> The exchange of the oocyte’s genome with the genome of a somatic cell, followed by the derivation of pluripotent stem cells, could enable the generation of specific cells affected in degenerative human diseases. Such cells, carrying the patient’s genome, might be useful for cell replacement. Here we report that the development of human oocytes after genome exchange arrests at late cleavage stages in association with transcriptional abnormalities. In contrast, if the oocyte genome is not removed and the somatic cell genome is merely added, the resultant triploid cells develop to the blastocyst stage. Stem cell lines derived from these blastocysts differentiate into cell types of all three germ layers, and a pluripotent gene expression program is established on the genome derived from the somatic cell. This result demonstrates the feasibility of reprogramming human cells using oocytes and identifies removal of the oocyte genome as the primary cause of developmental failure after genome exchange.
"Oocyte" = egg cell. "Somatic" = normal (non-ovum/sperm) body cell. "Pluripotent" = capable of developing into all cell types.
This is huge. Recollected pluripotent cells can only be reproduced and divided a very limited number of times with the techniques we know so far (it used to be ~2x). A big problem was that only a very small amount of stem cells usable for treatment can be collected from ,say, like a placenta.
quick, let's get some of jobs skin cells! on a more serious note: I wonder whether the state of the skin cells matter - eg. would this work on conserved/dead skin cells as well?
