A biotechnology company has secured a patent to engineer human cells that can be used to grow a variety of human tissues in the laboratory. The techniques could be used to grow an endless supply of human organs for transplant, researchers said.
The US Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent to Geron Corporation on 1 December for the development of "primate embryonic" stem cells, the company said Wednesday.
Geron is licensing the patent from the group that received it, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The patent covers claims on purification methods used to prepare stem cells for laboratory growth, as well as methods for obtaining and maintaining them.
Scientists can use the techniques to grow stem cells into much-needed tissue and organs: heart muscle cells for transplants, brain cells for treating Parkinson's disease, and spinal-cord cells for injuries to the spine.
Dr. James Thomson, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, invented the methods covered by the patent. Thomson published his research on the isolation of a primate embryonic stem cell line in 1995. In November, he published news of his successful derivation of human embryonic stem cells.
Geron holds a worldwide license to Thomson's patent applications surrounding human embryonic stem cells. The company has been funding its own and others' research into methods for engineering stem cells.
The versatile cell can develop into a variety of other types of cells, such as those forming human organs and tissues.
In addition to tissue and organ transplants, the specially engineered cells could improve human understanding of reproductive and developmental biology and lead to better treatments for infertility, premature pregnancy loss, and birth defects, researchers say.
Thomson's patent is the first US patent of its kind. He and other researchers seeking to grow human stem cells asked Congress to provide federal funding of their work, saying it might lead to a cure for Parkinson's disease within a few years.
"The number of diseases that can be treated will increase exponentially [with federal funding]," Thomson told a Senate panel. "The current ban in the United States on the use of federal funding for human-embryo research discourages the majority of the best US researchers from advancing this promising area of medical research."
Reuters contributed to this report.
