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Stem cells

Troublesome memories

Nature volume 467, pages 280–281 (2010)Cite this article

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Methods for generating embryonic-like stem cells have been established. The focus now is on finding ways to coax these cells into matching their natural counterparts as closely as possible, should this be desired.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', the protagonist, Benjamin Button, is born with the physical appearance of a 70-year-old man but is then progressively rejuvenated until he reaches an infantile stage characterized by complete memory loss: “There were no troublesome memories in his childish sleep,” Scott Fitzgerald tells us. A few years ago, Shinya Yamanaka developed a technique of reprogramming that could produce embryonic-like stem cells from differentiated cells1. In many ways, these cells, known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), are the cellular equivalents of Benjamin Button. But emerging evidence indicates that they retain certain characteristics that are not typical of embryonic stem cells (ESCs), which may compromise their suitability for use in genetic engineering and regenerative medicine.

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Figure 1: An embryonic-stem-cell beauty contest.

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  1. Thomas P. Zwaka is at the Baylor College of Medicine, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. tpzwaka@bcm.edu,

    Thomas P. Zwaka

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  1. Thomas P. Zwaka
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Zwaka, T. Troublesome memories. Nature 467, 280–281 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/467280a

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