Cell reprogramming: hope, hurdles

Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012

PARIS Research in reprogrammed cells, which on Monday earned the 2012 Nobel Prize in medicine, has been hailed as a new dawn for regenerative medicine but remains troubled by several clouds.

Kyoto University's Shinya Yamanaka and Britain's John Gurdon were honored with the world's paramount award in medicine for induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

They discovered that a mature, adult cell can be turned back to an infant, versatile state called a stem cell.

First theorized in the late 19th century, stem cells are touted as a source of replacement tissue, fixing almost anything from malfunctioning hearts and lungs, damaged spines, Parkinson's disease or even baldness.

The first human trials were launched only in 2010, and progress has been dogged by the contested use of stem cells taken from early stage embryos, where the most adaptable, or pluripotent, cells are found.

Created by Yamanaka in 2006, iPSCs ease the moral row as they derive from adult cells, not embryos, said University of Oxford ethics professor Julian Savulescu.

Ordinary skin cells can be used as the starting material.

"Many people objected to the creation of embryos for research, describing it as cannibalizing human beings," Savulescu said.

George W. Bush "retarded the field for years" by blocking U.S. government funds for human embryonic stem cell research, a decision reversed in 2009 by his successor, President Barack Obama, he added.

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Cell reprogramming: hope, hurdles