Induced pluripotent stem cells in the public domain
The stem Cell Bank in Kyoto will start providing them for research
Ksenia Naka, RIA Novosti
The Stem Cell Bank at the Center for Applied iPS Cell Research at Kyoto University (CiRA), headed by Nobel Laureate Shinya Yamanaka, will begin providing artificial multifunctional stem cells to scientific and medical centers for clinical research this fall.
A bank of artificial multifunctional human stem cells, from which cells and fragments of organs can then be "grown", is created on the basis of donor blood cells. In the near future, its reserves will cover up to 20% of the needs of the Japanese population, according to Japanese media.
"By 2017, we expect that the bank's capacity will be able to cover 30-50% of the needs of the Japanese population," the Kyodo agency quotes the head of the laboratory for the promotion of the medical use of cells of the CiRA Center, Naoko Takasu.
According to media reports, in the fall of this year, the bank will begin to provide cellular material to the largest Japanese institutions.
In total, 10 largest scientific and medical institutes will use the bank's materials.
Shinya Yamanaka was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2012 for his creation of a stem cell from an ordinary human skin cell in 2006. The cells were called induced pluripotent (multifunctional) iPS stem cells and opened up revolutionary prospects for the creation of organs from the stem cells of the patient himself. However, to reduce time costs and capital investments, the bank uses cells from voluntary donors. The donors were selected at the University clinical hospital among healthy people with such a combination of tissue compatibility antigens that causes the least rejection during transplantation.
For 9 years after the discovery of iPS cells, scientists have learned to grow heart muscle cells, intestines, pancreas, retina, blood, skin, nerve cells, female egg and sperm cells, kidney nephrons from them. Last year, the first retinal replacement operation in the history of mankind was successfully performed using iPS cells. The discovery made it possible to test drugs on organs grown from iPS cells. So, last year, scientists discovered that a drug that has long been used in cardiology unexpectedly turned out to be extremely effective in the treatment of cartilaginous (chondro-) dystrophy.
In mid-April, CiRA and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Japan, announced the launch of 10 projects for a period of 10 years for the joint development of drugs and treatments for serious diseases based on iPS cells discovered by Yamanaka with a total investment of 20 billion yen (about $ 168 million).
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