Human embryonic stem cells have been successfully grown into a cell line for the first time in the UK.
Researchers at King鈥檚 College London managed to generate the embryonic stem cell (ESC) line using discarded embryos from couples who were having their embryos screened for genetic disorders.
鈥淲e are very excited about this development,鈥� says Stephen Minger who, with Susan Pickering, led the research team. 鈥淗uman ESCs are capable of giving rise to all the different types of cell in the body. This means their possible therapeutic uses are almost endless and could help in the fight against diseases ranging from diabetes to Parkinson鈥檚.鈥�
Advertisement
The breakthrough, announced by the team on Wednesday, has been greeted enthusiastically by the UK鈥檚 scientific community.
鈥淭his is an exciting day for UK science. Stem cells offer new hope for treatments, and even cures, for many common diseases but a huge amount of research is needed,鈥� says George Radda, chief executive of the UK鈥檚 Medical Research Council (MRC).
Multiplying by millions
A human ESC line is a set of ESCs all developed from a single embryo, which are multiplied in the lab while maintaining their primitive state. In this way, 50 cells can ultimately generate millions of cells for research.
The first human ESC lines were developed by Jamie Thomson in the US in 1999. Since then, other countries including Australia, India and Sweden have also developed them.
鈥淪ome scientists had feared that the UK was falling behind,鈥� says Robin Lovell-Badge, head of developmental genetics at the MRC鈥檚 National Institute for Medical Research. 鈥淏ut we should be proud that it now has a regulatory system offering a reasonable degree of checks and balances 鈥� unlike many other countries where the work is either prohibited altogether, entirely un-regulated or an ethically bizarre mixture of the two, as in the US.鈥�
Incredibly difficult
The ESCs in the new UK line are 鈥渋ncredibly鈥� difficult to maintain in their primitive, undeveloped state, Minger told New 杏吧原创. The slightest stress will make them differentiate into more mature cells, he says.
The ESCs express certain surface markers and stem cell master proteins including Oct-4 and Nanog that confirm they are indeed unspecialised cells. The new line will go into the UK鈥檚 stem cell bank from which researchers can access material for a nominal fee.
The work has been accepted by Reproductive Biomedicine online edition, and is due to be published in August.