Medical Breakthrough of the Year: Stem Cell Stunner

In a recent medical breakthrough, human skin cells have been successfully used as stem cells to create colonies of cardiac cells that beat like a human heart.

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In November, University of Wisconsin biologist James Thomson, PhD, and his research team amazed the world by creating cells with the same chameleon-like characteristics as embryonic stem cells but derived from human skin. With this discovery, achieved simultaneously by Japanese researchers, Thomson may have short-circuited the very debate he helped trigger. Yes, Thomson was the first to extract stem cells from human embryos back in 1998, unwittingly kicking off the heated controversy that has bedeviled scientists, politicians and the American people for a decade.

The new induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, as they're dubbed, were created simply by identifying four genes that, when inserted into skin cells, reprogrammed the DNA. Then the iPS cells began reproducing steadily, which means that scientists should be able to produce an unlimited supply. The first task is to create cells carrying diseases to learn how to prevent and cure them. The ultimate goal is to use the cells to heal diseased and damaged organs.

The Japanese team, led by Shinya Yamanaka, demonstrated that with a little coaxing, the iPS cells, like embryonic stem cells, could transform themselves into different types of human tissue. First they manipulated a cluster to create nerve cells. Then they tried for heart cells. Just 12 days after mixing a sample of iPS cells with a cocktail of proteins in a petri dish, the scientists watched as clumps of newly formed cardiac cells started beating like a human heart. The iPS cells even have an advantage over embryonic: Since they're derived from the patient's own cells, there's no risk of rejection.

Amid the heady optimism unleashed by their discoveries, Thomson and Yamanaka caution that more work needs to be done before iPS cells can be put to widespread use. Until then, research on embryonic stem cells, and the controversy, will most likely continue. 5+ years

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