Source: Source: Stanford University Medical Center
Date: January 5, 2009
Summary:
Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine and at UC-San Francisco have succeeded in isolating stem cells from human testes. The cells bear a striking resemblance to embryonic stem cells — they can differentiate into each of the three main types of tissues of the body — but the researchers caution against viewing them as one and the same.
According to the study, the testes stem cells have different patterns of gene expression and regulation and they do not proliferate and differentiate as aggressively as human embryonic stem cells. The findings, published in the January issue of the journal Stem Cells, are in contrast to those reported in a recent Nature paper, which concluded that the cells were, in fact, as pluripotent as embryonic stem cells. Pluripotent cells can become any cell in the body and form tumors called teratomas when transplanted into mice.
