Source: Associated Press
Date: August 7, 2008
Summary:
The Associated Press reports researchers at Harvard University created stem cell lines for 10 genetic diseases:
"Harvard scientists say they have created stems cells for 10 genetic disorders, which will allow researchers to watch the diseases develop in a lab dish. This early step, using a new technique, could help speed up efforts to find treatments for some of the most confounding ailments, the scientists said."
Below is a summary of additional media coverage of this story from various news sources:
Canwest News Service, August 8, 2008: "Scientists use stem cells to help decipher diseases: Process may make it possible to find new drugs and treatments":
In what could be the first step toward recreating a disease in a Petri dish, scientists have created a new set of stem cell lines that contain the basic genetic components of 10 incurable diseases, from Down syndrome to diabetes and Parkinson's.
The newly created trove of stem cell lines will allow researchers "to watch the disease progress in a dish, to watch what goes right or wrong," says Doug Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
Agence France Presse (AFP), August 8, 2008 6:42 PM ET: "US team creates stem cells of 10 incurable diseases":
"US scientists have cultivated a new line of stem cells that reproduce the genetic defects responsible for 10 incurable diseases such as muscular dystrophy and Parkinson's disease, a study said. The team managed to convert ordinary skin and bone tissue cells from patients with these diseases into stem cells which contain the same genetic fault. This could help step up research into finding an eventual cure, the study said in the latest edition of Cell magazine.
HealthDay News, August 7, 2008: "Disease-Specific Stem Cell Lines Developed: Should advance both research and future treatments, scientists say"
"Researchers in Massachusetts have succeeded in generating several disease-specific stem cell lines which should advance both research and, one day, treatment. ...The current paper in Cell describes a similar process, taking cells from patients aged 1 month to 57 years and suffering from one of 10 conditions including Down Syndrome, Parkinson's, Huntington's disease, muscular dystrophy and type 1 diabetes, and using iPS to produce pluripotent, undifferentiated stem cells."
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, August 7, 2008: "Scientists Replicate Diseases in the Lab with New Stem Cell Lines":
A set of new stem cell lines will make it possible for researchers to explore ten different genetic disorders—including muscular dystrophy, juvenile diabetes, and Parkinson's disease—in a variety of cell and tissue types as they develop in laboratory cultures. Researchers led by Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator George Q. Daley have converted cells from individuals with the diseases into stem cells with the same genetic errors. These newly-created stem cells will allow researchers to reproduce human tissue formation in a Petri dish as it occurs in individuals with any of the ten diseases, a vast improvement over current technology. Like all stem cells, these disease-specific stem cells grow indefinitely, and scientists can coax them into becoming a variety of cell types."
Medical News Today, 07 August 2008 - 12:00 PDT: "Scientists Create Disease-Specific Stem Cell Lines":
"US researchers have found a way to produce immortal cell strains and tissue types from diseased patients by converting their cells into pluripotent stem cells with the same genetic errors. The new cell lines will enable scientists to investigate ten different genetic disorders like Parkinson's, muscular dystrophy, and type 1 diabetes in the test tube instead of in the patient, a huge step forward compared to current methods."
Reuters, August 7, 2008 12:00pm EDT: "Skin cells produce library of diseased stem cells":
"U.S. stem cell experts have produced a library of the powerful cells using ordinary skin and bone marrow cells from patients, and said on Thursday they would share them freely with other researchers. They used a new method to re-program ordinary cells so they look and act like embryonic stem cells -- the master cells of the body with the ability to produce any type of tissue or blood cell."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 7, 2008: "Harvard scientists create new stem cell lines: Advance could further research into 10 diseases":
"Harvard scientists have reprogrammed the cells of patients with various genetic illnesses back to an embryonic state, creating a bank of cells that researchers can use to study and fight disease. The 20 new cell lines span 10 different diseases and conditions, including Parkinson’s and Down syndrome. They will offer scientists the chance to watch diseases progress in a laboratory dish and give researchers new targets for drugs."
The Press Association, August 7, 2008: "Experts in stem cell breakthrough":
"Scientists say they have created stem cells for 10 genetic disorders, which will allow researchers to watch the diseases develop in a lab dish. This early step, using a new technique, could help speed up efforts to find treatments for some of the most confounding ailments, the Harvard scientists said."
Bloomberg News, August 7, 2008: "Harvard Team Makes 10 Disease-Bearing Stem Cell Lines":
"Harvard University scientists have made lines of stem cells, able to turn into any other cell in the body, from bits of skin or blood of 10 patients with genetic diseases including muscular dystrophy and juvenile diabetes. The findings will help researchers decipher the workings of these diseases, enabling them to study what happens as cells that carry a condition's genetic seeds develop and age. The lines will be made available for a 'nominal fee' to researchers around the world, the Harvard scientists said."
Nature, 7 August 2008: "Ten diseases in a dish: Disease-specific cell lines will help the study and treatment of medical conditions.":
"It is “the beginning of studying thousands of diseases in a Petri dish,” according to researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who have reprogrammed cells from patients with a wide range of diseases into stem cells. They promise to provide these stem-cell lines — cultures of constantly-dividing cells — “virtually free” to researchers across the world."
