Once the use of human ES cells and their progeny is validated in clinical trials, most panel members agreed that all ancestral groups in the U.S. should have an equal chance of finding a match in an ES cell line bank aimed at providing clinical treatments.
African-Americans have a greater variety of HLA profiles, so more cell lines would be needed in the bank to potentially match the same percentage of that population as, say, white Americans. According to the panel's calculations, 40 cell lines representing the most common HLA varieties of white Americans would be expected to match about 71 percent of that population. By contrast, 40 cell lines matching the 40 most common HLA types of African-Americans would cover just over 45 percent of that group. Regardless of what percentage of the population is covered, however, new cell lines would have to be established, the panel said.
"No matter how we look at it, the federally approved cell lines are inadequate," says Gearhart. "We can do a lot of work with them, but we can't move into clinical trials or offer therapies with them."
"At every step of our deliberations, there was keen attention to conflicts between respect for early human life, safety for human subjects and justice for those who are ill," adds Faden. "Society may well have to choose what it values more -- ensuring that all benefit safely and fairly from advances in stem cell science, or protecting embryonic human life."
Faden also notes that the panel did not decide whether a national advisory committee should be established to oversee future clinical trials with ES cells. "That remains an open question," she says.
The panel acknowledges in both papers that future advances in science may
be able to relie
'"/>
Contact: Joanna Downer
jdowner1@jhmi.edu
410-614-5105
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
10-Nov-2003