Researchers Succeed in Creating Stable Stem Cells from Adult Cells

Researchers, funded by Fate Therapeutics, have recently published a new stem cell study, 'Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Recombinant Proteins,' documenting a new method of converting adult cells into embryonic-like stem cells by using chemical programming instead of genetic manipulation.

The goal of the Fate Therapeutics study was to reduce the risk of serious health problem such as cancer, which is a common risk factor for genetically altered stem cells. "All of the methods developed to date still involve the use of genetic materials and thus the potential for unexpected genetic modifications by the exogenous sequences in the target cells" the study reports.

The new method of reprogramming stem cells described in 'Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Recombinant Proteins' avoids introducing exogenous genetic modifications, which can cause cancer and other serious health problems, to target cells by delivering the reprogramming proteins directly into the cells, rather than relying on the transcription from delivered genes.

The researchers, funded by Fate Therapeutics, reprogrammed adult cells by engineering and using recombinant proteins, which are proteins made from fragments of DNA from different organisms. In the end, the scientists created a successful method that enabled them to gradually reprogram the adult cells into stem cells.

According to 'Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Recombinant Proteins,' the reprogrammed embryonic-like cells from fibroblasts behaved the same as embryonic stem cells in terms of molecular and functional features, including differentiation into various cell types, such as neurons, pancreatic cells and beating cardiac muscle cells.

"We are very excited about this breakthrough in generating embryonic-like cells from fibroblasts [cells that give rise to connective tissue] without using any genetic material. Scientists have been dreaming about this for years," research leader Sheng Ding said in a recent statement.

A method which successful transforms adult cells into embryonic-like stem cells without the risk exogenous sequences, which can cause cancer, could lead to the development of many new types of therapies for a wide range of diseases, including type 1 diabetes and Parkinson's disease, the researchers noted.

Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Recombinant Proteins, Cell Stem Cell

Hongyan Zhou (1),Shili Wu (4,7), Jin Young Joo (5,7), Saiyong Zhu (1), Dong Wook Han (5),Tongxiang Lin (1), Sunia Trauger (2,3), Geoffery Bien (4), Susan Yao (4), Yong Zhu (4), Gary Siuzdak (2,3), Hans R. Schöler (5), Lingxun Duan (6) and Sheng Ding(1)

1 Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA

2 Department of Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA

3 Center for Mass Spectrometry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA

4 ProteomTech, Inc., 3505 Cadillac Avenue, Suite F7, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, USA

5 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Röntgenstrasse 20, Münster 48149, Germany

6 LD Biopharma Inc., Sandown Way, San Diego, CA 92130, USA

7 These authors contributed equally to this work