Scientists have succeeded in generating new stem cells in living mice.

They say their success opens up possibilities for the regeneration of damaged tissue in people with conditions ranging from heart failure to spinal cord injury.

The researchers used the same "recipe" of growth-boosting ingredients normally used for making stem cells in a Petri dish, but introduced them instead into living laboratory mice and found they were able to create so-called reprogrammed induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells).

"This opens up new possibilities in regenerative medicine," said Manuel Serrano, who led the study at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid.

Stem cell experts who were not directly involved in the study said its success was exciting, but noted that the technique as it stands could not be used in humans since the reprogrammed cells also lead to tumours forming in the mice.

"Clearly nobody wishes to do this for therapeutic purposes because this leads to the formation of tumours called teratomas," said Ilaria Bellantuono, a reader in Stem Cell and Skeletal Ageing at Britain's University of Sheffield.

But she added that Serrano's work was a "a proof of concept" that opened up the opportunity to investigate ways to partially reprogram cells in the body up to a certain stage.

"In principle, these partially dedifferentiated cells could then be induced to differentiate to the cell type of choice inducing regeneration in vivo without the need of transplantation," she said.

Stem cells are the body's master cells and are able to differentiate into all other types of cells.

Scientists say that by helping to regenerate tissue, they could offer new ways of treating diseases for which there are currently no treatments - including heart disease, Parkinson's and stroke.

Original post:
Scientists grow new stem cells in living mice

Washington, Sept. 12 (ANI): Researchers were able to make adult cells from a living organism retreat in their evolutionary development to recover the characteristics of embryonic stem cells.

The team from Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have also discovered that these embryonic stem cells, obtained directly from the inside of the organism, have a broader capacity for differentiation than those obtained via in vitro culture.

Specifically, they have the characteristics of totipotent cells: a primitive state never before obtained in a laboratory.

The study, led by Manuel Serrano, the director of the Molecular Oncology Programme and head of the Tumoural Suppression Laboratory generated these cells within an organism.

Maria Abad, the lead author of the article and a researcher in Serrano's group, said that this change of direction in development has never been observed in nature and they have demonstrated that they can also obtain embryonic stem cells in adult organisms and not only in the laboratory.

Serrano said that they can now start to think about methods for inducing regeneration locally and in a transitory manner for a particular damaged tissue.

Stem cells obtained in mice also show totipotent characteristics never generated in a laboratory, equivalent to those present in human embryos at the 72-hour stage of development, when they are composed of just 16 cells. (ANI)

Read this article:
First embryonic stem cells grown in living mouse

(Refiles to remove incorrrect picture)

By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have succeeded in generating new stem cells in living mice and say their success opens up possibilities for the regeneration of damaged tissue in people with conditions ranging from heart failure to spinal cord injury.

The researchers used the same "recipe" of growth-boosting ingredients normally used for making stem cells in a petri dish, but introduced them instead into living laboratory mice and found they were able to create so-called reprogrammed induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells).

"This opens up new possibilities in regenerative medicine," said Manuel Serrano, who led the study at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid.

Stem cell experts who were not directly involved in the study said its success was exciting, but noted that the technique as it stands could not be used in humans since the reprogrammed cells also lead to tumours forming in the mice.

"Clearly nobody wishes to do this for therapeutic purposes because this leads to the formation of tumours called teratomas," said Ilaria Bellantuono, a reader in Stem Cell and Skeletal Ageing at Britain's University of Sheffield.

But she added that Serrano's work was a "a proof of concept" that opened up the opportunity to investigate ways to partially reprogram cells in the body up to a certain stage.

"In principle, these partially dedifferentiated cells could then be induced to differentiate to the cell type of choice inducing regeneration in vivo without the need of transplantation," she said.

Stem cells are the body's master cells and are able to differentiate into all other types of cells. Scientists say that by helping to regenerate tissue, they could offer new ways of treating diseases for which there are currently no treatments - including heart disease, Parkinson's and stroke.

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REFILE - Scientists grow new stem cells in a living mouse

Scientists have turned back the hands of time in cells within a living creature.

Researchers in Spain used a technique created seven years ago to force mature cells in mice to revert to an original form of stem cell with the potential to change into any type of living tissue. Previously, scientists were only been able to achieve this change in a petri dish.

