16-07-08(9:57:18)
Authors:
Jens Clausen
Institutions:
Department of Medical Ethics, University of Tuebingen
Title of abstract : ETHICAL ASPECTS OF REGENERATIVE MEDICINE IN NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS
Abstract text:
Ethical aspects of stem cell transplantation to the human brain deal with the issue at different levels. Ethical examination has to consider at least two main topics: 1st harvesting transplantable cells, and 2nd of transplanting these cells into a human brain.
Harvesting cells from aborted foetuses was the central topic of the ethical debate for the last twenty years which lead to guidelines for their use in neurotransplantation .
However, several advances in biomedical research like establishing human embryonic stem cells, nuclear transfer technology, inducing pluripotency in human somatic cells, and chimera research have broadened the pool of possible cell resources. At this level ethical aspects mainly deal with questions of moral status: the status of the cells themselves, their origin, and the resulting organism are at question to give ethical advice.
On the level of cell transplantation the questions of efficacy, beneficence, and non-maleficence come into question. Does stem cell transplantation work, does it benefit the patient, which side-effects have to be considered, and how to avoid them. Questions of alterations in personality traits may be theoretically most challenging. Transplanting new cells into existing neural networks aim at functional integration and thereby restoring impaired or lost function. If transplantation also causes alterations in other brain functions and shifts some personality traits, weighing therapeutic effects against side effects become challenging. So there is a need to develop criteria how to proceed with caution in this promising field of research to enable therapeutic benefits and preventing patients from disproportionate risks.
