Creating stem cells without the use of embryos offers scientists a powerful new set of tools for studying the molecular mechanisms driving genetic kidney disorders such as polycystic kidney disease and Alport syndrome, as well as for testing new treatments for the diseases.

"This research is a stepping stone for the development of iPS cells from patients with genetic kidney disease, which is one of the most common life-threatening genetic conditions," said team leader and kidney specialist Sharon Ricardo, with Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories. There are currently no treatments to prevent or slow life-threatening damage caused by such inherited kidney diseases.

Bernie Tuch, director of the NSW Stem Cell Network, welcomed the "novel" work. "The advantage in having a kidney cell as the source iPS cell is that it's the only type of cell that retains the full genetic defect," he said.

That is, if skin cells are used to create iPS cells for kidney research, they do not "remember" the defect causing the person's inherited kidney disease.

Source

• The Australian
• Image: Health Science Technology

But while they have proven to be a powerful new way to study human disease, the reprogrammed cells — known as induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells — are no substitute for embryonic stem cells.

"This has strong policy implications," Dr. George Daley of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Harvard Medical School said in a telephone interview.

"It has not ever been a scientifically driven argument that iPS cells are a worthy and complete substitute for embryonic stem cells," Daley said. "Those arguments were always made based on political and religious opposition to embryonic stem cells."

Scientists typically harvest embryonic stem cells from leftover embryos at fertility clinics. But the issue has been a point of controversy for some religious conservatives, who believe the destruction of any human embryo is wrong.

When they were first discovered in 2006, induced pluripotent stem cells looked like a perfect solution to this ethical debate.

Instead of destroying an embryo, iPS cells are made in a lab from ordinary skin or blood cells. Using various methods, scientists introduce three or four genes that return these cells to an embryonic-like state in which they, too, are able to turn into any type of cell.

And because iPS cells can be made with tissue from people with known genetic diseases, scientists can use them to study how diseases develop or to test the effectiveness of drugs.

But recently, scientists have started to raise concerns about iPS cells

Read more about Reprogrammed stem cells and the problems scientists are now having.

Sources

• Reuters
• Wiki-Commons