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Bridget M. Kuehn

JAMA. 2005;294:1475-1476.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Using a technique that has been used in scientific investigations for decades, scientists have turned back the clock on human adult cells and reprogrammed them to become stem cells. In addition to possibly leading to an alternative means of stem cell production in the future, the new approach may provide insight into the underlying developmental processes of stem cells and offer researchers a new tool for studying disease.

However, there is at least one huge technical hurdle standing in the way of using this technique for developing therapies to treat patients.

The team of scientists from Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass, fused human embryonic stem cells with skin cells from an adult man and found that the adult cells reverted to an embryonic state (Cowan et al. Science. 2005;309:1369-1373). Previously, other scientists used the same technique to reprogram adult mouse cells to an embryonic state (Tada . . . [Full Text of this Article]

NEW APPROACH