Treatment hope for incurable diseasesPublished: Thursday, 28 June,
2007, 01:53 AM Doha Time
LONDON: Two teams of scientists have independently discovered a new
type of stem cell that they believe could lead to better
understanding and treatment of incurable diseases.
Researchers from Oxford and Cambridge universities discovered the
stem cell in laboratory mice and rats but they found that it behaves
just like a human stem cell — raising the prospect of better animal
models of human illnesses.
The study, published in the journal Nature, is described as
the `missing link' between animal and human stem cells that could
revolutionise how doctors eventually use these vital cells in the
treatment of patients.
Stem cells are the unspecialised `mother' cells of the body that
have the power to develop into any of the scores of specialised
tissues, from the muscle cells of the heart to the nerve cells of the
brain.
Scientists hope to find a way of harvesting human stem cells, either
from embryos or from adult tissue, in order to grow replacement parts
in the laboratory for treating defective tissue in situ rather than
relying on organ transplants.
The best stem cells in terms of their ability to become specialists
are derived from early embryos but scientists have been puzzled as to
why embryonic stem cells from mice appear to behave differently in a
test tube to human embryonic stem cells.
They thought these differences could be explained by the fact that
they come from different species but the latest study suggests that
it is probably due to the fact that the animal and human stem cells
were harvested from their respective embryos at different times in
their development.
The new stem cell derived initially from mice was taken at a later
embryonic stage than usual. However, this mouse stem was remarkable
for how different it was to normal mouse stem cells and how similar
it is to human stem cells.
"These findings suggest that human embryonic stem cells originate at
a later stage of development than previously thought," said Sir
Richard Gardner, who led the Oxford research team.
"The ultimate ideal would be to help a patient who requires
regeneration of parts of the body by taking stem cells in a biopsy
and re-differentiating the cells to grow them into the needed part of
the body," Sir Richard said. – The Independent
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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