Induced pluripotent stem cells don't increase genetic mutations
Despite its immense promise, adoption of iPSCs in biomedical research and medicine has been slowed by concerns that these cells are prone to increased numbers of genetic mutations. A new study by scientists at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health, suggests that iPSCs do not develop more mutations than cells that are duplicated by subcloning. Subcloning is a technique where single cells are cultured individually and then grown into a cell line. The technique is similar to the iPSC except the subcloned cells are not treated with the reprogramming factors which were thought to cause mutations. The researchers published their findings on February 6, 2017, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . "This technology will eventually change how doctors treat diseases. These findings suggest that the question of safety shouldn't impede research using iPSC," said Pu Paul Liu, M.D., Ph.D., co-author, se...