However, Takebe's liver bud has the advantage of being grown from iPS cells, rather than, for example, the primary human hepatocytes used in Bhatia's graft, which could make it useful in modelling rare diseases or examining the specific genetic backgrounds of
the iPS cell donors.
Not exact matches
Regulatory changes, under which the Japanese government allowed the distribution of
iPS cells for clinical use, also prompted researchers to switch the study to a more efficient process of using
cells from third - party
donors instead of using a patient's own
cells.
Hsiao and colleagues carefully gathered skin samples from
donors, and then grew the skin
cells in culture before converting them into
iPS cells using the methods created by Yamanaka.
The far - reaching potential of
iPS research, combined with a higher likelihood that
cell lines will stay linked to a single
donor (and that
donor's health history), heightens the need for consensus, said Timothy Caulfield, research director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
Some ethicists suggest that tissue
donors deserve a share of the tremendous commercial potential of
iPS cell lines as disease models, drug - testing platforms or treatments.
And how will a disillusioned
cell donor withdraw when
iPS cell lines have been distributed all over the world?
Donors might share in some monetary rewards and be able to opt out of certain uses for
iPS cells, such as for creating gametes or mixed species, or have a say in the overall direction of research, Solbakk suggested.
The embryo used to derive an ES
cell is not genetically identical to the
donor of the
cell that is transformed into an
iPS cell, so researchers expect some discrepancies in gene activity.
The fact that the researchers made their
iPS cells from
cells that matured in the lab from ES
cells, instead of from the
cells of a patient or
donor, means that they still might carry traces of the ES
cells» gene activity patterns.
Then he compared them with neurons made from
iPS cells that originated from a healthy
donor.
And
iPS cells may have a particular advantage: Taking a person's own skin
cells, say, making them pluripotent, and then using those
cells to grow whatever kind of tissue is needed could eliminate the use of debilitating immunosuppressive drugs, which are required when transplanting
cells or tissue from a
donor.
Donor cells of
iPS cells of line 4.1 were from black mice (C57 BL / 6J).
Therefore, it is necessary to establish multiple independent
iPS cell lines from individual
donors to ensure efficient generation of various types of functional
cells for future application in the treatment of diseases.
The absence of
iPS - RPE
cells in the subretinal space at the time of functional assessment (13 weeks) indicates that the significant benefits observed could not be wholly attributed to the
donor cells.
The increased visual acuity and outer nuclear layer preservation observed in
iPS - RPE injected animals could also be due to a neuroprotective effect produced by the
donor cells.