Source: Journal of Clinical Investigation
Date: January 17, 2011
Summary:
In new research, Noriyuki Tsumaki and his team at the Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, used fibroblasts isolated from adult mouse skin, and expressed proteins used to induce pluripotency along with a factor that promotes a chondrocyte fate. The resulting cells resembled chondrocytes and produced cartilage when injected into mice. This may be an important step toward a therapy that will allow the repair of cartilage injury using a patient's own skin cells.
In the study, researchers used fibroblasts isolated from adult mouse skin, and expressed proteins that have previously been used to induce pluripotency along with a factor that promotes a chondrocyte fate. This produced cells with traits that resembled chondrocytes and produced cartilage when injected into mice. The researchers believe this may be an important step toward a therapy that will allow th e repair of cartilage injury using a patient's own skin cells. The research is published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
