Meeting Overview
Cell therapies based on the use of pluripotent human embryonic stem cells promise to revolutionize the practice of medicine. Specialized cells derived from human embryonic stem cells could be used to treat a wide variety of human diseases and disorders. But the existing human embryonic stem cell lines are only compatible with a sub-set of the human population. This raises the important problem that transplanted cells would be rejected or that treated individuals would need to be immuno-suppressed for the rest of their lives. In an ideal world, human stem cell lines would be developed that were compatible with each individual. Theoretically this could be achieved through the process of nuclear reprogramming in which a nucleus from an individual is reprogrammed in the cytoplasm of an egg. The subsequent cells that develop from the re-programmed nucleus could then be used to create patient-specific human embryonic stem cell lines that would avoid the important problem of rejection. While the process of nuclear reprogramming works in some species, so far in humans it has not.

This meeting addressed some of the critical issues in this field, including the sources of eggs for nuclear reprogramming, the ethical problems associated with egg donation, alternative sources of eggs, improved methods for nuclear reprogramming, problems associated with mixing of mitochondria, alternative methods for creating pluripotent stem cells and problems with stem cells that can occur through improper methods of culture of the embryo or the resultant stem cell lines. Ultimately, development of methods for successful nuclear reprogramming in humans could revolutionize methods for practicing medicine as well as improving our understanding of the maintenance of the differentiated state.

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