Changing the Face of Medicine
Imagine what it would be like to have the two `holy grails`` of medicine united. New research is emerging that there may be a way to combine stem cell technology (stem cells are undifferentiated or `blank` cells found in the human body that have potential to develop into many different cell types to carry out different functions) and gene therapy (the insertion, alteration, or removal of genes within an individual`s cells and biological tissues to treat disease).
A recent study corrected a mutation in stem cells from a patient with cirrhotic liver disease (a chronic degenerative disease in which normal liver cells are damaged and are then replaced by scar tissue) that is one of the most common hereditary diseases affecting Europe. Presently, the only option is a liver transplant which also requires a lifetime of medications to avoid organ rejection. The research group took a patient`s skin cell and converted it to a stem cell; then using a molecular scalpel they cut out the single mutation and corrected the genetic fault by inserting the right letter.
When the stem cells were converted into liver cells, according to researchers, they were functioning beautifully. Though researchers acknowledge a critical step has been taken, they recognize the need for further research and safety tests that still need to be piloted. Currently patients with a genetic illness cannot use their own stem cells to cure the disease as those cells would also hold the tainted genetic coding.
Professor Robin Ali, from University College London and the Medical Research Council's stem cell translational research committee, said: ``It's very interesting. Most gene therapy is not correcting the gene, it's introducing a new copy of the gene, what's exciting is that this corrects. The big problem with individualized medicine is the cost --that is one of the major barriers.`` This new information has the potential to forever change the face of the medical and scientific worlds. This may be the hope that the masses of people with genetic conditions worldwide have been anticipating.www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature10424.html
