For the first time ever, South African scientists have generated non-embryonic stem cells, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has announced. Harvested from adult skin cells, theoretically, these stem cells can grow into any type of adult cell.

And by any type of adult cell, they mean anything from brain cells to heart cells.

The breakthrough also means new research into regenerative medicine can be conducted locally, and will enable researchers to investigate rare diseases without having to use human subjects.

The scientists have replicated techniques developed by Japanese researchers in 2007, and the “induced adult pluripotent stem cells” will be important for researchers investigating diseases affecting Africans, the CSIR continued.

CSIR head of gene expression and biophysics, Musa Mhlanga:

Cutting-edge medical research is not useful to Africans if knowledge is being created and applied only in the developed world. Given the high disease burden in Africa, our aim is to become creators of knowledge, as well as innovators and expert practitioners of the newest and best technologies.

Post-doctoral fellow, Janine Scholefield, continued:

The other critical thing is the cells [that will be grown] are an exact genetic match to the person who donated the skin cells, so we can circumvent the problem of tissue rejection. We can also develop models of disease in a petri dish in the laboratory.

The CSIR said that adult-generated stem cells were more ethically acceptable to people who objected to using stem cells from embryos.

Professor of immunology at the University of Pretoria, Michael Pepper:

We are getting closer to using stem cells as part of routine medical practice, but are still a long way off from using these cells for degenerative diseases of the central nervous system.

We now join the several hundred other clinical trials using adult stem cells around the world.

[Source: BusinessDay]