Letter to Senator Wicker – “induced pluripotent stem cells -- another scientific Ponzi scheme or adult stem cell lie”

I write regarding Senator Wicker’s open letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra in June 2021. In particular, their statement “Adult stem cells, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, and umbilical cord blood cells have been used to create life-saving treatments for multiple diseases and conditions” is utterly incorrect. Adult stem cells, iPS cells, and umbilical cord blood cells have not created any life-saving treatments for any diseases and conditions. Most adult stem cells and umbilical cord blood cells have failed efficacy tests in clinical trials again and again over the last two decades. And iPS cells are in fact pluripotent cancer cells or adult cells harboring multiple oncogenes, introduced by the Bush administration and some top scientists, totally a political stem cell scam. So far, iPS cells have failed safety tests in clinical trials by causing serious spontaneous mutations and harming patients.

To circumvent the ethical issue of human embryonic stem cells (hESC), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) were introduced by the Bush administration and some top scientists, including the former vice president of International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), Shinya Yamanaka who ended up winning the Nobel Prize later on, the former president of ISSCR and Dean of Harvard Medical School, George Daley, as well as the former CEO of Cell Press and editor-in-chief of Cell and UCLA Associate Dean Emilie Marcus as the alternative of hESC, over a decade ago. However, iPSC are in fact pluripotent cancer cells, and cannot serve as the alternative of hESC. Over many decades of studies of cancers with billions and billions of private and public funding, now we all know that all oncogenes are in fact embryonic genes, or embryonic genes are known as oncogenes if they are abnormally expressed or activated in adult cells, and oncogenes cause cancers. What are iPSC? iPSC are adult cells that abnormally express embryonic genes or are artificially engineered or reprogrammed to express embryonic genes that are in fact rightfully known as oncogenes in adult cells. So, why should iPSC be incorrectly called stem cells, while everywhere else in the scientific world such cells are correctly known as cancer cells? One essential aspect of stem cells is their long-term genetic stability. Stem cells can maintain long-term, stable growth in culture, while cancer cells grow abnormally crazy and mutate fast. The initial cluster of iPSC papers was actually published in top scientific journals, such as Cell, Nature, and Science, in lightning speed, or only a few weeks, without any scientific evidence or data to show the long-term genetic stability of iPSC or iPSC could maintain long-term stable growth. And over a decade later, there is still absolutely no scientific data to show the long-term genetic stability of iPSC or iPSC could maintain long-term stable growth. Without the data of long-term genetic stability, the line between stem cells and cancer cells is bleared.

In fact, the CEO of Cell Press and Editor-in-Chief of Cell Emilie Marcus personally gave the adult stem cell Ponzi scheme or scam the name “induced pluripotent stem cells”. Shinya Yamanaka could not make stem cells, so he put oncogenes in adult cells and made cancer cells, and then called those adult cells reprogrammed with oncogenes “induced pluripotent adult cells” and submitted that paper for review to Cell, and Marcus changed the name to “induced pluripotent stem cells” upon publication without any scientific evidence or data in order to gain political fame during the Bush Administration, as demonstrated by that Marcus was soon catapulted to Editor-in-Chief of Cell and CEO of Cell Press. As we know, by definition, stem cells can both self-renew and differentiate. The difference between “adult cells” and “stem cells” is that “adult cells” do not need the data of self-renewal and genetic stability, but “stem cells” absolutely do. And the data of self-renewal and genetic stability are exactly what have been missing in all iPSC publications or papers.

