US/JAPAN:Scientists have developed a way to produce an unlimited supply of embryonic-like stem cells using ordinary skin cells and without having to destroy embryos in the process.
The findings could remove the powerful ethical concerns associated with the destruction of embryos, something that is hindering stem cell research in many countries including Ireland.
Yet an ethicist has warned that studies of stem cells taken from embryos will have to continue for some time to confirm the new method actually works.
"This is the holy grail in terms of stem cell research," stated scientific director of the Irish Council for Bioethics Dr Siobhán O'Sullivan.
"The only ethical difficulty is in the short to medium term they will have to continue embryonic stem cell research to do comparative studies," she added. "There is still a world of work to be done. We are going to need embryonic stem cells as a source for three to five years."
Stem cells are of particular interest to scientists seeking to cure diseases such as Parkinson's, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's. They are plentipotent and can change into any of the more than 200 different cell types in the body. Unused several-day-old embryos recovered from fertility clinics can supply these cells, but the embryo is destroyed in the process, a factor that has blocked embryonic stem cell studies here and raises profound ethical questions.
Now three separate groups in the US and Japan report this morning in the journal Nature that ordinary skin cells have successfully been converted into embryonic-like stem cells.
The researchers used four proteins normally found in embryonic tissues in a complex step-by-step process to force fibroblast skin cells back into an original embryonic-like state.
The resultant induced stem cells were described by one research group as "indistinguishable" from those derived from embryos. They seemed to show all the characteristics of embryonic cells and could contribute to every tissue type tested. They could even be used to create new live mice after being transmitted via sperm and egg to succeeding generations.
The three studies only involved mice, but if found applicable to humans the process would transform research. It would remove the key objection to this work by those who argue it is wrong to harvest stem cells from viable embryos.
It would also allow a person to acquire stem cells derived from their own tissues. This would eliminate the risk of tissue rejection, a possibility when cells from "non-self" sources are transplanted into a patient.