Stem from Skin

Ever since their public debut in the medical industry, as well as the political battlefield, stem cells have caused an ethics and morality controversy far and wide. All of that could change with this new method of creating stem cells. Researchers at the universities of Edinburgh and Toronto may have solved the problem by devising a method to turn human skin cells into stem cells so that can be safely transplanted into humans. To those that have paid attention to medical advances over the past few years, this would seem like old news, turning skin cells into stem cells. Back in 2007, Japanese professor Shinya Yamanaka discovered a way to turn skin cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells—which act similarly to embryonic stem cells. By using the donor's own skin cells, this sharply reduced the immune system complications with procedures such as this, for example, bone marrow trnasplants. To turn skin cells into iPS cells, four specific genes—c-Myc, Klf4, Oct4 and Sox—must be injected into the DNA. Yamanaka injected these genes by using a number of viruses. The problem is that the viruses could mutate, and eventually cause cancer to develop in the tissue grown from these cells. But this is not where the research is being done. Now, researchers need to find a way to implant these genes without using viruses. The aformentioned researchers from Edinburgh and Toronto have come together with two sides of the same solution.

Those at Edinburgh had fashioned a method for implanting the DNA into the stem cells, but complications arose when they needed to remove the DNA to prevent cell abnormalities. Across the Atlantic, in Toronto, the team had discovered a new reprogramming system for removing the genes, but they had to be placed in four different parts of the genome. With the combined efforts of these two teams, and with successful human cell trials, it is becoming much more ethically possible to use stem cells for future tissue regeneration, or for any other purpose needed. Potentially within a few years, the field of regenerative medicine will be booming and using skin cells for stem cells may become the driving force of this practice.

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