The newest experiment, outlined today in the journal Nature, may one day let doctors work entirely inside the body to regenerate tissue and, perhaps, more complex organs, said George Daley, director of stem cell transplantation at Boston Childrens Hospital. This could include reconnecting a severed spinal cord or generating healthy heart cells.

This is the next step along a continuum, said Daley, a professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston who wrote an accompanying editorial on the work, which he wasnt involved with. What this is hinting at is that maybe we can, by regressing tissues in the patient, regenerate this embryonic potential and, with direction, regenerate a particular tissue.

The reverted mouse cells were also found to be more primitive than stem cells taken from embryos or created in the lab. This means they can be turned into a placenta and other embryonic-support membranes, a factor beyond the capacity of the other cells, the researchers wrote.

The latest finding modifies a technique that won Shinya Yamanaka the Nobel Prize for medicine last year. Using mice whose genes could be manipulated at will, the scientists duplicated the factors Yamanaka had used to regress adult cells into stem cells. The cells that regressed in the dosed mice were in the stomach, the intestines, kidneys, and pancreas.

You dont need the milieu of the petri dish, Daley said in a telephone interview. You can just do this right in the tissues. Thats surprising.

In todays report, some of the mice had tumors that developed in embryonic support structures as well as a yolk sac, suggesting they were more primitive and powerful than other stem cells, the scientists wrote.

These embryo-like structures are a reflection of going back to a more-primitive state, Daley said. Thats honestly what blew me away about the paper.

Its not clear why the cells developed in live mice are more powerful than those developed in petri dishes, said Maria Abad, a study author and researcher at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center in Madrid. Those grown in live bodies are more malleable, and behave differently when transplanted into a petri dish, she said.

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Scientists Force Mature Cells to Revert to Stem Cells

Sep. 11, 2013 A team from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) has become the first to make adult cells from a living organism and show characteristics of embryonic stem cells.

Researchers have also discovered that these embryonic stem cells, obtained directly from the inside of the organism, have a broader capacity for differentiation than those obtained via in vitro culture. Specifically, they have the characteristics of totipotent cells: a primitive state never before obtained in a laboratory.

The study, carried out by CNIO, was led by Manuel Serrano, the director of the Molecular Oncology Programme and head of the Tumoural Suppression Laboratory. The study was supported by Manuel Manzanares's team from the Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Centre (CNIC).

Embryonic stem cells are the main focus for the future of regenerative medicine. They are the only ones capable of generating any cell type from the hundreds of cell types that make up an adult organism, so they are the first step towards curing illnesses such as Alzheimer, Parkinson's disease or diabetes. Nevertheless, this type of cell has a very short lifespan, limited to the first days of embryonic development, and they do not exist in any part of an adult organism.

One of the greatest achievements in recent biomedical research was in 2006 when Shinya Yamanaka managed to create embryonic stem cells (pluripotent stem cells, induced in vitro, or in vitro iPSCs) in a laboratory from adult cells, via a cocktail of just four genes. Yamanaka's discovery, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2012, opened a new horizon in regenerative medicine.

CNIO researchers have taken another step forward, by achieving the same as Yamanaka, but this time within the same organism, in mice, without the need to pass through in vitro culture dishes. Generating these cells within an organism brings this technology even closer to regenerative medicine.

The first challenge for CNIO researchers was to reproduce the Yamanaka experiment in a living being. They chose a mouse as a model organism. Using genetic manipulation techniques, researchers created mice in which Yamanaka's four genes could be activated at will. When these genes were activated, they observed that the adult cells were able to retreat in their evolutionary development to become embryonic stem cells in multiple tissues and organs.

Mara Abad, the lead author of the article and a researcher in Serrano's group, said: "This change of direction in development has never been observed in nature. We have demonstrated that we can also obtain embryonic stem cells in adult organisms and not only in the laboratory."

Manuel Serrano added that: "We can now start to think about methods for inducing regeneration locally and in a transitory manner for a particular damaged tissue."

Stem cells obtained in mice also show totipotent characteristics never generated in a laboratory, equivalent to those present in human embryos at the 72-hour stage of development, when they are composed of just 16 cells.

Read more:
Embryonic stem cells produced in living adult organisms