DISEASE

End-Stage Bladder Disease--Atala A et al., Tissue-engineered autologous bladders for patients needing cytoplasty, The Lancet 367, 1241-1246, 15 April 2006.

SCIENTISTS GROW HEART VALVES EMPLOYING AMNIOTIC STEM CELLS

CHICAGO--Scientists for the first time have grown human heart valves using stem cells from the fluid that cushions babies in the womb--offering a revolutionary approach that may be used to repair defective hearts in the future.

The idea is to create new valves in the lab while the pregnancy progresses and have them ready to implant in a baby with heart defects after it is born.

The Swiss experiment follows recent success growing bladders and blood vessels and suggests people may one day be able to grow their own replacement heart parts--in some cases, before they're born.

It's one of several sci-fi tissue engineering advances that could lead to homegrown heart valves for infants and adults that are more durable and effective than artificial or cadaver valves.

``This may open a whole new therapy concept to the treatment of congenital heart defects,' said Dr. Simon Hoerstrup, a University of Zurich scientist who led the work, which was presented yesterday at an American Heart Association conference.

Also at the meeting, Japanese researchers said they had grown new heart valves in rabbits using cells from the animals' own tissue. It is the first time replacement heart valves have been created in this manner, said lead author Dr. Kyoko Hayashida.

One percent of all newborns, or more than one million babies born world-wide each year, have heart problems. These kill more babies in the U.S. in the first year of life than any other birth defect, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Heart-valve defects can be detected with ultrasound tests at about 20 weeks of pregnancy. At least one-third of afflicted infants have problems that could be treated with replacement valves, Dr. Hoerstrup said.

Conventional procedures to fix faulty heart valves all have drawbacks. Artificial valves are prone to blood clots and patients must take anticlotting drugs for life. Valves from human cadavers or animals can deteriorate, requiring repeated open-heart surgeries to replace them, Dr. Hijazl said. That's especially true in children, because these valves don't grow along with the body. Valves made from the patient's own cells are living tissue and might be able to grow with the patient, said Dr. Hayashida, a scientist at the National Cardiovascular Center Research Institute in Osaka.

The Swiss procedure has another advantage: using cells the fetus sheds in amniotic fluid avoids controversy because it doesn't involve destroying embryos to get stem cells.

http://thomas.loc.gov/