Enthused Ink: In mice, skin cells induced to turn straight into neurons. No stem cell-like intermediate needed.
Hmm. Do medical science writers have to forget now a supposed truth of developmental biology – that most if not all cells in fully developed tissues have lost their capacity to rewire their gene expressions and turn into something else? That supposed barrier lies behind the fuss about stem cells in medicine, including use of induced pluripotent stems cells, or iPS cells, that can bridge the gap.
The news, in Nature, is that a team of Stanford Sch. of Medicine Researchers reports that with the deft manipulation of three genes, they prompted mouse skins cells to convert directly into functioning neurons. Stanford’s press release (in Grist below) declared “The finding could revolutionize the future of human stem cell therapy,” a theme picked up by reporters.
Time is short this morning and time to file is upon me, so let’s go straight to a few samples of outlets using this news (also see, a few posts down. Pere Estupinyà’s post on how it played in some Spanish language outlets).
Stories:
- Financial Times (UK) Clive Cookson: Skin cells turned directly into neurons ; He leads with Stanford’s description of this as a huge step.
- USA Today – Elizabeth Weise: A ‘huge leap forward’ for stem cell research ;
- Times (UK) Hannah Devlin: Neuron breakthrough offers hope on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s ; The hed jumps ahead of the facts quite a bit while narrowing the news’s scope ; the story itself is well-reported.
- Daily Mail (UK) David Derbyshire: Scientists transform skin cells to brain cells in a pioneering study that could benefit sufferers of Alzhaimer’s and Parkinson’s ; Hmmm. The hed is ambitious, as it Derbyshire’s leap to imagining that doctors can now hope to repair Alzheimer’s by injecting freshly-made nerve cells. “Hope” is a word with wiggle room, but still…
- Reuters – Maggie Fox: Skin cells transformed directly to nerve in study ; Runs with a Fact Box and a Q&A with the lead researrch, Why Is This Important? ;
- HealthDay News – Amanda Gardner: Scientists Turn Mouse Skin Cells Into Nerve Cells / Finding could revolutionize stem cell therapy, but much research remains to be done ; She calls the findings radical.
- Sydney Morning Herald – Deborah Smith: Cure for brain diseases closer as adult skin cells turned into nerves ; Hmm. Sometimes one can overdo desire to tell readers how this news matters. Curing brain diseases, sure, maybe. Also curing lots of other things, or nothing.
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Mark Johnson: Scientists convert cells while bypassing embryonic state ; This, he writes, is a feat of biological alchemy.
Plenty more too…
Grist for the Mill: Stanford School of Medicine Press Release ;
- Charlie Petit
