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Published online 23 July 2009 | 460, 560 (2009) | doi:10.1038/460560a
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Mice made from induced stem cells
Technical feat shows that the different route to stem cells can indeed make a full mammal body.
Two teams of Chinese researchers have created live mice from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, answering a lingering question about the developmental potential of the cells.
Since Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan created the first iPS cells1 in 2006, researchers have wondered whether they could generate an entire mammalian body from iPS cells, as they have from true embryonic stem cells.
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OMG!!!
This is wonderful. I´ve always wondered if it happens in plants, why not animals? Abdulrazak Ibrahim, Zaria-Nigeria
Incredible feat, another reason why Yamanaka could be a candidate for the Nobel. I suspect some in the popular press will potray this technology as another doorway to human cloning.
It's cool!!!
Considering the recent affairs with unreproducible results, shouldn't everyone wait for verification before claiming success? One surving mouse doesn't confirm a hypothesis.
Of course this now means using human iPS cells for research now has all the same ethical dilemmas as using ES cells. As iPS cells have the capacity to form a fully functional organism, using/destroying them for research purposes equates to murder.
Congratulations to the researchers Qi Zhou and Fanyi Zeng as well as their teams! I sincerely hope that these results will be replicated soon. Despite the potential of iPS to generate a complete organism, for therapy they would be nevertheless ethically more "clean" than conventional ESC. Calling the use of iPS "murder" is exaggerated, ignorant and inappropriate. Women using coils as contraceptive effectively also kill embryos, as the conventioanl hormone-free coil does not prevent ovulation and fertilisation but the implantation of an embryo into the uterus. However, it would be also inappropriate to call these women "murderers". The iPS technology was developed to circumvent the ethical problems of ESC and succeeded in doing so. Yamanaka clearly deserves the Nobel prize, better sooner rather than later.
great achievement, congratulations to the researchers. however, i see no difference from conventional SCNT in terms of efficiency.
@DH Stevens - read the full article. They had 12 mice (at least) that survived long enough to breed. That's verification enough for me that their technique worked in this species. Question is, can it be shown to be applicable universally, and on levels that are more refined than the complete organism? The world doesn't need more lab-grown mice. What it needs are techniques that allow for the growth of functional organs, preferably derived from stem cells drawn from the intended recipient. Obviously, it's not ethical to "grow" a human fetus for the purpose of harvesting organs, so the utility of this experiment lies mainly in showing that a functional organism can be developed from something other than an embryo--but it's a step onward to the real goal.
Dr. Shinya Yamanaka developed a powerful tool. The Chinese teams showed by example that this tool is a miracle. A new door is open towards understanding life. More interesting than genome sequencing project.
@Elizabeth Platt Read the full article yourself. "Gao's team is now trying to mate its surviving mouse." Any reputable scientist would call this "rushing to press", before sufficient verification.
@DH Stevans. Did you miss out the part of Zhou and Zeng having third generation mice? Seems like you are implying Gao as a not so reputable scientist for the so-called rushing to press. Have you done better or just because he is a Chinese? Personally I understand this might be a bit rushed but to imply Gao as being not reputable is uncalled for. With teams from MIT unable to do it, even 1.1% is an achievement and not luck from Gao's team. Just my opinion.
wow!! we should keep trying hard till we disprove our hypothesis.. MIT too could have done it if they tried harder!! lessons learnt..
I am appreciate the teams.
Fabulous, this is a remarkable feat that will change the status of God and the nature of eternity forever. I wonder about the abnormalities that were created in the defective cases...do these poor souls know or suffer much before they die, or linger to be killed by their creators?
Really nice achievement. I wonder how long before they make it happen
God = 1000; Homo sapiens = 2
This is a remarkable achievement!
This is very reasonable achivement.There are many people said that iPS cells are pluripotent and it is same as ES cells but here only we know the real mean of pluripotency.
It will be great to see additional confirmation from other labs around the world.
A remarkable feat...If the mice breeding is in third generation, there are good chances to believe that the technique is clicked and could be reproducible.
Outstanding breakthrough, from both a biological and an ethical perspective. Perhaps we can now invest a little more in this avenue for the development of SC with therapeutic potential.
wonderful achievement, another example for what bioengineering can do, bless our future!
On July 28th, 2009 Shi Liu posted the following comment under the Nature News but it was never logged. Here's the comment, courtesy of DH Stevans: "Can we calm down a little bit and see if the passage of some incorrectly programmed stem cells (iPSCs) may be a harmful thing to mice now and to humans in future? We now know that iPSCs are not "indistinguishable" from ESCs and many of Yamanaka’s "safe" iPSCs showed tumor/cancer formation (see details at http://im1.biz/iPS.htm ). Why the researchers have not systematically looked tumor formation on the IPSCs generated here in the Yamanaka way? Why the team wouldn't even reveal the details of the "abnormalities"? Is the higher than 97% death rate a real success or a great failure even in the reproductive cloning sense?"
I hope there will be a wonderful world in medicine.