Blood Cells Can Be Reprogrammed To Act As Embryonic Stem Cells
ScienceDaily (Apr. 21, 2009) — In a recent study, U.S. researchers have reprogrammed cells found in circulating blood into cells that are molecularly and functionally indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells, a revolutionary achievement that provides a readily accessible source of stem cells and an alternative to harvesting embryonic stem cells.
Embryonic stem cells have long been coveted for their potential to treat a multitude of diseases as a result of their unique properties of nearly indefinite self-renewal and pluripotency (the ability to develop into any type of cell in the body), but their use has been the subject of political controversy.
“Our findings provide the first proof that cells from human blood can morph into stem cells,” said senior study author George Q. Daley, MD, PhD, an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Children’s Hospital, Boston. “Making pluripotent stem cells from blood, which is one of the easiest tissues to obtain, provides an easy strategy for generating patient-specific stem cells that are valuable research tools and may one day be used to treat a number of diseases.”
To generate induced pluripotent stem cells (dubbed iPS cells), blood was collected from a 26-year-old male donor. From the blood sample, the researchers isolated CD34+ cells, a type of stem cell that produces only blood cells, and cultured them in growth factors for six days to increase their number.
During the culture, the scientists infected the CD34+ cells with viruses carrying reprogramming factors, genes normally expressed in embryonic stem cells that can reset the blood cells to an embryonic state. Colonies of cells exhibiting physical characteristics similar to embryonic stem (ES) cells appeared about two weeks after the procedure. To determine whether these cells were also functionally similar to ES cells, the scientists analyzed the CD34+ iPS cell lines to see if they had acquired stem cell “markers,” the unique combination of proteins that coat the cells’ surface and distinguish them from other types of cells. Indeed, the iPS cell lines expressed the same markers as ES cells and further shared the capacity to differentiate into a variety of specialized cell types.
In vitro, the iPS cells readily developed into clusters of cells called embryoid bodies from which cells of virtually any type can develop. These differentiated cells expressed genes for all three embryonic germ layers (the tissues from which all other tissue types in the body develop) and also produced myeloid and granulocyte colonies (types of white blood cells).
The group confirmed that the reprogrammed cells had acquired ES cell characteristics by injecting the newly reprogrammed cells into immunodeficient mice. The cells successfully generated well-differentiated teratomas, benign masses containing all three embryonic germ layers, including respiratory, bone, and neural tissue.
“Not only has this work identified a new programmable cell type, but the cells are easy to obtain and analyze in many research laboratories and bone marrow transplantation centers around the world,” said Grover C. Bagby, MD, Professor of Medicine and Molecular and Medical Genetics at Oregon Health and Science University, who is not affiliated with the study. “These findings will immediately enhance the pace of laboratory research in this field and will ultimately help to determine whether iPS cells have a therapeutic potential equivalent to that of embryonic stem cells.”
The findings were prepublished online in Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology.
Fantastic news. This just may give the stem cell research a kick it needs to get over crazed ideology that is acting as a brake.
I mean, I cannot sufficently express my joy at such news. Maybe in not-so-far future things like cancer will be easily curable. And with nothing else but your own blood. That would be just so awesome.
I just wonder what new excuse will the religious fanatics invent to condemn this research into hellish fires.
LordOskuro wrote:Aren't Mormons or Jehova's Witnesses already skittish about blood transfusions?
Yus, but luckily "OMG they are killing blood cells!" probably won't resonate nearly as well with the general public as "OMG they are killing babies!". Not that the cell clumps of a few dozen cells at the most they use for stem cell research are anything close to a baby, but then again logic doesn't enter into it.
It seems pretty hard to demonize experiments on blood cells for me intuitively, but then again I've never really understood the religious fundamentalist types all that much...
Glom wrote:Can stem cells be used to grow whole organs for transplant? That would solve a lot of problems.
Indeed, especially if one can use embryonic stem cells. If this finding is as readily reproducible as this article claims then this would solve one of the major hurtles in stem cell usage in regenerative medicine: having an abundant source of self embryonic stem cells.
Of course before one goes about growing new livers, hearts, arms, what-have-you we have to improve our understanding and ability to manipulate the messaging pathways which guide tissue differentiation, growth, and macro structure organization.
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Do the Witnesses have objections to "consuming" cells derived from their own blood? Actually, who cares? Good old Darwin will take care of their particular branch of stupidity.
kinnison wrote:Do the Witnesses have objections to "consuming" cells derived from their own blood? Actually, who cares? Good old Darwin will take care of their particular branch of stupidity.
I somehow doubt that Darwinian selection would have any effect on quaint religious beliefs. But we can dream. My understanding of their policies (bolstered by some hasty Google-fu) would suggest that any blood, once removed from a body, should not re-enter one. This presumably includes one's own blood. So they presumably would still object to this sort of treatment.
That aside, I can only add my hope to the list that this helps get over a lot of the current hurdles facing stem cell technology. I imagine (hope?) most people will be far less squeamish over this source than true embryonic cells.
Glom wrote:Can stem cells be used to grow whole organs for transplant? That would solve a lot of problems.
Indeed, especially if one can use embryonic stem cells. If this finding is as readily reproducible as this article claims then this would solve one of the major hurtles in stem cell usage in regenerative medicine: having an abundant source of self embryonic stem cells.
Of course before one goes about growing new livers, hearts, arms, what-have-you we have to improve our understanding and ability to manipulate the messaging pathways which guide tissue differentiation, growth, and macro structure organization.
Drat... and I was already thinking of getting a new liver for when it starts shutting down due to cirrhosis, fatty-liver or even liver cancer. Those are the the diseases I fear the most...
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It took me a second to get over the "...what the Hell?!" reaction to this article - I really need to get over my tendency to skim through articles, as I didn't notice precisely what kind of cell (as in, NOT red blood cells) was being used until the second time I read it.
