A team of North American researchers, led by Cynthia Dunbar, from the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, has proven for the first time in an animal related to humans that it is possible to produce new bone tissue from stem cells induced from the individual’s own skin cells. In contrast, the study, published in the journal Cell Reports, also shows that there are certain risks that these pluripotent stem cells can produce tumors, although not as much as previously thought.
First, the scientists reprogrammed skin cells taken from monkeys using a standard procedure, then spurred these cells to form the first pluripotent stem cells and then others that had the potential to act more specifically as bone progenitors. The latter were placed in ceramic structures that are already used in surgical procedures to fill or reconstruct bone tissue.
The experiment paid off, and the monkeys created new bone tissue . In the study, the scientists used so-called autologous pluripotent induced stem cells, which alludes to the fact that they are capable of producing any type of tissue from cells taken from the same individual who will later receive them. This means that it would not be necessary in the long term to resort to possibly toxic immunosuppressive drugs that are used to prevent rejection of new tissue by the body.
Although the experiment has shown that a type of tumor called teratomas can form from the induced pluripotent stem cells , in this case no teratoma structures had developed in the monkeys that received the stem cells.
Treatments based on this technique may be especially helpful for serious illnesses accompanied by congenital bone defects or severe traumatic injuries. These primate experiments are essential to progress on the path of clinical regenerative medicine.
