Making reprogrammed skin cells safer
IAN SAMPLE— GUARDIAN NEWSPAPERS LIMITED 2009
Scientists have found a way to make an almost limitless supply of stem cells that could safely be used in patients while avoiding the ethical dilemma of destroying embryos.
In a breakthrough that could have huge implications, British and Canadian scientists have found a way of reprogramming skin cells taken from adults, effectively winding the clock back on the cells until they were in an embryonic form.
The work has been hailed as a major step forward by scientists and welcomed by pro-life organisations. Stem cells have the potential to be turned into any tissue in the body. Because the cells can be made from a patient’s own skin there is no risk of rejection by the immune system.
Scientists showed they could make stem cells from adult cells more than a year ago, but the cells could never be used in patients because the procedure involved injecting viruses that could cause cancer.
Safer technique
Now, scientists at the universities of Edinburgh and Toronto have found another method, making so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell therapies a realistic prospect for the first time.
In two papers published in the journal Nature, Keisuke Kaji in Edinburgh and Andras Nagy in Toronto describe how they reprogrammed cells using a safer technique called electroporation.
This allowed the scientists to do away with viruses and ferry genes into the cells through pores.
Once the genes had done their job, the scientists removed them, leaving the cells healthy and intact. Tests on stem cells made from human and mouse cells showed they behaved in the same as embryonic stem cells.
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