Health aNd Fitness Guide

Embryonic stem cells are the mother of all body cells. They are not specialized cells, and can undergo division for a long period. And, under the right circumstances, these cells can evolve into specific organs, such as heart muscles, bone marrow or pancreas. Just as the sculptor can fix a broken arm, scientists dream of a day when they can select stem cells from the shelves to repair a body organ.

Embryonic stem cells are obtained from human embryos. The public debate and ethical controversies start from there. Pro-life activists are strongly against using human embryos to develop stem cells, even though these cells can be potentially used to cure many diseases and repair damaged heart muscles after an attack. Currently the embryos used for research are obtained from fertility clinics, where they are formed by in-vitro fertilization. The discarded embryos are used to create stem cells. They are manipulated by the scientists to form specialised cells or organs. Because of the controversies over the source of these cells and other limiting factors, scientists have been looking for an alternative source.

In a recent major breakthrough, researchers from the US and Japan have successfully transformed ordinary skin cells into cells that behave and look like embryonic stem cells. Named induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS cells), these are made without using human embryos, but appear to share all the biological characteristics of embryonic stem cells. The study was led by two teams, James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA, and Dr Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan. They used four genes to convert skin cells called fibroblasts into stem cells. Yamanaka’s team transformed the cells into uniformly beating heart cells. “This work represents a tremendous scientific milestone — the biological equivalent of the Wright Brothers’ first airplane,” said Dr Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology, Massachusetts, USA. The cells have less chance of rejection because they are created from the genetic code of the same patient. “Even though we have this new source of cells, it doesn’t solve the problem of getting them into the body and functioning,” said Thomson. It will take many years to translate this technique into tangible human therapies. Said Yamanaka, “Scientists have to continue embryonic stem cell research as it would take some time for us — at least a year — to prove its safety by trying it on monkey cells.”