100-fold
increase in efficiency in reprogramming human cells to induced stem cells
Monday, 10 October 2011
Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have today announced
a new technique to reprogram human cells, such as skin cells, into stem cells.
Their process increases the efficiency of cell reprogramming by one
hundred-fold and generates cells of a higher quality at a faster rate.
Until now cells have been reprogrammed
using four specific regulatory proteins. By adding two further regulatory
factors, Liu and co-workers brought about a dramatic improvement in the
efficiency of reprogramming and the robustness of stem cell development. The
new streamlined process produces cells that can grow more easily.
"This
research is a milestone in human stem cells,"
explains Wei Wang, first author on the research from the Wellcome Trust Sanger
Institute.
"Our
technique provides a foundation to unlock the full potential of stem
cells."
Stem cells are unspecialized cells that
are able to renew themselves through cell division and can be induced to become
functional tissue- or organ-specific cells. It is hoped that stem cells will be
used to replace dying or damaged cells with healthy, functional cells. This
could have wide-ranging uses in medicine such as organ replacement, bone
replacement and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
With more than 20 years of research,
gold standard stem cells are derived from mice, largely because they are easy
to work with and provide accurate and reproducible results. The team's aim was
to develop human cells of equivalent quality to mouse stem cells.
"The
reprogrammed cells developed by our team have proved to have the same
capabilities as mouse stem cells," states
Pentao Liu, senior author from the Sanger Institute.
"Our
approach will enable researchers to easily engineer and reprogram human stem
cells to generate cell types for cell replacement therapies in humans."
Retinoic acid
receptor gamma (RAR-γ) and liver receptor
homolog (Lrh-1), the additional regulatory factors used by Liu and
co-workers, were introduced into the skin cells along with the four other
regulatory proteins. The team's technology produced reprogrammed cells after
just four days, compared to the seven days required for the four-protein
approach. Key indicators of successfully reprogrammed cells, Oct4 and Rex-1
genes, were seen to be switched on much faster in a much higher number of
cells, demonstrating increased efficiency in reprogramming.
"This
is the most promising and exciting development in our attempt to develop human
stem cells that lend themselves in practical applications. It bears comparison
to other technologies as it is simple, robust and reliable," says Allan Bradley, Senior Group Leader and Director of Emeritus at
Sanger Institute.
Source:
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Contact:
Don Powell, Media Manager.........
For more on stem cells and cloning, go to CellNEWS at
http://cellnews-blog.blogspot.com/
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