I heard the news at different times, and followed it in different forms, but a fair summary can be found here, toward the end of the article.
Basically, a year and a half ago, scientists found a way to use viral vectors to reprogram ordinary skin cells into their pluripotent (able to develop into different forms) state, the property that made embryonic stem cells seem so promising. Since the virus used integrated itself into the resulting cells, though, there was some concern that the virus might have adverse effects in any attempted treatments. Six months ago, a method was developed for accomplishing the same thing without the viral vectors being integrated. And just within the past few weeks,
researchers published a paper showing that they can reprogram an adult cell into a pluripotent stem cell without using viruses at all. Instead, they simply insert a sequence of DNA (called “piggyBac”) carrying four genes that reprogram the cell. Andras Nagy, who led the research behind this technique, explained that “after they do their job they can be removed seamlessly, with no trace left behind. The ability for seamless removal opens up a huge possibility.”
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Date: 2009-03-10 01:44 pm (UTC)Basically, a year and a half ago, scientists found a way to use viral vectors to reprogram ordinary skin cells into their pluripotent (able to develop into different forms) state, the property that made embryonic stem cells seem so promising. Since the virus used integrated itself into the resulting cells, though, there was some concern that the virus might have adverse effects in any attempted treatments. Six months ago, a method was developed for accomplishing the same thing without the viral vectors being integrated. And just within the past few weeks,Hope that helps.