For the first time since the National Institutes of Health released its new guidelines for the derivation of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines last summer, a line approved under the Bush administration has been recommended for inclusion into the growing federal registry of lines eligible for federal funding.

Human embryonic stem cells Image: Wikimedia commons, Nissim Benvenisty

Submitted by the WiCell Research Institute in Madison, Wisconsin, the WA01 (commonly known as H1) stem cell line "is one of the most utilized lines in the world," NIH director Francis Collins said at a press conference this morning (January 22). It is one of two lines that that accounted for more than 75% of hESC requests received by the National Stem Cell Bank in the last 10 years and was used in 60.9% of the published literature on hESCs, according to a survey published in the August issue of Nature Biotechnology.

On the basis of a working group's findings, the NIH advisory committee to the director (ACD) advised Collins that the line was approved ethically according to the current stem cell guidelines. Collins said he will take the ACD's recommendation "under consideration and make a decision very soon."

Collins also responded to a question that previously arose regarding restrictions that may be stated in the informed consent forms. Funding of 27 lines from Harvard University, for example, was approved with the limitation that research involving these lines be restricted to the use specifically stated on the consent forms: diabetes-related pancreatic research. Today Collins announced that this practice would become the "general policy" of the NIH, which "should honor the exact wording [regarding the use of the donated embryos] as written in the informed consent forms."

A total of 42 lines are currently available on the registry, including two added last Tuesday.


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