The team of researchers reports that it has created induced human pluripotent stem (iPS) cells completely free of viral vectors and exotic genes. By reprogramming skin cells to an embryonic state using a plasmid rather than a virus to ferry reprogramming genes into adult cells, the Wisconsin group's work removes a key safety concern about the potential use of iPS cells in therapeutic settings.The new method, which is reported in March 26 in the journal Science, also removes the exotic reprogramming genes from the iPS equation, as the plasmid and the genes it carries do not integrate into an induced cell's genome and can be screened out of subsequent generations of cells. Thus, cells made using the new method are completely free of any genetic artifacts that could compromise therapeutic safety or skew research results, according to the Science report.
The new work was conducted in the laboratory of James Thomson, the UW-Madison scientist who was the first to successfully culture human embryonic stem cells in 1998 and, in 2007, co-discovered a way to make human-induced pluripotent stem cells. Thomson, a professor in the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, is also the director of regenerative biology for the Morgridge Institute for Research, the private, nonprofit side of the new Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery at UW-Madison. "We believe this is the first time human-induced pluripotent stem cells have been created that are completely free of vector and transgene sequences," says Thomson. The new study was led by geneticist Junying Yu, the Wisconsin researcher who, with Thomson, co-discovered a method for reprogramming adult skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells, the master cells that arise at the earliest stages of development and that ultimately develop into all 220 cell types in the human body.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090326141547.htm
1 comment:
3 Well Presented aspects
1)It is always good news to hear that scientists are making advancements in medicine, and knowing that stem cell research is becoming increasingly important this article has some relevance to it, because when using something to cure cancer (one of the largest causes of death in America) it’s important not to give the patient another type of cancer.
2)The article was very well written with very intellectual language.
3)This is quite a controversial topic, making it interesting to read. It’s not too often that controversy emerges in the field of biology.
2 Things that could have been done better
1)There were many terms that I was not familiar with that were not well explained which I felt detracted from the article.
2)It seemed much of the article was simply copied pieces from the piece itself, I would have enjoyed more analysis from Noble.
1 Thing I took from the article
1)I was never aware that stem cells could produce cancer in the first place, so knowing that scientists have developed a way for this to be prevented is good news.
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