A Breakthrough in Stem Cell Creation May Help Grow Liver and Pancreatic Cells for Therapy

Using a new technique, researchers have been able to create pure, self renewing stem cells of the human foregut that will help cure liver and pancreatic diseases. Stem cells have the ability to replace damaged or dying cells with new ones and can thus be used for bone replacement, organ replacement and in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases of the human body. This method can play a significant role in the field of regenerative medicine. It can be used to produce cells for the thyroid, stomach, liver, pancreas and billiary systems from the same source cells. This base population of cells can further be developed to grow cells for the heart and lung. Since these cells can self renew they can be grown in large enough numbers for clinical therapies. It has also been found that these cells do not grow any tumors and can therefore be injected without producing any side effects.