Stem Cells Without Genetic Mutation Risks
Posted on: Thursday, 28 May 2009, 15:50 CDT
Researchers at Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine International have discovered a versatile new method for safely transforming skin cells into stem cells.
The new technique is so promising that scientists hope to gain approval to begin clinical trials by the middle of next year.
"This is the first safe method of generating patient specific stem cells,” said study author Robert Lanza, the chief scientific officer at Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine International, in an interview with AFP.
"This technology will soon allow us to expand the range of possible stem cell therapies for the entire human body," he said.
"This allows us to generate the raw material to solve the problem of rejection (by the immune system) so this is really going to accelerate the field of regenerative medicine."
The research builds upon the pioneering work in 2007 of Kyoto University’s Shinya Yamanaka, who successfully introduced four genes in to skin cells and reprogrammed them to become indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells.
That accomplishment gave scientists hope for a virtually limitless source of transplant material that would be free from controversy, since it would not involve embryonic stem cells.
However, the shortfall of the technique for creating these induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) is that the genes are delivered via a "Trojan horse" virus. Anytime cells are reprogrammed with a virus the DNA is modified in such a way that they cannot be given to patients without increasing the risk of genetic mutation and cancer.
Other researchers have delivered genes using a method known as DNA transfection, or by using a chemical wash, but these methods also carry health risks.
But Lanza's team delivered the genes by fusing them with a cell-penetrating peptide that does not increase the risks of genetic mutation.
While the method took twice as much time to generate pluripotent stem cells, Lanza believes researchers can increase the transmission efficiency by purifying the protein.
The study was published in the online edition of Cell Stem Cell.
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Image Caption: A colony of embryonic stem cells, from the H9 cell line (NIH code: WA09). Viewed at 10X with Carl Zeiss Axiovert scope. Courtesy Wikipedia
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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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