据9月25日的《科学》（Science）杂志报道说，应用不会自身被整合到宿主基因组内的病毒，科学家已经研发出了一种能产生“诱导全能干细胞”（iPS 细胞）的方法，因而绕过了使得以往iPS细胞的成功遭到破坏的一个经常遇到的问题。 过去，科学家们已经培育出了类似胚胎干细胞的iPS细胞，他们所用的方法包括通过可能有害的病毒将特别的DNA-结合蛋白导入到细胞中，而这种做法常常改变了这些细胞的基因组并引起动物中的肿瘤。这一新的发现证明，人们可以培育出没有永久性基因损害的iPS，而这种以往的基因损害与人们的设计有关。这一发现代表了人们在未来临床上应用iPS细胞迈出了重大的一步。
Matthias Stadtfeld及其同事培育出了他们的iPS细胞（这些细胞具有成长为多种其它如肺、脑及心脏细胞等特别细胞的潜能），他们说，他们还没有观察到这些细胞有任何有害的副作用。过去，类似的重新编程细胞显示，它们可以减轻小鼠模型中巴金森氏病和镰刀样贫血的症状。因此这一新的发现可能也会导致对人类疾病的细胞疗法的进展。但是，研究人员说，重要的是，人们需要测定用这种方法生产的人类iPS细胞在可能的临床应用中是否和人类胚胎干细胞一样有效。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Science，DOI: 10.1126/science.1162494，Matthias Stadtfeld，Konrad Hochedlinger
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Generated Without Viral Integration
Matthias Stadtfeld 1, Masaki Nagaya 2, Jochen Utikal 1, Gordon Weir 2, Konrad Hochedlinger 1*
1 Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Center for Regenerative Medicine, 185 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA.; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.; Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.; Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
2 Section on Islet Transplantation and Cell Biology, Joslin Diabetes Center, One Joslin Place, Boston, MA 02115, USA.; Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Pluripotent stem cells have been generated from mouse and human somatic cells by viral expression of the transcription factors Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc. A major limitation of this technology is the use of potentially harmful genome-integrating viruses. Here, we generate mouse induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) from fibroblasts and liver cells by using nonintegrating adenoviruses transiently expressing Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc. These adenoviral iPS (adeno-iPS) cells show DNA demethylation characteristic of reprogrammed cells, express endogenous pluripotency genes, form teratomas, and contribute to multiple tissues, including the germ line, in chimeric mice. Our results provide strong evidence that insertional mutagenesis is not required for in vitro reprogramming. Adenoviralreprogramming may provide an improved method for generating and studying patient-specific stem cells and for comparing embryonic stem cells and iPS cells.
