Source: University of Wisconsin - Madison
Date: December 6, 2007
Summary:
For the first time, scientists have used human embryonic stem cells to predict the toxic effects of drugs and provide chemical clues to diagnosing disease. Writing this week in the journal Stem Cells and Development, a team led by UW-Madison biologist Gabriela Cezar reports the use of all-purpose stem cells to elicit and identify the telltale chemical signals secreted by the cells when exposed to a drug known to cause autism. The work is important because it is a critical first step toward fulfilling the promise of embryonic stem cells not only to screen drugs for safety but one day, possibly, to use the cells themselves as crucibles for making new drugs. What's more, the work shows that stem cells have an immediate clinical application as they generate chemicals, biomarkers, that can be used to predict the onset of disease, much like cholesterol or sugar in the blood can be used to forecast heart disease or diabetes.
