Unproven Stem Cell Therapies Earn Traction and Criticism

This an interesting article about the some of efforts in take advantage of Stem Cell therapies happening in China, and some of actions being taken to slow these efforts down to a responsible rate.

China urged to abandon plan to sell unproven cell therapies

David Cyranoski, Nature

An international stem-cell body says the country’s proposed law could put patients at risk.

An international group of stem-cell researchers is urging China to cancel draft regulations that would permit some hospitals to sell therapies developed from patients’ own cells, without approval from the nation’s drug regulator.

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) sent a statement outlining its concerns to Jiao Hong, director of China’s National Medical Products Administration in Beijing, on 20 May. The society, which is based in Skokie, Illinois, represents more than 4,000 scientists, clinicians and ethicists around the world.

“We are deeply concerned that China’s newly proposed regulations will provide incentives for hospitals to market unsafe and ineffective interventions directly to consumers. This has the potential to harm the people of China, undermine public health and discredit the international standing of the Chinese regenerative medicine community,” warns the statement, which was signed by society president Doug Melton.

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Bold Chinese Experiment Genetically Engineers Monkeys, maybe makes them Smarter, definitely raises some ethical questions

Chinese researchers are going hard lately! Following projects that include genetically modifying embryos and letting two develop into twin human babies, and cloning primates, another envelope-pushing report comes from the Chinese Bio-Science community—this time by inserting a human version of a gene into a Rhesus Monkey. The gene MCPH1 is thought to play an important role in human brain development and contribute to the distinctively human cognitive ability. The genetically modified monkeys exhibited slower (more human-like) brain development and possibly even improved cognitive ability. This work was published by Oxford University Press on behalf of China Science Publishing & Media Ltd., which is ostensibly a peer-review journal, but not PLOS or PNAS, and it unclear if this work would be given the green light at an American University. There will certainly be debate in the press about this topic, which should be thrilling, but hopefully it will hasten a some thoughtful conclusions.

Read the original article HERE and other summaries here and here and here.

Demand for genetically-modified mice skyrocketing in China

China's Selling Genetically-Modified Mice for $17,000 a Pair

Sacks of pungent animal feed cram the corridors of a Cyagen Biosciences Inc. center for laboratory mice in southern China, maximizing space for rodents that sell for as much as $17,000 a pair.

Demand is skyrocketing in China for animals that mimic the diseases of humans. President Xi Jinping’s drive to turn the country into a biomedical powerhouse by 2025 has pushed the country deeper into drug discovery and to the forefront of genetics. That’s helping fuel a global market for gene-altered mice predicted to expand 7.5 percent a year to top $1.59 billion by 2022.

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What happens when a super-power, not start up, has your genome

What Will China Do With Your DNA?

China’s Fourth Magic Weapon, Part III: Bioweapons

by Steven Mosher (Epoch Times)

“Editor’s Note: In Parts I and II, Steven Mosher wrote about the Chinese Communist Party’s program to collect the DNA of all Chinese citizens. This was, he suggested, an effort to develop a fourth “magic weapon” of control over the Chinese population. The first three “magic weapons,” outlined by President Xi Jinping in a September 2014 speech, are “the People’s Liberation Army, propaganda, and United Front tactics.”

But this effort also extends beyond China’s borders. Here, in Part III, Mosher discusses ways in which the CCP is able to collect foreign DNA and how it might be able to profit from, or even weaponize, the genetic information it acquires from analyzing it.“

Chinese American scientists express concerns about profiling

Racial profiling harms science

“On behalf of the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA), the Chinese American Hematologist and Oncologist Network (CAHON), and the Chinese Biological Investigators Society (CBIS), we write to express our concerns about the recent political rhetoric and policies that single out students and scholars of Chinese descent working in the United States as threats to U.S. national interests [e.g., (1) and pp. 6–7 in (2)]. These developments have led to confusion, fear, and frustration among these highly dedicated professionals, who are in danger of being singled out for scape-goating, stereotyping, and racial profiling. U.S. policies must avoid targeting, as Representative Judy Chu (D–California) put it, “an entire ethnic group of people for suspicion that they're spies for China” (3).”

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China claims it will tighten rules on human genetic engineering

China to tighten rules on gene editing in humans

China’s health ministry has issued draft regulations that will restrict the use of gene editing in humans, just three months after Chinese researcher He Jiankui announced that twin girls had been born with edited genomes. The proposal includes severe penalties for those who break the rules. If approved, scientists say the policy could have gains and drawbacks for research.

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China's CRISPR twins raise possibility of far off-target effects

China’s CRISPR twins might have had their brains inadvertently enhanced

New research suggests that a controversial gene-editing experiment to make children resistant to HIV may also have enhanced their ability to learn and form memories.

The brains of two genetically edited girls born in China last year may have been changed in ways that enhance cognition and memory, scientists say.

The twins, called Lulu and Nana, reportedly had their genes modified before birthby a Chinese scientific team using the new editing tool CRISPR. The goal was to make the girls immune to infection by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Now, new research shows that the same alteration introduced into the girls’ DNA, deletion of a gene called CCR5, not only makes mice smarter but also improves human brain recovery after stroke, and could be linked to greater success in school.

After Scandal, China Proposes New Rules for Gene Editing

China has proposed new rules for gene editing and other “high risk” biomedical technologies. The proposals come three months after a Chinese researcher was widely criticized after claiming he had created the world’s first genetically-edited babies.

A draft of the measures was published this week on the website of China’s National Health Commission. The new rules would cover gene editing, stem cell experiments and biological products created for the human body, the Chinese government-supported Global Times newspaper reported.

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Chinese scientists have cloned genetically altered, non-Human, primates too

“This time last year, the first primates cloned through a nucleus transfer technique made headlines around the world. Now, Chinese researchers have pushed the envelope even further – by breaking a regulatory gene in macaques before cloning them. According to the researchers, cloning genetically altered primates has clear benefits for medical testing. But in the wake of controversy over gene editing on humans, progress in this contentious area could be outpacing ethics.

After the new experiment, five infant macaques born at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai all share the exact same genes, derived from a fibroblast taken from the skin of a donor monkey. More importantly, they all carry a copy of one specific gene – a version of BMAL1 that had been altered in the donor using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology.”

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