Transcript Student Society for Stem Cell Research

Student Society for
Stem Cell Research
February 27, 2008
Virginia Commonwealth University
Reprogramming Skin Cells
• Human skin cells have been reprogrammed
to act like embryonic stem cells (induced
pluripotent stem cells, or iPS).
• Kazutoshi Takahashi and Shinya Yamanaka
(Kyoto University, Japan) published in Cell.
• Junying Yu and colleagures (University of
Wisconsin-Madison) published in Science.
Reprogramming Skin Cells
• What: pluripotent stem cells generated from
mature human fibroblasts
• How: Uses viruses to insert several copies of three
or more pluripotency genes into cells.
• Result: An adult cell behaving like an embryonic
stem cell.
“The induced cells do all the things embryonic stem cells
do - its going to completely change the field.”
Professor James Thomson, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Kyoto Team
• The cells were similar to embryonic stem
cells!
• Brain and Heart tissue
• Heart muscle tissue started beating.
Benefits of Reprogramming
• Reduces the risk of tissue rejection.
• No embryo is needed.
• No more controversy!
Problems with Reprogramming
• Viral contamination
• Cancer
• Not Efficient / Questionable Validity
Possible Answers
• Yamanaka, S., et all. (2008). Generation of
Pluripotent Stem Cells from Adult Mouse Liver
and Stomach Cells. Science.
• Genetic Marking System
• Cancer?
• Less viral contamination
• No Transgenes: “This is encouraging to those of
us who are seeking a nonviral means of generating
iPS cells,” said George Daley of Children’s
Hospital Boston
Future of Stem Cell Research
• New treatments for diseases
• Perfecting the Technique
• Still needs to be embryonic stem cell
research!
Sources / Resources
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7101834.s
tm
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18276
851?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.P
Entrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pub
med_RVDocSum
• http://blogs.nature.com/reports/theniche/200
8/02/adult_cell_types_besides_skin.html