Scientists watch diseases grow in the lab

Published on Friday 8 August 2008 21:07

SCIENTISTS say they have created stem cells for ten genetic disorders, in a process which will allow researchers to watch the diseases develop in the laboratory, hopefully paving the way to new treatments.

The research, by a team from Harvard University in the United States, was reported online in the journal Cell. The researchers said they planned to make the cell lines readily available to other scientists.

Dr George Daley and his colleagues at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute used ordinary skin cells and bone marrow from people with a variety of diseases, including Parkinson's, Huntington's and Down's syndrome to produce the stem cells.

Doug Melton, co-director of the institute, said: "I think we'll see in years ahead that this opens the door to a new way to treating degenerative diseases."

The new technique reprogrammes cells, giving them the chameleon-like qualities of embryonic stem cells, which can develop into being any kind of tissue in the body.

Research teams in Wisconsin and Japan reported last November that they had reprogrammed skin cells, and that the cells had behaved like stem cells in a series of lab tests. And just last week, another Harvard team said they had reprogrammed skin cells from two elderly patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and grew them into nerve cells.

A new laboratory has been created as a repository for the cells, and to distribute them to other scientists researching the diseases. "The hope is that this will accelerate research and it will create a climate of openness," said Dr Daley.

He expects stem cell lines to be developed for many more diseases. Other diseases for which they created stem cells include Type 1 diabetes; two types of muscular dystrophy, Gaucher disease and a rare genetic disorder known as the "bubble boy disease".

However, Dr Daley stressed that the reprogrammed cells would not eliminate the need or value of studying embryonic stem cells.

"At least for the foreseeable future – and I would argue forever – they are going to be extremely valuable tools," he said.