Chinese scientists make breakthrough in creating pig stem cells

The Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (SIBCB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences claimed a global breakthrough in forming pluripotent stem cells using somatic cells (cells that are not sperm or egg cells) from any animal with hooves (ungulates). It could open the way to creating models for human genetic diseases, genetically engineering animals for human organ transplants, and for developing pigs that were resistant to diseases such as swine flu, he said. The research team succeeded in generating induced pluripotent stem cells by reprogramming cells taken from a pig's ear and bone marrow. After the reprogramming factors were introduced via a virus, the cells developed into colonies of embryonic-like stem cells. Tests confirmed the stem cells were capable of differentiating into the cell types that make up the three layers in an embryo -- endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm -- a quality of all embryonic stem cells. The information gained from inducing pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) would make it much easier for researchers to develop embryonic stem cells (ES cells) that originate from pig or other ungulate embryos, Kazinform cites to Xinhua. See www.chinaview.cn for full version.