UNIVERSAL stem cells that can turn into any body tissue have been extracted
from the bone marrow of mice. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the final nail in the coffin of the idea
that cells are irreversibly fated,鈥� says Neil Theise of New York University
School of Medicine and a co-leader of the study.
Theise and his colleagues discovered the versatile stem cells after
transplanting purified bone marrow cells from male mice into female mice. Cells
from male donors were found in organs such as the lungs, liver, skin and gut
(Cell, vol 105, p 369).
Other researchers are sceptical. 鈥淚t must go through the process of
duplication and verification in other labs,鈥� says Irving Weissman, a stem cell
expert at Standford Medical School in California.
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