Stem Cells from Skin Cells

[AOTANI, Masayasu]

Scientists Get Skin Cells to Act Like Stem Cells, but Much Work Remains

Also: Some researchers fear a new study could lead people to believe that weighing too much is not as big a health problem as many had thought. And we answer a question about the AIDS virus. Transcript of radio broadcast:

03 December 2007

 

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.  I'm Steve Ember.

 

And I'm Pat Bodnar.  This week, we will tell about efforts to make what appear to be embryonic stem cells without using embryos.  We will tell how body fat may help to protect against some diseases.  We also answer a question about the disease AIDS and report on its spread. 

 

American and Japanese scientists have reported a major discovery in the creation of human stem cells.  The scientists say they have found a way to make human skin cells act like embryonic stem cells.  Two groups of scientists performed similar experiments in different parts of the world.  They reported their findings in the scientific publications Cell and Science.

 

Both teams did generally the same thing.  They injected skin cells with four kinds of retroviruses.  Each retrovirus carried a different gene that helps control embryo development.  The scientists say the four genes "reprogrammed" the skin cells.  The genes turned other genes on or off and caused the skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells. 

 

Scientists can make stem cells grow into any kind of cell of the body, such as nerve or heart cells.  Scientists believe stem cells could be used in future treatments for many diseases. 

 

Until now, scientists were able to get human stem cells by taking them from a human embryo several days after fertilization.  The embryo was destroyed in the process.  The need to destroy human embryos has made stem cell research one of the most divisive political issues in the United States. 

 

James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin helped write the report published in Science.  He said he believes more scientists will attempt to reprogram cells to get stem cells instead of taking them from embryos. 

 

The scientific publication Cell reported the results of researchers at Kyoto University in Japan.  They said they were able to make the newly created stem cells produce many kinds of tissue cells.  One of the researchers was Shinya Kamanaka.  In June, his team identified four genes in the skin cells of mice that could turn other genes on or off to make skin cells act like embryonic stem cells. 

 

The researchers say they still must confirm that the reprogrammed human skin cells really are the same as stem cells from human embryos.  They say they have much to learn about the reprogrammed stem cells before they could possibly be tested in people.  One concern is that the cells might lead to cancer because the retroviruses used to reprogram the skin cells can cause changes in their genes.  In fact, one gene used by the Japanese researchers can cause cancer.

(4’22”)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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