The much-heralded potential benefits of stem cell research could be limited to certain ethnic groups, according to a recent University study.

In a recent University study of 47 commonly used stem cell lines, most were found to be of European origin, with only two of East Asian origin, a few of Middle Eastern origin and none of recent African origin.

Several hundred embryonic stem cell lines exist worldwide, but only a small group of those are readily available to researchers and are widely disseminated to the research community, said Jack Mosher, an assistant research scientist at the University’s Life Sciences Institute.

Mosher, who worked on the study, said it’s important to study stem cells from different origins because genetic background leaves individuals more susceptible to certain diseases. He added that it is important to evaluate how cells of distinct origins respond to medications as well.

Associate Prof. of Human Genetics Noah Rosenberg worked alongside Mosher on the study. Rosenberg said the lack of diversity they found in the lines could result in some groups benefiting more than others from stem cell research.

“There’s the potential that the work currently being done will lead to benefits only for subsets of the human population,” Rosenberg said.

Mosher said their research began in 2008, when voters in Michigan passed a ballot initiative that allows researchers to derive stem cell lines from donated embryos.

“As far as we know, there wasn’t much diversity in the existing lines,” Mosher said. “Many of the lines originate from a specific clinic, but no one had really tested what the diversity of the lines actually was.”

The embryos from which stem cells lines are derived are mostly discarded from fertility clinics, according to Sean Morrison, director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology at the Life Sciences Institute, who also worked on the study. He said a big reason for the disparity in ancestral roots is the disproportionate number of clients of European descent who use fertility clinic services.

With results showing that European ancestry is vastly overrepresented, research on these stem cells may neglect to address minority groups, according to Rosenberg.

“We know that in most areas of medical research, it’s important to study individuals from diverse populations in order to examine whether different groups might respond differently to therapies,” Rosenberg said. “We hope that same principle will be applied to works based on embryonic stem cells.”

Mosher said he expects that the lines will become more representative of various origins when other ethnic groups start to generate their own stem cell lines.

The researchers said they hope their work will highlight the need for more diversity in the stem cell lines that are used for research.

“Right now there has not been focus on individual ancestry of embryo donors,” Rosenberg said. “Our paper will hopefully draw attention to this issue so that labs currently deriving stem cell lines will attempt to include more diverse lines."