Biology Forums - Study Force

How are stem cells created for stem cell therapies? Are they made from the particular DNA code of the particular patient that is to receive them and simply cloned many times, or can they be made generically?

Skin care commercial?

Stem cells are collected from bone marrow (in adults) or fetal tissue upon delivery of a newborn.

Scientists can grow stem cells from leftover eggs fertilized by sperm during laboratory fertility treatments. After several days, the fertilized egg forms a mass called a blastocyst with stem cells inside. The cells are removed from the blastocyst and grown in laboratory dishes into specialized body cells. Scientists have reported success in growing nerve, bone, muscle, blood, and skin cells, and researchers have shown that even mature stem cells from one tissue - the blood, for example - can create cells of another tissue type, such as neurons (nerve cells) for the brain. Also, from what I understand, rejection still occurs even though the cells are undifferentiated, though there are ways around it, like using growth factors.

So stem cells harvested must contain DNA? Can useful stem cells be donated from someone else? And can induced pluripotent stem cells be used?

Yes. Denucleated stem cells wouldn't make much sense. We want the DNA intact because unlike mature DNA, it doesn't have any markers blocking any crucial genes.


Yes, they've been using this technique for a long time now. A donor's stem cell replaces a recipient patient's unhealthy stem cells to re-boost their blood and immune systems.


I don't think so. iPSC are used primarily for disease modeling and studies of diseases processes.

Donated stem cells have a different person's DNA? Isn't that a bad idea?

Yes, it's bad, but what choice does the recipient have? No different than a kidney transplant.

I don't know. Clone ones own cells outside of the body?

If only that were possible :P To do that would require ordinary cells, extract its DNA, place it into donated egg cells, and hope the egg accepts the foreign DNA from your cells and starts dividing into embryonic stem cells.