Researchers at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Science have recently developed a new method to remove potentially cancer-causing genes from the induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells that are used to treat conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. Researchers have been able to take skin cells from Parkinson’s sufferers and reprogram them using viruses to transfer four genes (Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc and Klf4) into the cells’ DNA, producing iPS cells made of the patients own cells. The stem cells can then be differentiated to form dopamine-producing nerve cells, which are the cells in the brain that die in Parkinson’s disease patients.
The problem with this method is that one of the genes transferred into the cells (c-Myc) has the potential to cause cancer or react unpredictably with the other genes in the cell. Researchers have for the first time discovered a way to remove the reprogramming genes from the iPS cells, while still keeping the embryonic stem-cell-like properties of the cells. The enzyme Cre is introduced into the cells which remove the reprogramming genes, resulting in iPS cells that have nearly identical DNA to the patient’s skin cells.
For more information go to:
http://www.wi.mit.edu/news/archives/2009/rj_0305.html
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=191314
Picture from:
http://www.wi.mit.edu/news/archives/2009/rj_0305.html
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