Researchers are now able to reprogram adult cells into pluripotent cells though nuclear transfusion.
Pluripotency is the ability of stem cells to develop into other cells found in the body. This can include cells from the "brain, heart, liver and blood," a The Hebrew University of Jerusalem news release reported.
In 2012 the Nobel Prize in Psychology or Medicine was awarded to two works of research that differentiated cells can be converted into pluripotent embryonic like cells through "forced genetic expression of genetic factors or by transfer of cell nuclei into female eggs, in a process called 'reprogramming," the news release reported.
Those studies showed this type of stem cell conversion was possible through nuclear transfer were possible, but this had never been accomplished until now.
"Human pluripotent stem cells generated from adult cells may change the face of medicine," Nissim Benvenisty, the Herbert Cohn professor of Cancer Research and director of the Stem Cell Unit at the Institute of Life Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said in the news release.
Another study grew stem cells from the hearts of patients who had suffered serious heart damage, 14 of the 16 patients experienced improved heart function after four months. After a year the patients showed even more improvement as the stem cells grew into fully-functioning heart cells, Forbes reported.
In a review of 23 studies that looked at stem cell therapy and heart disease, almost all of them showed promise of a long-term reduction of death risk. In one study eight out of 24 patients died in a group that received stem cell therapy when compared with 30 out of 162 in the group that did not receive treatment.
Heart disease is the top cause of death in the United States, Forbes reported. Stem cell therapy could help cut down those numbers.
