Stem cell research may not find wonder cures

Yet despite the years of study and debate about the potential, therapies have been slow to materialise.

Even the head of the UK National Stem Cell Network has now conceded that stem cell research may never deliver new treatments.

Given the ethical controversy about the research – particularly the use of animal-human hybrid embryos – some have questioned whether it is worth pursuing the research any further without proof that it will actually benefit human health.

But researchers meeting in Edinburgh later this week for the first ever UK National Stem Cell Research Conference will very much be spreading the message that the science is producing results and experts must be allowed to continue to study stem cells in their many forms.

Lord Patel of Dunkeld, chairman of the UK National Stem Cell Network and chancellor of Dundee University, said the current signs were that research involving stem cells would lead to therapies for patients.

But he said there was also a chance such treatments could prove too risky for human use.

Speaking to The Scotsman, Lord Patel said it could be five to ten years before stem cell treatments were widely available, with trials starting shortly in the UK and US.

"But we have to be cautious," he said. "It may not deliver therapy for anything. We may find that stem therapy is quite a risky business.

"We had a lot of hype about gene therapy, and while we still use it in some cases it did not deliver the great promise we thought it would because of the side-effects. But the promise just now is great and we must continue with the stem cell science."

Stem cell research has risen up the agenda in the last month due to ethical concerns about the creation of so-called hybrid embryos.

The DNA is taken from animal eggs and replaced with genetic information from humans, making them more than 99.9 per cent human.

From these, scientists can create embryonic stem cells for research – those with the most potential because they have the ability to develop into many types of tissue. They argue that a shortage of human eggs for research means that such hybrid embryos are vital to speed up developments.

But the Scottish Catholic Church has condemned the research, with Cardinal Keith O'Brien saying such research was of "Frankenstein proportions" and was a "monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life".

He urged MPs to vote against a Bill which would support scientists working with such embryos in the UK and several members of the Cabinet threatened to resign unless they were given a free vote when it comes before parliament in a few weeks.

Scientists pointed out that the research involved embryos no bigger than a few grains of sand, not allowed to grow for more than a few days.

But a spokesman for the Scottish Catholic Church said: "At one point, we were all just a small bundle of cells.

"At that stage, while not recognisably human, these cells are still human life." The Church also pointed out that, as yet, embryonic stem cell research had failed to produce any meaningful results.

Despite his own reservations that stem cell work may not live up to its hype, Lord Patel said he was hopeful of finding treatments for serious diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's, motor neurone disease and even disorders such as Alzheimer's.