|07-26-2010, 02:20 PM||#1| Join Date: Mar 2009 RNA offers a
safer way to reprogram cells In recent years, scientists have
shown that they can reprogram human skin cells to an immature
state that allows the cells to become any type of cell. This
ability, known as pluripotency, holds the promise of treating
diseases such as diabetes and Parkinsonís disease by
transforming the patientsí own cells into replacements for the
nonfunctioning tissue. However, the techniques now used to
transform cells pose some serious safety hazards. To deliver the
genes necessary to reprogram cells to a pluripotent state,
scientists use viruses carrying DNA, which then becomes
integrated into the cellís own DNA. But this so-called DNA-based
reprogramming carries the risk of disrupting the cellís genome
and leading it to become cancerous. Now, for the first time, MIT
researchers have shown that they can deliver those same
reprogramming genes using RNA, the genetic material that
normally ferries instructions from DNA to the cellís pro