[Mumeseest]

Fierce Biotech Research
August 23, 2012 | By Mark Hollmer

There may be a better, more efficient way to trigger adult blood cells into becoming research- and patient-worthy stem cells. Discovered by a team including lead researcher Elias Zambidis at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the technique also avoids the use of viruses, which can create some health risks.

Details of the ongoing effort are published in the journal PLoS One.

It goes without saying these days that embryonic stem cells remain politically controversial, but the cells are particularly useful because of their versatility. It has been a struggle to find a reliable alternative source of stem cells for research. Converting adult blood cells back into stem cells is a possible solution, as the resulting induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) are in an embryonic-like stem cell state. But scientists haven't yet found an efficient way to make them. Only a few iPS cells, they note, can come out of hundreds of blood cells with current methods. And iPS cells developed from skin and hair cells have been mixed in quality.

The new approach appears to be efficient--productive, even. Researchers also stayed away from viruses, which in the past have been used to deliver genes that help stimulate the blood-cell-to-stem-cell transformative process, but the method can lead to gene mutation and cancer in the new cells.

For the latest research, the Johns Hopkins team started with cord blood cells and treated them with growth factors. Next, they jolted them with electricity, to create a pathway for gene-carrying plasmids so they could trigger the transformation back to stem cells once inside. Researchers were able to transform as much as 60% of the blood cells into iPS cells. They also were of higher quality than stem cells derived from hair and skin cells. Crucially, the method only took a week or two, and it also worked on adult bone marrow and circulating blood, the researchers note.

This method is a long way from human use, but it speaks to the possibility of having a way to produce iPS cells of high quality and in robust numbers, which would be music to the ears of both researchers and clinicians seeking to produce viable stem cell therapies more quickly. Up next, Zambidis and his research team will continue to test the quality of iPS cells made using their method.


Read more: A better way to create a steady stem cell supply? - FierceBiotech Research http://www.fiercebiotechresearch.com...#ixzz24UO9NBuw