Reporting in the October issue of STEM CELLS Translational
Medicine, researchers at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.,
think they might have found a low-cost, highly-effective way to
detect and then purge at-risk cells during an early stage in the
differentiation process. Pluripotent stem cells show great
potential in treating various debilitating diseases, but at a
risk: during the process of reprogramming the cells so they will
grow (differentiate) into the desired tissue, some of their DNA
may be damaged causing them to develop into tumors. Researchers
have been scrambling to find a way to overcome this huge
drawback to an otherwise highly promising therapeutic candidate.
Now, researchers at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., think
they might have found an answer. Reporting in the October issue
of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine, they detail a low-cost,
highly-effective way to detect and then purge at-risk cells
during an early stage in the differentiation process.
“Strategies to improve the safety of st