ACTC - Advanced Cell Technology Announces Creation of Human Embryonic Stem Cell

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Advanced Cell Technology Announces Creation of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Without the Destruction of Embryos
(Business Wire 01/10 09:00:01)

Business Editors / Health/Medical Writers

WORCESTER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)----
Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: ACTC) together
with colleagues announced today the development of five human
embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines without the destruction of embryos.
These new results have the potential to end the ethical debate
surrounding the use of embryos to derive stem cells. In fact, the NIH
report to the President refers to this technology as one of the viable
alternatives to the destruction of embryos.

The new method will be published today in the journal Cell Stem
Cells, published by Cell Press. The peer-reviewed technique was
initially carried out by ACT scientists under the direction of Robert
Lanza, M.D., and then independently replicated by scientists on the
West Coast. Single cells were removed from the embryos using a
technique similar to preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). The
biopsied embryos continued to develop normally and were then frozen.
The cells that were removed were cultured utilizing a proprietary
methodology that recreates the optimal developmental environment,
which substantially improved the efficiency of deriving stem cells to
rates comparable to using the traditional approach of deriving stem
cells from the inner cell mass of a whole blastocyst stage embryo. The
stem cells were genetically normal and differentiated into cell types
of all three germ layers of the body, including blood cells, neurons,
heart cells, cartilage, and other cell types of potentially
therapeutic significance.

"This is a working technology that exists here and now," said
Robert Lanza, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Advanced Cell
Technology and senior author of the paper. "It could be used to
increase the number of stem cell lines available to federal
researchers immediately. We could send these cells out to researchers
tomorrow. If the White House approves this new methodology,
researchers could effectively double or triple the number of stem cell
lines available within a few months. Too many needless deaths continue
to occur while this research is being held up. I hope the President
will act now and approve these stem cell lines quickly."

The paper published today also addresses several other important
issues. First, the stem cells were derived without culturing multiple
cells from each embryo together, and at efficiency levels similar to
that reported for conventional stem cell derivation techniques using
blastocysts. Second, it addresses ethical objections that the
derivation system required co-culture with hESCs from other embryos
that were destroyed. The current study demonstrates that hESC
co-culture is not an essential part of the derivation procedure. The
stem cell lines generated in the present study appear to have the same
characteristics as other hESC lines, including expression of the same
markers of pluripotency, self-renewing capacity, genetic stability,
and ability to differentiate into derivatives of all three germ layers
of the body.

"We are excited that our new method for generating human embryonic
stem cell lines without the destruction of embryos has been accepted
for inclusion by such a prestigious publication," said William M.
Caldwell IV, Chairman and CEO of Advanced Cell Technology. "This new
approach addresses the President Bush's ethical concerns. We are
hopeful that the NIH will consider this new approach for federal
funding. We believe that such consideration reflects the desire of the
American people to bring therapies derived from stem cell research to
patients with few or no alternatives."

Other contributors to the study and publication include Young
Chung and Irina Klimanskaya, Sandy Becker, Tong Li, Marc Maserati, and
Shi-Jiang Lu of Advanced Cell Technology; Tamara Zdravkovic, Olga
Genbacev, and Susan Fisher of the University of California, San
Francisco; and Dusko Ilic and Ana Krtolica of StemLifeLine.