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Andre Penner/AP
Stem Cell Researchers Make Healthy Cells from Sick Patients’ Skin
August 01, 2008 04:23 PM
Researchers at Harvard and Colombia Universities have found a way to create healthy embryonic-like stem cells from the skin cells of individuals with ALS.
30-Second Summary
A breakthrough in stem cell research shows that cells taken from sick patients can be turned into functioning embryonic-like stem cells. Previously, stem cells were only created from the cells of healthy individuals.
Doctors at Colombia and Harvard Universities created personalized stem cells using skin from two patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease. The doctors created new stem cells, “and then reprogrammed them to morph into replacement motor neurons,” ABC News reports.
“This opens the door to being able to make patient-specific stem cell lines from diseases which affect people very late in life, like Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease,” said Kevin Eggan, the study's lead author.
In addition, says Lucie Bruijn, science director of the ALS Assn. in Calabasas Hills, “This is an extremely important resource. It gives you a tool to start screening drugs.” However, the method for creating these stem cells employs the same genes that cause cancer, which means that it could not be used directly as therapy.
ABC News explains that the ideal way to create stem cells would be to inject defect-free DNA “into human egg cells … letting them become stem cells before reprogramming them into specific cell types, a technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).”
But, notes Eggan, “The inability to have success with SCNT is wrapped up in logistical and political quagmires.”
Despite great advances in stem cell research, such as turning skin cells into heart cells, the practice remains highly controversial: on June 20, 2007 President Bush vetoed legislation to ease restraints on stem cell research. He first vetoed the bill on July 19, 2006.
Doctors at Colombia and Harvard Universities created personalized stem cells using skin from two patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease. The doctors created new stem cells, “and then reprogrammed them to morph into replacement motor neurons,” ABC News reports.
“This opens the door to being able to make patient-specific stem cell lines from diseases which affect people very late in life, like Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease,” said Kevin Eggan, the study's lead author.
In addition, says Lucie Bruijn, science director of the ALS Assn. in Calabasas Hills, “This is an extremely important resource. It gives you a tool to start screening drugs.” However, the method for creating these stem cells employs the same genes that cause cancer, which means that it could not be used directly as therapy.
ABC News explains that the ideal way to create stem cells would be to inject defect-free DNA “into human egg cells … letting them become stem cells before reprogramming them into specific cell types, a technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).”
But, notes Eggan, “The inability to have success with SCNT is wrapped up in logistical and political quagmires.”
Despite great advances in stem cell research, such as turning skin cells into heart cells, the practice remains highly controversial: on June 20, 2007 President Bush vetoed legislation to ease restraints on stem cell research. He first vetoed the bill on July 19, 2006.
Headline Links: Latest stem cell breakthrough
According to ABC News, “Eggan and his colleague, Dr. Christopher Henderson … stressed that their study shows ‘proof of principle’ for how embryonic-like stem cells can be created from adult cells using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, a technique introduced widely last year.” Dr. Curt Freed of the University of Colorado School of Medicine says, “The hope for iPS cell technology is that you could create cells from your own body to treat your own defects. They are immunologically matched to yours.” However, the method used in this study may not have immediate therapeutic applications, as the genes employed to transform the cells are the same that cause cancer.
Source: ABC News
The team followed a cellular reprogramming pattern created in Japan that became popular in stem cell labs last year. “The scientists isolated fibroblast cells from the sisters' skin biopsies and infected them with viruses, prompting the cells to express four dormant genes—Klf4, Sox2, Oct4 and c-Myc—that are active during early embryonic development,” explains the Los Angeles Times. When tested on three stable lines of a patient with advanced ALS, “The cells expressed the same markers as embryonic stem cells and were able to grow into all the body’s main tissue types.”
Source: The Los Angeles Times
Historical context: Stem cell research and policy
NPR provides a timeline of stem cell research, starting when embryonic stem cells were first isolated in mice. NPR covers both the medical, ethical and political issues that have evolved since the discovery of stem cells.
Source: NPR
Reference Links: All about stem cells
Stem cells have the potential to develop into many different types of cells in the body. The two primary types of stem cells are embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. MedlinePlus explains the basics of stem cell research, and provides news, reference and organization links.
Source: MedlinePlus
Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), or therapeutic cloning, “is the transplanting of a patient’s DNA into an unfertilized egg in order to grow stem cells that could cure devastating diseases,” explains the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. “The promise of SCNT is that the patient's body would accept these cells after transplantation.”
Source: Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation
Related topic: Stem cell research debated
The American Association for the Advancement of Science provides an overview of stem cell research as well as discussions on its ethical implications. The report includes guidelines set up by the National Institute of Health and background information on President Bush’s decisions regarding stem cell legislation.
Source: The American Association for the Advancement of Science
Researchers are also studying the use of cord blood stem cells to treat such diseases as certain types of blood cancers, leukemia, sickle-cell anemia, and type-1 diabetes. Therapies derived from cord blood stem cells have been used successfully in several patients in recent months.
Source: findingDulcinea
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