I've been on vacation and haven't had time to follow up on this, but
here's my understanding of some of the significance and the issues of
this research:

- the concept of being able to modify non-embryonic stem cells to be
pluripotent has been chased for some time, this is one more step
towards that goal but not a complete solution.  Part of the issue is
that we don't understand how this particular mix of gene modifications
is behaving and as a result can't predict all the outcomes.  There are
similar approaches going on using other different genes but so far
none of the others have yielded as good of results. Reading between
the lines my guess is that until we understand all the genetic
mechanisms involved we won't have a general solution, the modified
stem cells may yield the desired outcomes in some cases but in others
they will result in cancerous cells since the genetic modifications
don't give an exact match to what would have developed from embryonic
stem cells.

- the authors of the paper warn that general solutions are still years
away and that many obstacles remain to be overcome. This isn't a
simple procedure and it involves, among other things, gene insertion
via virus vectors that would never be allowed with human subjects.  No
one should view this as a magic bullet that somehow eliminates the
need to do research on embryonic stem cells and it is unfortunate that
much of the reporting frames this research in that way.


On Nov 21, 2007 4:24 PM, Tamar Raine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> meir, it's a breakthrough, but they're saying these could wreak havoc in our bodies, they just don't know yet.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> http://www.zazzle.com/TamarMag*
> Tamar Mag Raine
> [log in to unmask]
> www.cafepress.com/tamarmag
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Meir Weiss <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 1:28:07 PM
> Subject: Skin cells made to mimic stem cells - Cloning and stem cells- msnbc.com
>
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21886974/
>
> Skin cells made to mimic stem cells
> Scientists say method could ease ethical debate, open new era in medicine
> Video
>
>
>   Stem cells created; no embryos destroyed
>   Nov. 20: Researchers say they have created human embryonic stem cells without
> destroying embryos or using hard-to-get eggs. NBC's Robert Bazell reports.
> MSNBC
>
>

-- 
Peter Hunsberger

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