Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered a method to potentially eliminate the tumor-risk factor in utilizing human embryonic stem cells. Their work paves the way for further progress in the promising field of stem cell therapy.
Human embryonic stem cells are theoretically capable of differentiation to all cells of the mature human body (and are hence defined as "pluripotent"). This ability, along with the ability to remain undifferentiated indefinitely in culture, make regenerative medicine using human embryonic stem cells a potentially unprecedented tool for the treatment of various diseases, including diabetes, Parkinson's disease and heart failure.
A major drawback to the use of stem cells, however, remains the demonstrated tendency of such cells to grow into a specific kind of tumor, called teratoma, when they are implanted in laboratory experiments into mice. It is assumed that this tumorigenic feature will be manifested upon transplantation to human patients as well. The development of tumors from embryonic stem cells is especially puzzling given that these cells start out as completely normal cells.
A team of researchers at the Stem Cell Unit in the Department of Genetics at the Silberman Institute of Life Sciences at the Hebrew University has been working on various approaches to deal with this problem.