Researchers from UCL have discovered a new technique to assess the viability of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The technique will allow them to quick test iPSCs before they are use in a stem cell transplant, leading to better outcomes for transplant recipients. The research about assessing stem cells that led to the finding was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.
Pluripotent stem cells have the ability to differentiate into many types of cells, including skin, bone, blood and brain cells. “Induced” refers to the way these stem cells were created — they have been artificially created form genetically modified skin or blood cells. The modification causes the adult skin or blood cells to revert to an earlier period in their life cycle, when they were stem cells.
iPSCs have been the subject of a huge amount of research in recent years. Scientists are testing the feasibility of using iPSCs to treat cancer, Parkinson’s disease, liver disease, macular degeneration and many more illnesses.
The power of the iPSCs comes from their ability to differentiate into other types of cells when they enter the body. However, some iPSCs are unable to differentiate into as many types of cells as others or their cell lines are defective.
One of the researchers, Dr Lee Stirling, explains why the ability to test the viability of iPSCs is so important: “When generating iPSCs it is clearly beneficial to identify ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cell lines. Good cell lines offer optimal differentiation capacity and are therefore the most useful for research. However establishing the quality of these cell lines using traditional ways of assessment is costly and time-consuming. We were looking to find a way to expedite this process and we think part of the solution lies in using DNA methylation as a biomarker for differentiation capacity.”
DNA methylation is a change to the genetic material (DNA) of a cell which changes how the cell behaves. The researchers used a type of methylation that only occurs in stem cells (non-CG methylation) to see if there was a link between it and the differentiation capacity of iPSCs.
This successful research has the potential to be very helpful in the field of regenerative medicine, which commonly uses iPSCs to regrow and rehabilitate various types of tissue throughout the body.
Source: Assessing Stem Cells: New Biomarker Developed
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