7/23/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers find a safer way to reprogram normal cells into stem cells, using RNA instead of DNA. In recent years, scientists have shown that they can reprogram human skin cells to an immature state that allows the cells to become any type of cell. This ability, known as pluripotency, holds the promise of treating many diseases by transforming the patients' own cells into replacements for the nonfunctioning tissue. However, the current technique of reprogramming the cells using viruses to carry the DNA, carries the risk of disrupting the cell's genome and leading it to become cancerous. Now, researchers have shown that they can deliver those same reprogramming genes using RNA, the genetic material that normally ferries instructions from DNA to the cell's protein-making machinery. This method could prove much safer than DNA-based reprogramming, say the researchers, Associate Professor of Electrical and Biological Engineering Mehmet Fatih Yanik and electrical engineering graduate student Matthew Angel of MIT.