The prospect of creating limitless stem-cells for treating conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, paralysis and diabetes, without destroying human embryos, has moved a step closer.
Researchers in Britain and Canada have developed a new and safer way of turning the clock back on adult skin cells so that they acquire the versatile properties of embryonic stem cells, which does not rely on viruses that could trigger cancer.
The move would also resolve some of the ethical and practical problems that have held up embryonic stem-cell research.There is also a shortage of the human eggs and embryos needed to produce powerful stem cells, and unless difficult cloning techniques are used, there may be a risk of rejection by the body’s immune system.
Reprogrammed skin cells promise an almost limitless source of stem cells, and as they are the patient’s own rejection would not be an issue. A method of reprogramming human skin cells into a versatile embryo-like state was first developed in 2007 by Japanese and American teams.This procedure, however, is unsuitable for therapeutic use, because it involves modifying four key genes with viruses, and this risks inducing genetic abnormalities that could cause cancer.
Teams of the University of Edinburgh, and of the University of Toronto, have now collaborated to develop a new approach to creating IPS cells that does not involve viruses.
This would be a great advance in terms of sience and ethics regarding the historical controversial betweeen scientists and pro-life organizations that have been against the use of human embryios to experiment their projects.
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