A new kind of stem cell has been discovered by scientists at Michigan State University (MSU), who said they have found “gold in the garbage”.
It may contribute to the field of regenerative medicine and the study of birth defects and reproductive problems. Previously, scientists had considered that this kind of cells was defective.
In prior studies, scientists had considered this kind of stem cells as cancer-like, said Tony Parenty, MSU biochemist, cell and molecular biologist and co-author of the study. Instead of ignoring them, the team wanted to focus their research on innovative ways to make and use pluripotent stem cells.
Stem cells have the potential to develop into many different cell types during a person’s life. Moreover, they can serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing itself to create two specialized cells, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell or a brain cell, wrote the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
On the other hand, pluripotent stem cells are cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell-like state. Reprogramming cells into pluripotent stem cells allow them to become pliable building blocks that that can turn into any cell in the body, said researchers in an MSU press release published Thursday.
For instance, if someone has a faulty liver, scientists could take healthy cells from the patient, and reprogram them to regenerate the same failing organ. With the advantage that taking cells from the same patient may decrease chances of rejecting the new treatment.
“Nature makes stem cells perfectly, but we are still trying to improve our stem cell production. We took what we learned by studying the embryo and applied it to reprogramming, and this opened up a new way to optimize reprogramming,” Mr. Parenti said in a press release.
Scientists find a method to derive naive pluripotent stem cells from human embryos
For the first time in history, a team of scientists at the University of Cambridge has demonstrated that it is possible to derive “naïve stem cells” from humans embryos. These findings can contribute to regenerative medicine and researchers into disorders such as Down’s syndrome, and modelling human disorders wrote researchers in a press release published Friday.
Naïve pluripotent stem cells can be developed into any type of adult tissue, as a result, they have great therapeutic uses in regenerative medicine to treat conditions that affect organs and tissues, specifically the heart, brain and pancreas, wrote Cambridge scientists.
One of the most thrilling applications of this technique would be to study disorders that arise from cells that contain an abnormal number of chromosomes such as Down’s syndrome, said Dr Jenny Nichols, senior author of the study.
“Even in many ‘normal’ early-stage embryos, we find several cells with an abnormal number of chromosomes. Because we can separate the cells and culture them individually, we could potentially generate ‘healthy’ and ‘affected’ cell lines,” said Dr. Nichols.
The U.K. became the first country to approve gene editing research in human embryos
On Monday, the U.K. became the first country to legally approve gene editing research in human embryos. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said it wants to impulse researchers that aim to investigate the role that different genes play in early pregnancy since just about 13 percent of fertilized embryos survive the first three months of pregnancy, said Chris Gyngell from the University of Oxford.
Source: Michigan State University