SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY

Safer Creation of Stem Cells

from Science News

Get rid of DNA-altering viruses—check. In a crucial step toward realizing medical treatments based on embryonic-like stem cells, researchers have found a safer way to revert adult mouse cells to an embryonic state.

The new technique, reported online September 25 in Science, avoids using viruses that alter the cells’ DNA, a major goal among stem-cell researchers since these DNA mutations can lead to cancer.

... Until now, reprogramming adult cells in lab dishes required infecting the cells with viruses that carry the four reprogramming genes. Although the scientists cripple the viruses so that they can’t replicate, the viruses can still insert these four genes directly into the cells’ DNA at random locations. These willy-nilly changes to the cells’ DNA could disrupt the cells’ own genes, occasionally in ways that cause the cells to grow out of control and form a tumor.