Stem cells created with disease genes

BIOLOGY
Scientists have a new way to gain insight into a disease: watching a patient's own diseased cells develop in a dish. Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists reported last week in the journal Cell that they had created stem cell lines carrying the genes for 10 different diseases, including Down syndrome, type 1 diabetes and Parkinson's disease. It followed the announcement a week earlier that colleagues made stem cells from an 82-year-old patient suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's Disease. The researchers who announced the new stem cell lines, led by George Q. Daley, inserted genes to reprogram adult skin cells or bone marrow into embryonic-like stem cells, capable of turning into any cell in the human body. "They represent a collection of degenerative diseases for which there are no good treatments and, more important, no good animal models, for the most part, to study them," said Douglas Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. BOTTOM LINE: These stem cell lines give scientists a whole new way to examine degenerative diseases. Researchers expect similar stem cell lines to be created for many other genetic diseases. CAUTIONS: The stem cell lines will be useful for studying disease, but will not be useful as therapy. That's because the technique used to make the cells involves genes and viruses known to cause cancer. WHAT'S NEXT: The stem cell lines will be made available to scientists worldwide through a repository at the Massachusetts General Hospital. WHERE TO FIND IT: Cell, online Aug. 7.

CAROLYN Y. JOHNSON