Post by prossman on Mar 31, 2009 5:59:11 GMT -7
SCIENTISTS FIND SAFER WAY TO MAKE HUMAN STEM CELLS
March 30, 2009
Reuters reports: “U.S. researchers said on Thursday they have found a safer way to coax human skin cells into becoming powerful embryonic-like stem cells, taking a step closer to their potential use as treatments for diseases.
A team at the University of Wisconsin said they made the so-called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, from human cells without using viruses or exotic genes, which leave behind genetic material that might pose risks if the cells were used as medical therapies.
James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin, whose study appears in the journal Science, said the finding represents the first time researchers have made human induced pluripotent stem cells without inserting potentially problematic new genes into their DNA.
Many teams are working on better ways to get ordinary skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells, the body's master cells that give rise to all 220 cell types in the human body.
Scientists hope to harness the unique qualities of these cells to create new treatments for a variety of medical conditions.
Induced pluripotent stem cells promise many of the possible therapeutic benefits of embryonic stem cells without the ethics controversy because, unlike embryonic stem cells, they can be created without destroying a human embryo.
But earlier methods of making the iPS cells required the use of viruses as a vehicle, or ‘vector,’ to carry genes into the cells and trigger cell reprogramming.
Thomson said the new method uses a circle of DNA called a plasmid, which carries the genes needed to transform a skin cell into an iPS cell.
Over time, the plasmid disappears naturally from the cell population, avoiding the danger posed by using viruses, which can insert harmful genes into the cells' genetic material…”
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March 30, 2009
Reuters reports: “U.S. researchers said on Thursday they have found a safer way to coax human skin cells into becoming powerful embryonic-like stem cells, taking a step closer to their potential use as treatments for diseases.
A team at the University of Wisconsin said they made the so-called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, from human cells without using viruses or exotic genes, which leave behind genetic material that might pose risks if the cells were used as medical therapies.
James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin, whose study appears in the journal Science, said the finding represents the first time researchers have made human induced pluripotent stem cells without inserting potentially problematic new genes into their DNA.
Many teams are working on better ways to get ordinary skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells, the body's master cells that give rise to all 220 cell types in the human body.
Scientists hope to harness the unique qualities of these cells to create new treatments for a variety of medical conditions.
Induced pluripotent stem cells promise many of the possible therapeutic benefits of embryonic stem cells without the ethics controversy because, unlike embryonic stem cells, they can be created without destroying a human embryo.
But earlier methods of making the iPS cells required the use of viruses as a vehicle, or ‘vector,’ to carry genes into the cells and trigger cell reprogramming.
Thomson said the new method uses a circle of DNA called a plasmid, which carries the genes needed to transform a skin cell into an iPS cell.
Over time, the plasmid disappears naturally from the cell population, avoiding the danger posed by using viruses, which can insert harmful genes into the cells' genetic material…”
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