Ottawa announces $5.3M for stem cell research 
 
Canadian Press
From: CTV.Ca
 
Updated: Fri. Apr. 1 2005 8:09 AM ET

MONTREAL — It's hoped that stem cells, which can be found in fat, blood, bone and cells themselves, will eventually be used to repair damaged hearts, lungs and blood vessels, a news conference was told Thursday.

Justice Minister Irwin Cotler gave Canadian stem cell research a boost with the announcement of $5.3 million in annual funding.

The research funding for the Stem Cell Network will support a number of national projects, including an effort led by Dr. Jacques Galipeau of the Montreal-based Jewish General Hospital to study the use of adult stem cells as repair material to help patients with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

Galipeau said stem cells are like "seeds" and can be used "to grow a crop of new tissue," which would then be used to repair and restore damaged tissue.

"We want to bring these technologies to real people," he told the news conference.

For Linda Beriault, who has suffered from pulmonary arterial hypertension for the last 13 years, stem cell research is an exciting prospect.

She's on medication to counter symptoms such as edema, dizziness and fatigue. The only other options are a lung or heart-lung transplants.

"For me, it's a breakthrough," Beriault said, adding it will give her another choice in medical treatment. "It is very encouraging."

Beriault said the lung disease, which can be fatal, came on after she gave birth to her son. There's no one explanation for its origins.

In Canada, scientists can use adult and embryonic stem cells for research but can't legally push the limits any further.

"There is no therapeutic cloning allowed in Canada," said Galipeau, referring to the production and then destruction of week-old embryos to harvest stem cells.

Later this spring, Galipeau and Toronto-based Dr. Duncan Stewart of St. Michael's Hospital will have patients in the late stages of the pulmonary arterial hypertension disease, who are awaiting life-saving transplants, take part in a trial that will attempt to combine stem cells and gene therapy to treat it.

Scientists from Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa would like to have clinical trials within the next two to five years with patients using their own stem cells to repair damaged hearts and lungs.

Cotler called it a "landmark day" for medical research and medical care, noting that Canada is among the leaders in stem cell research. 
 
 
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