Stem cell lines for 10 diseases created
The stem cell lines for 10 diseases will be shared with scientists worldwide
Friday, 08, Aug 2008 11:03
A set of stem cell lines have been created that will allow scientists to explore ten different genetic disorders, according to a report in the journal Cell.
The diseases include muscular dystrophy, juvenile diabetes and Parkinson's disease and the lines will be made available to scientists worldwide.
Researchers at Harvard University created the lines by converting cells from individuals with the diseases into stem cells with the same genetic errors.
These cells will allow scientists to reproduce human tissue formation in laboratory dishes as it occurs in individuals with any of the ten diseases.
"Researchers have long wanted to find a way to move a patient's disease into the test tube, to develop cells that could be cultured into the many tissues relevant to diseases of the blood, the brain and the heart, for example," said lead researcher George Daly from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
"Now, we have a way to do just that - to derive pluripotent cells from patients with disease, which means the cells can make any tissue and can grow forever. This enables us to model thousands of conditions using classical cell culture techniques."
The ten lines were created for: Duchenne muscular dystrophy; Becker muscular dystrophy; juvenile-onset (type one) diabetes; Parkinson's disease; Huntington's disease; Down's syndrome; ADA severe combined immunodeficiency (a form of the disorder commonly known as "boy-in-the-bubble disease"); Shwachman-Bodian-Diamond syndrome (which causes bone marrow failure and a predisposition to leukemia); Gaucher disease (an inherited metabolic disorder in which a fatty substance accumulates in several of the body's organs); and Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (an enzyme deficiency that causes a build-up of uric acid in body fluids).
The team believes that many more lines for other diseases could be created.