Stem cell study could aid quest to combat range of diseases

University of Edinburgh

2013-06-03

(Press-News.org) Scientists have taken a vital step forward in understanding how cells from skin tissue can be reprogrammed to become stem cells.

New research could pave the way to generate these stem cells efficiently to better understand and develop treatments for diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and muscular degeneration.

The study of how these cells – known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) – were reprogramed was led by the University of Edinburgh and is published in the journal Nature.

Scientists found that the process by which iPSCs are created is not simply a reversal of how skin cells are generated in normal human development.

Researchers made the discovery by tracking the change of skin cells during the reprogramming process.

All cells in the human body begin life as a mass of cells, with the capacity to change into any specialised cell, such as skin or muscle cell.

By returning adult cells to this original state and recreating the cell type needed for treatment scientists hope to find ways of tackling diseases such as MS, in which cells become faulty and need to be replaced.

Scientists have been able to create stem cells in this way since 2006 but, until now, it has not been clear how adult cells 'forget' their specialised roles to be reprogrammed by scientists.

Experts say that current methods of iPSCs production are time consuming and costly. It takes around four weeks to make human stem cells and even then the process does not always work.

Researchers say that their new insight will enable them to streamline the stem cell production process. The finding may also shed light on how to create different cell types – like muscle or brain cells – that can be used to improve our understanding of diseases and treatment.

Dr Keisuke Kaji, of the Medical Research Council Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, said: "As exciting as this technology is, we still know very little about how cell reprogramming actually works. Using a new technique, we have improved our understanding of the process. Our work marks an exciting step towards ensuring that induced pluripotent stem cells technology will meet its full potential."

### The study was funded by the European Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic and the Darwin Trust of Edinburgh.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

An altered gut microbiota can predict diabetes

2013-06-03

Intestinal bacteria may have a greater influence on us than was previously thought. In a study published in the prestigious journal Nature on 29 May, researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden and Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, show that patients with type 2 diabetes have an altered gut microbiota. Their findings have led to a new model to identify patients at increased risk of developing diabetes. The human body contains ten times more bacteria than human cells. Most of these bacteria comprise the normal gut microbiota. Our bodies ...

Female moths use olfactory signals to choose the best egg-laying sites

2013-06-03

This news release is available in German. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany, discovered that the ability of Manduca sexta moths to recognize changes in the profile of volatile compounds released by plants being attacked by Manduca caterpillars allows them to lay their eggs on plants that are less likely to be attacked by insects and other predators, and to avoid competing against other caterpillars of the same species for resources. The results of field experiments and neurobiological studies were now published in the open ...

Dogs help improve moods among teens in treatment

2013-06-03

PULLMAN, Wash. - Lindsay Ellsworth is prescribing a new, mood-boosting therapy for teenagers in drug and alcohol treatment: shelter dogs. On Friday afternoons, about four dogs from the Spokane Humane Society take a field trip to Excelsior Youth Center as a group of teenage boys eagerly await their arrival. Ellsworth, a doctoral candidate in animal sciences at Washington State University, organizes the meet-ups where participants can help brush, feed and play with the dogs. "We found one of the most robust effects of interacting with the dogs was increased joviality," ...

Hidden effects of climate change may threaten eelgrass meadows

2013-06-03

Some research has shown that the effects of changes in the climate may be weak or even non-existent. This makes it easy to conclude that climate change will ultimately have less impact than previous warnings have predicted. But it could also be explained as direct and indirect effects cancelling each other out, as scientists from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, show in a paper recently published in PNAS, the esteemed US scientific journal. To investigate how different climate impacts interact, an experiment was conducted at Kristineberg Marine Research Station. ...

Threatened frogs palmed off as forests disappear

2013-06-03

Oil palm plantations in Malaysia are causing threatened forest frogs to disappear, paving the way for common species to move in on their turf, scientists have revealed. The study, carried out by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) describes how forests converted to palm oil plantations are causing threatened forest dwelling frogs to vanish, resulting in an overall loss of habitat that is important for the conservation of threatened frog species in the region. Scientists travelled to Peninsular Malaysia where they spent two years studying communities of frog species ...

Middle-aged women commonly become ill with stress

2013-06-03

In four out of ten cases, long-term stress suffered by women leads to some form of physical complaint. This is shown by a study of 1,500 women carried out at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Within the Population Study of Women in Gothenburg, researchers at the University of Gothenburg's Sahlgrenska Academy have followed around 1,500 women since the late 1960s. The latest study within the project, which focuses primarily on stress linked to psychosomatic symptoms, showed that one in five middle-aged women had experienced constant or frequent ...

More TV time equals higher consumption of sweetened beverages among children

2013-06-03

More time in front of the TV set and higher exposure to TV adverts may lead to increased consumption of sweetened beverages among children. This is the conclusion of a new study from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The parents of more than 1,700 two- to four-year-olds in Sweden responded to questions about their children's TV and screen habits and consumption of sweetened drinks. About one parent in seven indicated that they tried to reduce their children's exposure to TV adverts; the same parents stated that their children were less prone to drink soft drinks ...

A path to compact, robust sources for ultrashort laser pulses

2013-06-03

Laser researchers in Munich are challenging a basic assumption of engineering: "You can't have it all." They have shown that for certain kinds of laser applications in biomedical imaging, material processing, and communications, a new approach could deliver the desired capabilities with no problematic tradeoffs: in compact, inexpensive, efficient and long-lived devices that produce ultrashort, high-energy light pulses. This research is a close collaboration between members of the Electrical Engineering and Information Technology Department at the Technische Universitaet ...

Multiple sclerosis: Back to basics?

2013-06-03

In his article, "Pathoetiology of multiple sclerosis: are we barking up the wrong tree?", Peter K. Stys of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, argues that while the majority of the medical research community currently approaches MS as an autoimmune disease (much like Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis), for which the trigger is the immune system attacking a particular part of the nervous system, the features of the disease are equally well explained by approaching MS as a neurodegenerative disease (such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's), which is followed by ...

Researchers develop a faster method to identify Salmonella strains

2013-06-03

A new approach may be able to reduce by more than half the time it takes health officials to identify Salmonella strains, according to researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. The finding may significantly speed up the response to many outbreaks of foodborne illness, allowing epidemiological investigators to identify the exact strains of Salmonella that make people sick and to more quickly find -- and eliminate -- the source of the disease. "There are more than a million estimated cases of salmonellosis annually in the United States, resulting in ...

Stem cell study could aid quest to combat range of diseases

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: