A major concern over using stem cells is the risk of tumours: but now a new study shows that It takes a lot of effort to get induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to grow into tumours after they have been transplanted into a monkey. The findings will bolster the prospects of one day using such cells clinically in humans.
Making iPS cells from an animal’s own skin cells and then transplanting them back into the creature also does not trigger an inflammatory response as long as the cells have first been coaxed to differentiate towards a more specialized cell type. Both observations, published in Cell Reports today, bode well for potential cell therapies.
“It’s important because the field is very controversial right now,” says Ashleigh Boyd, a stem-cell researcher at University College London, who was not involved in the work. “It is showing that the weight of evidence is pointing towards the fact that the cells won’t be rejected.”
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Read the full, original story: Reprogrammed cells slow to grow tumours in monkeys
