Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Not Yet Reliable for Clinical Use
Research at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health Madison
Wisconsin - The great promise of induced pluripotent stem cells
is that the all-purpose cells seem capable of performing all the
same tricks as embryonic stem cells, but without the
controversy. However, a new study published this week (February
15) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
comparing the ability of induced cells and embryonic cells to
morph into the cells of the brain has found that induced cells -
even those free of the genetic factors used to program their
all-purpose qualities - differentiate less efficiently and
faithfully than their embryonic counterparts. The finding that
induced cells are less predictable means there are more kinks to
work out before they can be used reliably in a clinical setting,
says Su-Chun Zhang, the senior author of the new study and a
professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of
Medicine and Public Health. |B