Iowa hospital part of important study

Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines is part of a one-million dollarstudy to help people who have weakened immune systems due to chemotherapytreatments. Dr. Charles Link says these patients have traditionally beentreated with bone marrow transplants. The new treatment uses what are called”stem cells” instead of the bone marrow.Dr. Link says the “stem cell” technology needs to be studied and refined.That’s where Iowa Methodist will help.He says an advantage of using “stem cells” is they come from the patient,where marrow transplants require a suitable donor. Dr. Link says the Human Gene Therapy Research Institute at Iowa Methodistwill try to develop safe ways of using the “stem cells” for treatment. The project, which also involves several universities, begins this month andwill continue into the year 2004.