3 ms·

Very cool research! The title is poorly worded, so the quick summary is that we've known how to create stem cells (induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs) fro

Very cool research! The title is poorly worded, so the quick summary is that we've known how to create stem cells (induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs) from non-stem human cells for a while, but they aren't as "good" at being stem cells as embryonic stem cells (ESCs). So this paper is not presenting a new way of making stem cells, but is very cool nonetheless. Sidequest - epigenetics. You have your DNA that codes for the proteins and rnas that do lot sof important life things. But all your cells have the same DNA so how is a skin cell and a neuron both able to exist with the same DNA? There's a layer of regulation on top of the genes that determines what genes are expressed, how much, and what forms (you can get different proteins from the same DNA sequence, look up exons and introns if curious). If these forces of gene regulation are inherited across generations of cells (e.g. when a white blood cells divides, it makes another white blood cell with all those relevant regulatory factors set without having to start again from a stem cells), we call that "epigenetics" This paper looked at the epigenetic factors that result in iPSCs not behaving like ESCs and identified differences/aberrations in how certain epigenetic patterns (some keywords to Google include DNA methylation and histones in epigenetics) develop through the process of becoming stem cells/reprogramming. The technique they developed resets the aberrations in the iPSCs to make them function better. (Warning - opinion/speculation/I reserve the right to be wrong): This is very cool in terms of making better iPSCs for research purposes. I'm not sure what impact it would have in using iPSCs in medicine. iPSCs are essentially barely controlled cancer cells which is not great for putting inside people, and this paper doesn't provide a new way of creating stem cells. Maybe better reprogramming makes them easier to control and safer/more functiononal? But using them therapeutically is a different conversation and not every paper needs to solve all the things in the universe, even if that would make for a more clickable title.

pfisherman 3y ago
iPSCs are useful when you want to run experiments in hard to obtain cell types. For example, brain cells. It’s hard to justify drilling into a person’s head to take a sample. Much easier to use some iPSCs derived from skin or fat cells. Obviously iPSCs are cell models and not the actual cells you want, but they are usually better than immortalized cell lines or cadavers.
- whoisshop 3y ago
  I believe the original comment wasn't written to say that he doesn't know how iPSCs can be useful (obviously they are very useful), but he doesn't know how this breakthrough/paper makes much of a difference. He's getting at the fact that we've known how to induce pleuropotency for quite some time (I did some reach in this in orthopaedics in 2010), which is what the article title is misleading us to believe.
  - pfisherman 3y ago
    I was adding in a little bit of context to explain why people should care about iPSCs - even if they are not used as therapies. Mainly because the last paragraph in GP comment focused on the dearth of direct clinical applications. My point is that iPSCs are still quite useful in pharmaceutical research and development - a therapy adjacent area. Improved cell models are still a pretty big deal. Part of the reason for high costs and failure rates in pharma R&D is that experimental models we use to generate data are imperfect. Better models = better data = better decisions.
    - JimtheCoder 3y ago
      "Mainly because the last paragraph in GP comment focused on the dearth of direct clinical applications." I am not sure why everyone is convinced that they will not be very useful in therapies... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6357081/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6357081/
      - pfisherman 3y ago
        Well, when one compares to other cell therapies such as CAR-Ts… https://www.nature.com/articles/s41571-023-00754-1 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41571-023-00754-1
    - vikramkr 3y ago
      I was responding to the article which focused really heavily on therapeutic applications, hence my focus in the last paragraph there
darkclouds 3y ago
> create stem cells (induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs) from non-stem human cells for a while, Have some liposuction, chemically and mechanically alter some of the fat cells into iPSC's in the test tube, that's more like a factory process, that conjures up images of 90's garage based Ecstasy labs, before reinjecting back into the body. Its not something the body can do itself, and its one of the things used in cancer treatments to boost the number of immune cells to compliment the chemical cocktail that you'll never find in Wetherspoons. It should be noted that melatonin increases the release of stem cells from bone marrow, so getting plenty of sleep seems to be important, throughout life.
- vikramkr 3y ago
  I think you're referring to a different type of stem cells, multipotent stem cells like mesenchymal cells or hematopoietic cells. iPSCs aren't used in a process like that at this time
  - darkclouds 3y ago
    Maybe definitions have changed since this article was written in 2014? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4172675/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4172675/ Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) provide a novel source for generating adipocytes,
    - vikramkr 3y ago
      Mscs are just a type of multipotent stem cell, and iPSCs can be differentiated into them. For any of the msc therapies today though you won't use iPSCs, you'll just get mscs directly from adipose tissue

pfisherman 3y ago

iPSCs are useful when you want to run experiments in hard to obtain cell types. For example, brain cells. It’s hard to justify drilling into a person’s head to take a sample. Much easier to use some iPSCs derived from skin or fat cells. Obviously iPSCs are cell models and not the actual cells you want, but they are usually better than immortalized cell lines or cadavers.

whoisshop 3y ago
I believe the original comment wasn't written to say that he doesn't know how iPSCs can be useful (obviously they are very useful), but he doesn't know how this breakthrough/paper makes much of a difference. He's getting at the fact that we've known how to induce pleuropotency for quite some time (I did some reach in this in orthopaedics in 2010), which is what the article title is misleading us to believe.
- pfisherman 3y ago
  I was adding in a little bit of context to explain why people should care about iPSCs - even if they are not used as therapies. Mainly because the last paragraph in GP comment focused on the dearth of direct clinical applications. My point is that iPSCs are still quite useful in pharmaceutical research and development - a therapy adjacent area. Improved cell models are still a pretty big deal. Part of the reason for high costs and failure rates in pharma R&D is that experimental models we use to generate data are imperfect. Better models = better data = better decisions.
  - JimtheCoder 3y ago
    "Mainly because the last paragraph in GP comment focused on the dearth of direct clinical applications." I am not sure why everyone is convinced that they will not be very useful in therapies... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6357081/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6357081/
    - pfisherman 3y ago
      Well, when one compares to other cell therapies such as CAR-Ts… https://www.nature.com/articles/s41571-023-00754-1 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41571-023-00754-1
  - vikramkr 3y ago
    I was responding to the article which focused really heavily on therapeutic applications, hence my focus in the last paragraph there

darkclouds 3y ago

> create stem cells (induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs) from non-stem human cells for a while, Have some liposuction, chemically and mechanically alter some of the fat cells into iPSC's in the test tube, that's more like a factory process, that conjures up images of 90's garage based Ecstasy labs, before reinjecting back into the body. Its not something the body can do itself, and its one of the things used in cancer treatments to boost the number of immune cells to compliment the chemical cocktail that you'll never find in Wetherspoons. It should be noted that melatonin increases the release of stem cells from bone marrow, so getting plenty of sleep seems to be important, throughout life.

vikramkr 3y ago
I think you're referring to a different type of stem cells, multipotent stem cells like mesenchymal cells or hematopoietic cells. iPSCs aren't used in a process like that at this time
- darkclouds 3y ago
  Maybe definitions have changed since this article was written in 2014? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4172675/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4172675/ Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) provide a novel source for generating adipocytes,
  - vikramkr 3y ago
    Mscs are just a type of multipotent stem cell, and iPSCs can be differentiated into them. For any of the msc therapies today though you won't use iPSCs, you'll just get mscs directly from adipose tissue