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Bridget M. Kuehn

JAMA. 2005;294:1883-1884.

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

New research has provided evidence that human embryonic stem cells grown in culture accumulate changes in their genetic material over time that might limit the usefulness of aging stem cell lines.

Using new and highly sensitive array technology, an international team of researchers has identified alterations in chromosomes and certain genes occurring over time in federally approved stem cell lines. Epigenetic changes, which are changes involving factors within a cell that can change the cell’s phenotype without altering its genotype, in the cell lines were also identified. These findings by Maitra et al were published September 4 in the journal Nature Genetics (http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/index.html.html).

Aging human embryonic stem cell lines accumulate changes in their genetic material that might limit their usefulness. (Photo credit: www.sciencesource.com)

Previous studies have yielded conflicting results about the genetic stability of stem cells (Brimble et al. Stem Cells Dev. 2004;13:585-597; . . . [Full Text of this Article]

A RED FLAG