MATURE skin cells have been transformed into stem cells and then into beating
heart cells, claims a group of American scientists. This is the first time a
fully differentiated adult cell has been reprogrammed. The breakthrough gives
scientists a way to produce multipotent stem cells for treating conditions such
as heart disease or diabetes without creating an embryonic clone of the patient.
Therapeutic cloning has been attacked by anti-abortion campaigners.
Researchers at PPL Therapeutics of Blacksburg, Virginia, took adult skin
cells from cattle, “reverted” them into stem cells and then transformed them
into heart cells. “We were very pleased, because…
