What Are Induced Pluripotential Stem Cells?
The use of stem cells (SCs)and growth factors to induce healing has captured the curiosity of both scientists as well lay people.
The three major types of SCs that have been used in both laboratory well as clinical settings are embryonic SCs, allogeneic SCs, and autologous SCs.
Embryonic SCs are derived from the blastocyst phase of human embryos and have pluripotential properties.
This means they can differentiate into any type of tissue.
They remain the "gold standard" as far as ability to differentiate into any kind of cell.
Allogeneic SCs come from healthy donors and have multipotential properties meaning their ability to differentiate is somewhat limited.
The same holds true for autologous SCs, SCs that come from the patient.
In arthritis, all cell types have been studied and their use remains investigational.
Anecdotal reports and small studies offer preliminary evidence that autologous SCs are effective for treating osteoarthritis.
In 2006, Japanese researchers used different retroviruses to insert genes into mouse cells.
They were able to take these adult mouse cells and cause them to revert back to a pluripotential quasi-embryonic state.
The identical technique was then applied to human skin cells.
These "adult turned baby cells" are known as induced pluripotential stem cells (IPSCs).
This makes it technically possible to take any adult cell and make it function almost like an embryonic stem cell.
Among the different human cell types that these IPSCs have been turned into are heart, nerve, pancreas, and eye.
While the general use of these IPSCs is probably not feasible yet because of cost and technical issues, they certainly present an attractive alternative to embryonic stem cells.
IPSCs could be used in pharmaceutical research to test for toxicities.
This alternative could present a huge savings in the drug development process.
Another use of IPSCs is in the study of different diseases.
It is possible to use this technique to create cells that have a certain disease.
This property goes hand in hand with drug development because it is now possible to test treatments on these newly created disease-specific cells.
So what are the downsides of IPSCs? As one might expect, the primary concern is malignancy.
How do these cells get shut off once they start to multiply? In addition, some of the retroviruses used to induce the pluripotent SC state can cause cancer.
Regrettably, IPSCs are also not quite as pristine as embryonic SCs when it comes to developing potential genetic abnormalities as well.
Nonetheless, IPSCs hold much promise for the future.
For more a more detailed explanation of stem cell research, readers are referred to an excellent review article (Power C, Rasko JEJ.
Promises and Challenges of Stem Cell Research for Regenerative Medicine.
Ann Intern Med.
2011; 155: 706-713).
The three major types of SCs that have been used in both laboratory well as clinical settings are embryonic SCs, allogeneic SCs, and autologous SCs.
Embryonic SCs are derived from the blastocyst phase of human embryos and have pluripotential properties.
This means they can differentiate into any type of tissue.
They remain the "gold standard" as far as ability to differentiate into any kind of cell.
Allogeneic SCs come from healthy donors and have multipotential properties meaning their ability to differentiate is somewhat limited.
The same holds true for autologous SCs, SCs that come from the patient.
In arthritis, all cell types have been studied and their use remains investigational.
Anecdotal reports and small studies offer preliminary evidence that autologous SCs are effective for treating osteoarthritis.
In 2006, Japanese researchers used different retroviruses to insert genes into mouse cells.
They were able to take these adult mouse cells and cause them to revert back to a pluripotential quasi-embryonic state.
The identical technique was then applied to human skin cells.
These "adult turned baby cells" are known as induced pluripotential stem cells (IPSCs).
This makes it technically possible to take any adult cell and make it function almost like an embryonic stem cell.
Among the different human cell types that these IPSCs have been turned into are heart, nerve, pancreas, and eye.
While the general use of these IPSCs is probably not feasible yet because of cost and technical issues, they certainly present an attractive alternative to embryonic stem cells.
IPSCs could be used in pharmaceutical research to test for toxicities.
This alternative could present a huge savings in the drug development process.
Another use of IPSCs is in the study of different diseases.
It is possible to use this technique to create cells that have a certain disease.
This property goes hand in hand with drug development because it is now possible to test treatments on these newly created disease-specific cells.
So what are the downsides of IPSCs? As one might expect, the primary concern is malignancy.
How do these cells get shut off once they start to multiply? In addition, some of the retroviruses used to induce the pluripotent SC state can cause cancer.
Regrettably, IPSCs are also not quite as pristine as embryonic SCs when it comes to developing potential genetic abnormalities as well.
Nonetheless, IPSCs hold much promise for the future.
For more a more detailed explanation of stem cell research, readers are referred to an excellent review article (Power C, Rasko JEJ.
Promises and Challenges of Stem Cell Research for Regenerative Medicine.
Ann Intern Med.
2011; 155: 706-713).
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