Before it was learned that matter burns by taking up oxygen, most chemists sought to explain combustion as the release of a mysterious substance, which they named "phlogiston". Phlogiston theory was a conceptual breakthrough that helped chemists conduct experiments and share ideas. Only when it came to pinning down the distinctive physical properties of phlogiston did it become clear that no such thing exists. Now an opinion piece by Arthur Lander, published in BioMed Central's open access Journal of Biology, argues that the idea of stem cells-a major conceptual breakthrough in biology-is running into similar troubles as investigators try to pin it down to a set of distinctive molecular characteristics.
Professor Lander, Director of the Center for Complex Biological Systems at the University of California, Irvine, USA, argues that neither of the two properties that define 'stem cells' as they are popularly discussed, potency and self-renewal, can be ascribed an exclusive molecular basis, and that both are seen in cell types not usually described as stem cells. He said, "It is curious that, after 45 years, we are unable to place the notion of 'stemness' on a purely molecular footing. Of course, the fact that a goal has not been achieved after a long time does not mean that the answer is not around the corner. But it does give one cause to wonder whether something we are doing needs to change, either in the question we are asking or the way we are approaching it".