Stem cell research – novonordisk.com

The fertilised egg is the only (totipotent) stem cell that can give rise to a human being. Cells found in the early embryo (the blastomeres and the inner cell mass of the blastocyst) can give rise to pluripotent embryonic stem cell cultures that maintain the ability to mature into all the different cell types found in the fully developed body.

Stem cells in the adult body (adult stem cells or tissue-specific stem cells) are used by the body to replace old and damaged cells. As opposed to pluripotent stem cells, adult stem cells can normally only mature into a limited number of specialised cell types (multipotent). Therefore, Novo Nordisk focuses on pluripotent stem cells as a basis for cell therapy.

Research on adult stem cells has been taking place for more than 30 years, and has not been subject to ethical objections, whereas research on stem cells obtained from surplus embryos donated with freely given informed consent is a central issue in the ongoing ethical debate, because the embryo is lost in the process of establishing one continuous cell line. However, new scientific findings show that a human embryonic stem cell line can be established from one single cell of the blastomere stage without affecting the vitality of the embryo. This technique can also be used to generate human embryonic stem cell lines from non-viable blastocysts (which are discarded anyway by IVF clinics).

Currently, the best defined and most extensively used stem cell treatments are based on adult stem cells, including blood stem cell transplantation to treat diseases and conditions of the blood and immune system. Pluripotent stem cells themselves cannot directly be used for therapies as in their undifferentiated state. They will first need to be coaxed into specialised cell types before transplantation. Therefore, it is critical that these cells are proven safe and efficacious in preclinical and controlled clinical trials. Many potential stem cell-based treatments are currently being tested in animal models and a few have been brought to clinical trials, with the first phase 1/2 clinical trial approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010.

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Stem cell research - novonordisk.com