Sickle Save: Skin cells fix anemia in mice
By Brian Vastag
Using a new technique to turn skin cells into stem cells, scientists have corrected sickle cell anemia in mice. The advance provides proof of principle that stem cells made without embryos can treat disease, at least in lab animals, says Rudolf Jaenisch, the biologist who led the work at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass.
Jaenisch and his team caution, however, that the technique is not yet suitable for use in humans because it may cause tumors.