Aug 22, 2008 / 10:04 am
Researchers at Stanford University have discovered that human embryonic stem cell therapies may suffer from a high probability of immune system rejection similar to that found in organ transplantation. The study, which one researcher called a “reality check,” could mean there will be significant delays in perfecting embryonic stem cell therapies.
Researchers found that an immune response resulted in mice injected with human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Because of the immune response, all the transplanted cells were dead within a week, Scientific American reports.
The new findings, in addition to previous work, suggest hESCs injected into a human patient would also provoke an immune response. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved the injection of hESCs into human patients because the raw cells have the potential to become cancerous.
hESCs reportedly have the potential to mature into several different types of tissue, but they are harvested from human embryos that have been conceived and then destroyed to provide the stem cells.