In fact, iPSC have been reportedly associated with abnormal gene expression, accelerated aging, and immune-rejection following transplantation owing to introducing foreign oncogenes and instability/abnormality to the adult genome, and serious spontaneous mutations, the sign of cancer cells, have been identified in human iPSC clinical trials. iPSC are genetically engineered or reprogrammed cells harboring multiple oncogenes, show seriously adverse effects in patients, mutate as crazy as cancer cells, are absolutely not safe for any treatment or therapy, and definitely have no commercialization potential or therapeutic value at all. It is completely fraud and waste, utterly unethical, for public funding agencies --- Health and Human Services (HHS), the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH), and California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) --- to misappropriate billions of taxpayers’ money and continue to misappropriate hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money to fund such bogus stem cells, which have created absolutely no life-saving treatment or cure for any disease or condition, but have only largely benefited some rogue scientists who have neither scientific integrity nor moral fiber. Most of those scientists, including most of the former and current presidents and vice presidents of ISSCR, are experts and renowned professors in molecular biology and DNA/histone methylation with full knowledge that such concepts of iPSC are flawed and iPSC are bogus, but still, they have used their high-ranking positions, influences, and connections to back and promote iPSC as the alternative of hESC for their own financial gains, including millions and millions of NIH and CIRM funding to themselves and pumped-up stocks of their own companies. Those iPSC professors and their students sitting in various prestigious universities/institutions could simply do a DNA methylation or histone methylation analysis to show the stunning differences between hESC and iPSC, probably would not cost more than a few thousand dollars. They should know hESC and iPSC are different without even doing any experiment because the irreversible methylations of DNA and histones in adult cells are well-documented, and it is common knowledge that simply engineering or reprogramming with embryonic genes cannot reverse those DNA/histone modifications, only causes instability and triggers oncogenic processes, and all their research and prestige are based on such fundamentals. However, they’ve still backed and promoted the fraud and waste of iPSC Ponzi scheme or scam for their own financial gains. Such as over $200 millions of NIH iPSC grants/awards to the professors of Broad institute of MIT and Harvard, including Eric Lander --- the disgraced former science adviser of White House, George Daley --- the Dean of Harvard Medical School, and Rudolf (Rudy) Jaenisch, the founder of Fate Therapeutics; over $50 millions of NIH and CIRM iPSC grants/awards to the student of Rudy Jaenisch --- Marius Wernig sitting in Stanford University; and hundreds of millions of iPSC grants/awards to many of their students sitting in various prestigious universities/institutions over the Country. Those opponents of hESC research have gained so huge from the iPSC Ponzi scheme financially and professionally that they were consequently catapulted to high-ranking and high-paid positions, such as George Daley to Dean of Harvard Medical School, Emilie Marcus to CEO of Cell Press and Editor-in-Chief of Cell and then UCLA Associate Dean of strategy, Larry Goldstein to ICOC board, Alysson Muotri to UCSD/Sanford Center Director, Marius Wernig and Joseph Wu to Stanford Center Directors, even though none of them have made any medical breakthrough or innovation that would benefit any patient, nor billions of NIH/HHS/CIRM iPSC grants/awards/contracts have generated any treatment or cure for any disease or condition, even any slight progress in the stem cell field.

We all know hESC are called pluripotent stem cells (PSC) because hESC have unlimited differentiation potential. Growing evidence indicates that iPSC do not even have unlimited differentiation potential, the definition of pluripotency, completely false to call such cells PSC. hESC have unlimited differentiation potential, genomic/epigenomic/cell-line homogeneity, highly-acetylated and unmethylated, across all hESC lines. iPSC have different differentiation potential, genomic heterogenicity, cell line variations, because the different tissues they used for reprogramming have different genomic imprints and are highly-methylated that cannot be reversed by genes, causing their cell line variations, genomic heterogenicity, different differentiation potential, and also, most importantly, genomic instability and oncogenic potential. Deliberately confusing or mixing concepts or definitions or terms, falsely calling something that is not for funding, are known as scientific misconducts.

