UW-Madison researchers announced Tues. Nov. 20, the discovery of a new technique that reprograms skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells - cells scientists believe could be used to replace body tissues damaged by disease and trauma.
The announcement from the lab of UW biologist James Thomson - the first lab to successfully remove and maintain human ESCs outside of embryos in 1998 - came at the same time researchers from Kyoto University in Japan reported they, too, had found a method for coaching skin cells to perform like ESC cells.
It's been about 10 years since we derived the first human embryonic stem cell lines and it unleashed a storm of controversy that lasted all the way up till today,"" Thomson said at a Nov. 21 press conference. ""I do nonetheless think the world has changed because of these new results.""
""The findings of [both] studies signify we can clearly generate 'embryonic stem cell'-like cells from anyone's skin,"" Stephen Duncan, director of the Program in Regenerative Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, said.
The findings will not only help broaden the field of research, but also break open a field that has largely remained held back by political and ethical debates over stem cells for much of the 21st century.
To convince skin cells to function like ESCs, scientists in Thomson's lab inserted four genes into the genomes of two different types of skin cells - fibroblasts and foreskin cells.
With the addition of the four genes, researchers performed a skin cell makeover - allowing skin cells to take on characteristics of ESCs' ever-so-popular ""pluripotent"" persona.
Pluripotency, according to Clive Svendsen, co-director of UW-Madison's Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center, is the trait that allows ESCs to morph into any of the body's 220 cell types.
The Japanese research team, led by Shinya Yamanaka, a professor at the Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences at Kyoto University, also discovered a way to reprogram skin cells to become pluripotent, by inserting a slightly different combination of genes into the genomes of cheek cells.
""[The findings suggest] if I took skin cells from your cheek, I could potentially generate stem cells to produce any tissue in your body,"" Duncan said. ""This has the potential for having huge clinical advantages.""
""Clinically, this means new cells could be generated that match patients,"" said UW-Madison University Communications Science Editor Terry Devitt. He explained that patient-matched replacement cells would help to eliminate the possibility of immune-rejection in cell transplant recipients.
Although researchers have high expectations for the future of stem cell research using ESC-like cells generated from skin cells, Duncan, Svendsen and Devitt are quick to caution that the recent stem cell findings will not translate into immediate medical therapies.
""The findings are really exciting for basic science and research because the [ESC-like] cells look very much like stem cells,"" Svendsen said. ""But, as far as clinical implications go, we are not quite there yet. Both papers clearly state these cells are not exactly the same as embryonic stem cells.""
Svendsen and Duncan said the techniques used by Wisconsin and Japanese researchers to turn skin cells into ESC-like cells also increase the risk of introducing mutations in the new cells; these mutations could potentially lead to problems as cells combine to form new tissues in humans.
Before stem cells can be used to treat human disease, researchers must also develop ways to introduce and control stem cells in the human body.
""We must now try to figure out how we take the golden goose that is the embryonic stem cell and transfer it into heart and other cells [in the human body],"" Duncan said. ""This is what we have yet to work out in the laboratory.""
Although it will take time for scientists to know if ESC-like cells will be able to function as well as ESCs and troubleshoot the new cells, researchers are optimistic scientists can work together to push stem cell research forward.
""The study shows it is possible to reprogram adult cells to act like embryonic stem cells, without an embryo and without using cloning techniques,"" Devitt said. ""This [will] make it very easy for researchers with moderately sophisticated molecular biology labs to create new stem cells.""
""For the science community, these findings turn a whole new page in stem cell research,"" Svendsen said. ""The question now becomes, 'when do we switch to [studying] the new [ESC-like] cells?'""
Svendsen said Thomson has already agreed to work closely with UW's large stem cell community to make new technology available to help move the campus forward in stem cell research.
""For the university, the study puts UW back at the top of the pile in terms of stem cell centers in the world,"" Svendsen said. ""Jamie [Thomson]'s done it again. We are 100 percent behind this research.
