Breakthrough Method Devised for Creating Stem Cells

A U.S. scientist discovered a new method of creating stem cells that could lead to possible cures for devastating diseases including spinal cord injury, macular degeneration, diabetes, and Parkinson's disease. This new discovery should advance stem cell technology and provide a blueprint for new clinical approaches to regenerative medicine.

"We hope that these stem cells will form the basis for treatment for many diseases and conditions that are currently considered incurable,” said Dr. Andras Nagy, senior investigator at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto, ON, Canada), and investigator at the McEwen Center for Regenerative Medicine (Toronto, ON, Canada), and Canada research chair in Stem Cells and Regeneration. "This new method of generating stem cells does not require embryos as starting points and could be used to generate cells from many adult tissues such as a patient's own skin cells.”

Dr. Nagy discovered a new method to create pluripotent stem cells (cells that can develop into most other cell types) without disrupting healthy genes. Dr. Nagy's technique utilizes an innovative wrapping procedure to deliver specific genes to reprogram cells into stem cells. Earlier approaches required the use of viruses to deliver the required genes, a method that carries the risk of damaging the DNA. Dr. Nagy's method does not require viruses, and so overcomes a major obstacle for the future of safe, personalized stem cell therapies in humans.

"This research is a huge step forward on the path to new stem cell-based therapies and indicates that researchers at the Lunenfeld are at the leading edge of regenerative medicine,” said Dr. Jim Woodgett, director of research for the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital. Regenerative medicine refers to enabling the human body to repair, replace, restore, and regenerate its own damaged or diseased cells, tissues and organs.

Dr. Nagy joined Mount Sinai Hospital as a principal investigator in 1994. In 2005, he created Canada's first embryonic stem cell lines from donated embryos no longer required for reproduction by couples undergoing fertility treatment. That research played a major role in Dr. Nagy's current development.

One of the critical components reported in Dr. Nagy's study was developed in the laboratory of Dr. Keisuke Kaji from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh (UK). Dr. Kaji's findings are also published in the March 1, 2009 issue of the journal Nature. The two articles are very complementary and additionally extend his findings. "I was very excited when I found stem cell-like cells in my culture dishes. Nobody, including me, thought it was really possible,” concluded Dr. Kaji. "It is a step towards the practical use of reprogrammed cells in medicine.”

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Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital