New Bone Grown from Monkey’s Own Skin Cells

Researchers have been able to grow new bone using a monkey’s own skin cells.

The US study is the first time such a development has been shown in an animal that is similar to humans.

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Professor Martin Pera, program leader of the ARC Stem Cells Australia, says the work, published today in Cell Reports, is “another step towards the development of safe stem cell therapies for human disease”.

The study uses induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which are derived from adult skin cells and can be reprogrammed to work as other cells.

Pera says pluripotent stem cells can be used to make any type of healthy human tissue and therefore have great potential for treatment of disease.

However, he adds, knowledge of whether stem cell therapies will be safe and effective in a clinical setting is limited.

Senior author of the new study, Dr Cynthia Dunbar, at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in the US, says their findings go some way in addressing these concerns and sidesteps ethical issues surrounding the use of embryonic stem cells.

Previous work in this field has relied on scientists giving human iPSC products to immunodeficient mice, she says.

“But because of the species differences, the cells do not behave normally in mice, and the lack of the immune system means that issues of immune rejection or inflammation cannot be studied,” says Dunbar.