Every cell, off the peg

• Autores: Helen Thomson
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2967, 2014, págs. 6-7
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The dream of generating a bank of stem cells to treat injury and illness is a step closer. Embryonic stem cells have been custom-made from adult cells without manipulating the cells genes, a process that might trigger cancer. Using a similar cloning technique to the one that created Dolly the sheep, two teams have independently shown that it is possible to turn an adult cell into an embryonic stem cell, which can then became any cell in the body. One team used the technique, called somatic cell nuclear transfer, to transform skin cells from a 35 and a 75-year-old man into stem cells. The other team went a step further, turning skin cells from a woman with diabetes into insulin-producing beta cells that could replace those destroyed by the disease. The approach has the potential to replace many other types of tissue including heart cells, neurons and cartilage. This could spur on treatments for Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and liver disease, and repair damaged bones. Here, Thomson discusses how cell replacement therapies could dramatically change treatments and cure debilitating diseases and injuries.