Scientists Reprogram Adult Mouse Skin Cells Into Embryonic-Like Stem Cells

Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry;  Parkinson's Disease
Article Date: 10 Apr 2008 - 7:00 PDT

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Scientists have reprogrammed adult rat skin cells to become embryonic-like stem cells and alleviate Parkinson's disease in rats, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Boston Globe reports.

According to the Globe, the study might have both political and medical significance because it could "add weight" to the argument made by President Bush and some religious conservatives that there is "no compelling reason" for stem cell research that involves the destruction of human embryos. Although the work was done with rats, the research could apply to humans, the Globe reports. The researchers cautioned that the technique could be problematic in humans because the reprogrammed cells were created through a process that relies on regulator genes that are linked to cancer, increasing the potential that the technique could trigger tumors in humans.

For the study, Marius Wernig, a scientist at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and colleagues treated the adult rat skin cells with four genes to cause them to regress into a state similar to that of embryonic stem cells. The researchers then turned the cells -- called induced pluripotent stem cells -- into brain tissue and transplanted it into the brains of rats that had Parkinson's disease. Eight weeks after the transplant, neurons generating dopamine -- a brain-signaling chemical that people with Parkinson's lack -- had been established in the rats' brains, alleviating the symptoms of the disease. The rats with brain damage from Parkinson's wandered in uncontrollable circles before the treatment, but eight of nine rats "showed markedly less or even no circling" after the treatment, Wernig said.

Rudolf Jaenisch, a scientist at WIBR and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who oversaw the study, said the same process could be used to repeat the technique in humans but that "human work is a long way off." He said the "basic idea" of the research is to use reprogrammed cells to make "custom-designed healthy cells that will not be rejected by a patient." The cells can be reprogrammed from a patient's tissue so they are genetically identical, the Globe reports. Margaret Sutherland, program director at NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes, said the research is a "big step forward." She added that induced pluripotent stem cells "are still in their infancy" but that the study shows "their use (in human medicine) could be near" (Nickerson, Boston Globe, 4/8).

An abstract of the study is available online.

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