Scientists in Germany have discovered a way to obtain neuronal
somatic stem cells in mice from fully differentiated somatic cells.
The linchpin of Stelic's business strategy is the patenting of
somatic stem cell therapy concepts.
In the recent decade,
somatic stem cells have become attractive tools for cell therapy and regenerative medicine due to their proliferation and differentiation potential as well as established isolation and propagation protocols that promote a high standard of purity and functionality of the cells when applied in vivo.
Lin, "Yb, modulates the divisions of both germline and
somatic stem cells through piwi-, and hh- mediated mechanisms in the Drosophila ovary," Molecular Cell, vol.
Berg andM.A.Goodell, "An argument against a role for Oct4 in
somatic stem cells," Cell Stem Cell, vol.
Though immune therapy and regenerative medicine are promising areas of research for future medical therapies, they are limited today by the difficulty of creating stem cells, and scientists around the world are searching for ways to create
somatic stem cells in the easiest way possible.
Chondrogenic differentiation of human umbilical cord blood-derived unrestricted
somatic stem cells on A 3D beta-tricalcium phosphate-alginate-gelatin scaffold.
This was a surprise, Matunis says, and left a puzzle: Where were the new
somatic stem cells coming from?
"When we finally figured out a way to kill off all the
somatic stem cells, we thought that the rest of the tissue would probably just empty out, " she said.
These cells are also known as
somatic stem cells or as germline stem cells, meaning that they are both pluripotent and multipotent.
Interestingly, Oct4 is dispensable for both self-renewal and maintenance of
somatic stem cells in the adult mammal cells (8).