As you may know, stem cell research is a hot topic right now, if not a controversial one. Recently, scientists at the UCSD School of Medicine and the Salk Institute discovered that currently used stem cell lines, which are the only ones available for research, were contaminated by Neu5Gc, a cell surface sialic acid that can’t be produced by human cells. Where does the contamination come from, then? From mouse-derived “feeder cells” used to support the growth of stem cells in vitro, it appears. According to scientists :

“The potential threat of animal pathogens tainting human stem cell lines poses a problem for the safe clinical use of many, if not all, of the current cell lines now in use.”

Considering that a ban will disallow future creation of stem cell lines, it’s a problem for the future of stem cell research. According to a comment from the White House Gaggle :

“This is an issue that has been previously raised and discussed. We’ve known from the very beginning that the lines that were authorized for research had this particular trait…and the scientists at NIH are very well aware of it and remain confident that the stem cell lines that are available will provide us with the adequate supply to do the most basic research.” The NIH had asked the FDA to specifically look at the issue and the FDA concluded that the same issue is presented by human feeder cells. “There is still much uncertainty about the promise of stem cell research. We are only at the stage of the beginning of basic research to understand the promise of embryonic stem cell research.”

Fortunately, the WiCell Research Institute has “crafted a recipe that allows researchers to grow human embryonic stem cells in the absence of mouse-derived ‘feeder’ cells.” You can read about it here.

Daily updated Biology news, including stem cell research, is available on the frontpage.