supersniper

A very simple recipe, using just four genes was found to transform adult human skin cells into cells that are very similar to embryonic stem cells.
These results were reported in immediate early publication in the journal Cell.

The transformed cells have most of the physical, growth and genetic features of ES cells (embryonic stem cells) and are pluripotent (meaning they can differentiate like stem cells to produce many other cell types, including nerve cells and heart cells according to the researchers).

A comprehensive screen of the activity of more than 30,000 genes showed that these so-called ‘induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells’ are similar, not identical, to embryonic stem cells.


The transforming cocktail which was used in this new study is identical to one the team showed could produce iPS cells from adult mouse cells in another Cell report last year.


That came as a surprise, said Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan, because human embryonic stem cells differ from those in mice. Those differences had led them to suspect ‘that some other factors might be required to generate human iPS cells,’ he said.

These results are very interesting and could result to changes in the way stem cell therapies are viewed by the general public.

Although the transformation of stem cells from simple human cells (i.e skin cells) is not new, the ease of transformation of this method is.

What do you guys think on these new developments?