Stem cells from Skin?

The use of embryonic stem cells has been a very active area of research in the medical community. The use of stem cells has immense potential because they can develop new tissues to replace cancerous or other defected tissues since humans cannot regenerate most tissues. Also, it provides an opportunity to research the effects of new drugs on tissues without putting human lives at risk. The history of stem cell research has made many exciting progressions in the past two years.

In the summer of 2005, a team of Harvard researchers used lab-grown embryonic to turn skin cells into stem cells. It was a difficult procedure because the DNA from the original cell must be removed from the newly created stem cell so that only the DNA from the skin cell remains. This enables tissues to be grown from the cells of an individual so that transplants can be made will little risk of rejection. This was an improvement on the original process called therapeutic cloning where an embryo is created from a regular cell and is destroyed later so the stem cells can be harvested.

In 2006, three research teams independently created stem cells from the skin cells of mice. And developments have been made since then to replicate the procedure with human cells. This feat was accomplished in November 2007 by Japanese and American research teams. The two teams used almost the same procedure: they introduced four retroviruses into the skin cells to “reprogram” them by turning certain genes on or off. Some are concerned about the effects that these retroviruses will have on the new tissues because at least one of them is known to cause cancer. But the scientists in the two research teams are hopeful and realize that it will be a long time before the procedure is used in human therapies. The new stem cells are very similar to embryonic stem cells and the researchers are confident that they will be able to create any of the 220 types of cells from the new skin stem cells because they exhibit the same “pluripotent” state that embryonic stem cells have.

This newest development cuts out any need for the use of embryos in the development of stem cells, which eliminates the ethical and moral controversies that surrounded their use. President Bush had allowed federal funding for embryonic stem cell research as long as the embryo is not destroyed in the process. His publicists say he is very excited about the new developments because they circumvent the controversy. Religious officials are also pleased with this new development, as are scientists, in one of the few occurrences when cutting-edge science does not defy current societal morals.

Posted by: Nicole Eckart