Stem cells may drive cancer

A Harvard researcher reported: “The promise of regnerative medicine to grow human tissue outside the body using pluripotent stem cells and to use that tissue to treat diseases such as diabetes has shown significant potential. But recent work by Harvard researchers determined that human pluripotent stem cells are prone to develop mutations in the TP53 gene, which ordinarily helps suppress cancer. The mutated versions of the TP53 found by the Harvard team, however, tend to drive cancer development suggesting the need to screen lab-grown stem cells for deleterious mutations.”

Doctor and patients are excited about the use of stem cells, but this finding certainly puts the brakes on the use of stem cells in certain situations by raising ‘a red flag’ highlighting the down side of these stem cells.