As Seen In June 2009
( intelligencer )
STEM CELLS:
HEALTH CARE’S
MAGIC BULLET
Biomedical researcher Ian Phillips of
Keck Graduate Institute combines a
love of art with a passion for science
to create new ways to save lives.
[ b y TA M M Y M I N N ]
“If stem cells
and gene therapies prove to
be successful
someone will
find a way to
make it
profitable.”
G
rowing up in London, Ian Phillips had to make a
choice: art or science. “I went with science, but I still
paint. And actually, there’s quite a bit of art in science,”
says Phillips, who has a doctorate in pharmacology
and is Norris Professor of Applied Life Sciences at
Keck Graduate Institute in Claremont. While he dabbles with acrylic watercolors in his spare time, he creates landscapes of
a different kind in his role as a biomedical researcher: hope and wellness for millions. Phillips, whose duties include serving as director of
Keck’s Center for Rare Disease Therapies, has expertise in stem cells
and gene regulatory networks.
Stem cells, in particular, offer numerous medical possibilities.
Phillips explains why. Every cell in the body starts as a stem cell. A
stem cell has a blank slate, meaning its job has not been determined.
Eventually by dividing, the offspring cells become specialized. But they
“stem” from undifferentiated cells.
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“Embryonic stem cells are formed after a few divisions of cells from
a fertilized egg. Adult stem cells come from organs or tissues,” Phillips
says. “Embryonic stem cells can turn into almost any cell in the body.
Adult stem cells can turn into different cell types, but are more limited than embryonic. That’s why embryonic stem cells are preferred for
cell therapy of many diseases.” But adult stem cells are useful, too.
“The cells used in bone marrow transplants for leukemia come from
adult stem cells,” Phillips says. Researchers in various locations are
working with adult stem cells to tweak them so they offer the same or
similar properties as embryonic stem cells.
“If that’s successful, it will eliminate the religious or ethical concerns
people have about using stem cells from embryos because it won’t be
necessary,” Phillips says. Because stem cells are closely linked to gene
therapy, some of the work Phillips does involves both. He recently
received a $323,000 grant from the Department of Defense to support
his research into a blood clotting therapy that could save the lives of
American combat troops. Phillips, who has a nephew serving in
Afghanistan, has produced an automatic anti-hemorrhaging system
that would allow a wounded soldier’s body to produce a blood-clotting
protein.
“So many deaths are from slow hemorrhaging. Often, a soldier will
suffer severe internal bleeding before a medic can get to him,” Phillips
says. The anti-hemorrhaging system, known as the Automatic
Hemostat Vector, could buy some time for wounded soldiers. They
would be injected with it
before going into battle. If
wounded, a specific molecule would “switch on” a
gene that produces a blood
clotting protein. If not
wounded, the “vaccine”
would dissipate after a few
days.
Phillips hopes to take his
anti-hemorrhaging system
one step further by adding
to it a stem cell gene that
would cause the wound to start healing even while the injured soldier
is on the battlefield. For now, the first step is “still in the very early
stages of research,” Phillips says. But the Hemostat system is scheduled
for human testing at the U.S. Army Surgical Institute in San Antonio.
In addition to helping soldiers, Phillips’ system could be used in
civilian surgery and in cases of hemophilia and hemorrhagic stroke.
But Phillips is cautious.
“I don’t think people should overpromise what stem cells can do.
But they need to be investigated because there are so many diseases for
which there are no drugs or inadequate drugs if they’re available,” he
says. About 25 million Americans have diseases considered to be rare,
and they’re often related to a genetic defect.
“Gene therapy is a bit like stem cell research—still in its infancy. We
don’t yet have strong examples of gene therapy being accepted, but it’s
an area that needs more work,” he says. But he believes the time is
right. “We’ve had a century of developing drugs. Now in this century,
we’re going to be developing cell therapies and really be able to tackle
a number of diseases that we’ve never been able to before,” he says. But
an obstacle might stand in the way: profitability.
Phillips has been a consultant for Merck, Squibb and Hoechst pharmaceutical companies. In the ’70s and ’80s, he helped develop what
would become today’s drugs for high blood pressure. So when he mentions money, he’s being realistic, not facetious. But he’s also hopeful. “If
stem cells and gene therapies prove to be successful and truly hold the
potential to end suffering for so many, someone will find a way to make
it profitable,” Phillips says. In the meantime, he’s glad to be part of the
landscape.
SEPTEMBER 2009