Scientists discover stem cell trigger
Gareth Walsh

SCIENTISTS have made a breakthrough in cell research that they believe brings the prospect of drastic improvements in the treatment of diseases such as Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.
According to reports yesterday they have discovered the chemical trigger that causes stem cells from embryos to start developing into organs, raising the possibility of parts of the body being able to repair their own damage.

Scientists have already established that the stem cells found in embryos have the capacity to develop into all other types of human cell. Until now they have been unable to find the correct chemical mix to spur them artificially into changing into endoderm, the layer of cells in embryos that in turn gives rise to organs.

Researchers at CyThera, an American company, announced last week in Nature Biotechnology, the scientific journal, that they had developed a technique to produce highly enriched endoderm cultures. Their research proves that embryonic stem cells have the capacity to change in the laboratory into endoderm.

Emmanuel Baetge, scientific director of CyThera, said: “If you were to use human embryonic stem cells to make products that treat disease such as diabetes or liver failure, you would have to go through the endoderm stage to get (them).”

The CyThera research team described its work as “a critical step in generating scientifically and therapeutically useful cells”. It has also been hailed by colleagues who say that endoderm is notoriously difficult to obtain.