George Daley testified in Congress that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and human embryonic stem cells (hECSC) are identical, which is a false and fraudulent statement. At least, iPSC contain oncogenes, but hESC do not. Such false or fraudulent statements have been used to get billions of PHS/HHS/NIH/CIRM iPSC grants/contacts, and there are in fact data fabrication and falsification in all PHS/CIRM funded iPSC research, and subsequent a massive amount data fabrication and falsification published coming out of those PHS/CIRM-funded iPSC research, mostly in ISSCR journals such as “Stem Cell Report” and “Cell Stem Cell”, some even in top scientific journals. If the basis is wrong (e.g., iPSC are not stem cells, but in fact cancer cells), the conclusions or results or any data coming out of PHS/CIRM funded iPSC research are definitely false or fabricated. For example, it is normal human development for hESC to differentiate into neurons or cardiomyocytes. If the false and fraudulent statement of George Daley (iPSC and hESC are identical) could stand, turning iPSC into neurons or cardiomyocytes would be nothing strange. However, nobody has been able to turn cancer cells into neurons or cardiomyocytes, or even make cancer cells to differentiate into something, so cancer cell growth would slow or stop. If anyone made cancer cells or iPSC to differentiate into neurons or cardiomyocytes, we would have found the cures for cancers. It would be a huge breakthrough. That person would really deserve a Nobel prize. Why would not we have heard such huge scientific breakthroughs in the news? In those iPSC professors’ papers or publications funded by PHS/NIH/HHS/CIRM, they have claimed they turned iPSC into DA neurons (e.g. Marius Wernig of Stanford University, Aspen Neuroscience, Ryne Bio) or cardiomyocytes (e.g., Joseph Wu of Stanford University, Greenstone Biosciences). If their claims could not be true, they must have falsified or fabricated a hell out of the data coming out of PHS/CIRM-funded iPSC research. For example, Ryne Bio could not turn iPSC into DA neurons for PD, so they even used the animal model study data of hESC to scam CA taxpayers’ money for iPSC Ponzi scheme, with the intention to continue to lie to FDA, with the complicit of CIRM GWG reviewers and ICOC, as demonstrated by that CIRM even released CLIN1-14300, titled “Allogeneic iPSC derived Dopaminergic [DA] Drug Product for Parkinson's disease [PD]”, to the public.

To maintain research integrity, it is common scientific practice to do side by side comparison of data from different cell lines, materials, or sources. hESC are derived from human embryos. iPSC are reprogrammed from different tissues with different oncogenes. Not only the materials and derivation sources of hESC and iPSC are totally different, the materials and derivation sources of different iPSC lines are totally different also. It is intentional, knowing, reckless research misconduct for data fabrication and falsification in almost all iPSC papers or publications coming out of PHS/CIRM-funded iPSC research, including those published in top scientific journals, not to do side by side comparison of data between a iPSC line and a hESC line, and between different iPSC lines. It is intentional, knowing, reckless research misconduct for data fabrication and falsification in almost all iPSC papers or publications coming out of PHS/CIRM-funded iPSC research, including those published in top scientific journals, not to indicate whether the data were actually from hESC or iPSC, or not to specify which “PSC” line.

As partially revealed by the public statement of Emilie Marcus in her recent bidding for CIRM chair, the UCLA associate Dean of strategy Marcus have plotted and coordinated runs and runs of CIRM iPSC awards exclusively to iPSC Ponzi scheme professors in CA that Marcus has built an extensive network of connections through her previous favors as the CEO of Cell Press and Editor-in-Chief of Cell, including $46 millions to CIRM COMPASS program, also known as shared iPSC labs, to train the next generation of adult stem cell Ponzi scammers in higher education, multiple multi-millions of awards to UCSD’s Alysson Muotri who is a close ally of Larry Goldstein (on ICOC) and a student of Fred Gage of Salk Institute, and multiple multi-millions of awards to the Company of Stanford University -- Joseph Wu’s Greenstone Biosciences.

Funding iPSC is in fact a world-class fraud and staggering waste of taxpayers’ money in billions, and has generated nothing to advance medicine and improve human health, but only mistrust and negative images for the public funding agencies --- HHS/NIH/CIRM --- that are neither transparent nor accountable; it is absolutely unethical to waste billions of taxpayers’ money on bogus stem cells or adult stem cell Ponzi schemes, such as iPSC. As they said: “Americans expect their tax money to be spent strategically, but at all times ethically.” CIRM have misappropriated over $ 250 millions of CA taxpayers’ money to iPSC Ponzi scheme or scam, not even including any funding for shared iPSC labs. We urge CA State, HHS, and Congress to investigate the fraud and waste of iPSC Ponzi scheme or scam, to establish oversight to ensure transparent and responsible funding for stem cell research, to ensure taxpayers’ money to be ethically used to deliver life-saving treatments and cures for patients, not to be unethically and unaccountably distributed to profit only those few who are in power.