Stem cell innovators find a way to cut out cancer

Stem cell innovators find a way to cut out cancer
A genetic modifications in skin cells to induce the cells into what scientists call a pluripotent state - a condition that is essentially the same as that of embryonic stem cells, is shown in this image. Researchers who figured out how to make valued embryonic stem cells out of ordinary skin cells said on Friday they had found a way to cut one cancer-causing ingredient out of the mix. (Junying Yu/University of Wisconsin-Madison/Handout/Reuters)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers who figured out how tomake valued embryonic stem cells out of ordinary skin cellssaid on Friday they had found a way to cut one cancer-causingingredient out of the mix.
But it came at a price -- the method may be safer, but itis also less efficient.
Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan said thefindings, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology,demonstrate that the stem cell breakthrough may have beenexciting, but is nowhere near ready to be used in humans.
Earlier this month, teams led by Yamanaka and James Thomsonof the University of Wisconsin in Madison each reportedseparately that they had used four genes to transform ordinaryskin cells called fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stemcells -- iPS cells for short.
Their reports showed a way to get perfectly matched cellsfrom patients that have at least some of the powers ofembryonic stem cells, but without having to use cloningtechnology or embryos.
The hope is to find a way for new medical treatments thatcan make use of the body's own regenerative powers.
Yamanaka's team, working with a team at the GladstoneInstitute of Cardiovascular Disease in San Francisco, useddifferent genes than Thomson's team did.
One of the four genes in Yamanaka's restorative cocktail iscalled c-Myc1. They grew live mice from their new cells, butlater found that the mice were prone to develop tumors.
So they left out c-Myc1. It worked, although not nearly aswell. The new method was about half as efficient, theyreported.
"Mice derived from Myc-negative iPS cells did not developtumors during the study period," they wrote. "Future study isrequired to determine whether these mice develop tumors laterin life," they added.
"Furthermore, we generated human iPS cells from adultdermal fibroblasts without MYC."
Both teams of researchers say they are still trying tofine-tune the precise genetic cocktail needed to turn back theclock on skin cells and make them act as if they came from adays-old human embryo -- one with just eight or so cells, eachone of which has the power to give rise to all the tissues andcells found in the human body.
Yamanaka's team said it is possible that the other threegenes they used -- called Oct3/4, Sox2 and Klf4 -- may somehowactivate Myc that naturally is found in the DNA of the skincells.
Politicians have welcomed the reports of reprogrammingnormal cells and said it shows there is no need to continuework on controversial stem cells taken from human embryos.
But most scientists in the field say it is important tocontinue to work with all kinds of stem cells, as scientistsstill do not understand quite how they work -- or how to usethem in treating people.
(Editing by Will Dunham and Eric Walsh)