And theres even better news: By using the patients own stem cells, the surgical team avoids the ethical debate over
using embryonic tissue for research purposes.
Not exact matches
Scientists looking for new methods to make human
tissue have successfully
used cloning technology to create
embryonic stem cells from skin cells.
In a study in the journal Science, researchers explain how they
used mouse
embryonic stem cells and microchip technology to create heart muscle
tissue that actually beats.
On Thursday, the United Nations» member states will consider two resolutions: One resolution would ban all human cloning methods, including efforts to
use cloned
embryonic stem cells to try and generate healthy
tissues, or to treat degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's.
ERRORS have occurred in a type of stem cell that could be
used instead of
embryonic stem cells — and in
tissues made from them.
The immediate payoff was a commercialization deal in age - related macular degeneration in which Pfizer became the first big pharma company to make a move into the
use of
embryonic stem cells as the basis for a
tissue regeneration therapy.
In addition to providing an alternative to
embryonic stem cells for potential
use in regenerating diseased
tissues, iPS cells are being
used to learn more about diseases, especially diseases driven by mutated genes.
THE world's first cloned human
embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are here, but they can't yet be
used to grow
tissues for transplant because they have an extra set of chromosomes.
The new approach builds on information gleaned from developmental studies of
embryonic stem cells (see story # 16) and one day may be
used to create healthy replacements for harmed or diseased
tissue.
In vitro experiments
used human colon carcinoma cells with and without MMP9 and mouse
embryonic fibroblasts, which are connective
tissue cells that make the extracellular matrix and collagen and play an important role in
tissue repair.
Both teams successfully
used these to reprogramme skin cells in a lab dish into cells resembling
embryonic stem cells, which have the ability to turn into any
tissue of the human body.
The research
used skin samples from five men to create what are known as induced pluripotent stem cells, which closely resemble
embryonic stem cells in their ability to become nearly any
tissue in the body.
The potential of iPS cells to help treat everything from damaged heart
tissue to Parkinson's disease, has prompted intensive research that has looked into the
use of skin fibroblast cells as an alternative to controversial
embryonic stem cells.
One way is to identify transcription factors, and one way to identify transcription factors in microRNAs that can be
used for reprogramming, is to screen for them through microarrays or RNA sequencing within the
embryonic brain
tissue.
In this edition, we're going to take a look at a very interesting tool that can be
used for creating (excuse the pun) specific, targeted DNA modifications in transgenic animals,
embryonic stem cells, and / or
tissue - specific cell types: Cre - lox recombination.
Oriented cell division is
used throughout
embryonic development and adult homeostasis to shape and pattern
tissues.
Critical issues include: (i) heterogeneity in stem cell populations (ii) regulation of cell fate choices; (iii) declining
tissue performance with age and exposure to environmental injuries; (iv) the
use of iPS and
Embryonic Stem (ES) cells, and reprogramming methods for phenotyping disease states and potential
use of these stem cells in the clinic.
Biochemist Thomas Baldwin, president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, in a letter to the House and Senate appropriations committees, wrote that «research
using fetal
tissue and
embryonic stem cells advances scientific knowledge, improves human health, and saves lives.»
Regenerative medicine aims to
use adult or
embryonic stem cells to replace or regenerate human cells,
tissue, or organs and restore normal function.
By combining the
use of magnetic tweezers with in vivo laser ablation, we locally control physiologically relevant deformations in wild - type Drosophila
embryonic tissues.
Some researchers are
using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells —
tissue - specific cells (usually skin cells, but sometimes other
tissue cells) that are reprogrammed in the lab to behave like
embryonic stem cells — to grow rods and cones or RPE cells.
Teratomas containing derivatives from all three
embryonic germ layers confirmed that the hiPSCs (but not the original NPCs
used) were pluripotent and able to differentiate to complex
tissues in two different experimental settings (Fig. 2J and Figure S3).
The safety and efficacy of
using embryonic and other stem cells for
tissue regeneration will depend on harnessing and precisely controlling their proliferative capacity.
The researchers suggest that a single expandable
embryonic lung progenitor population with broader developmental competence may eventually be
used as an alternative for region - restricted adult
tissue stem cells in regenerative medicine.