Human skin stem cells grown into tissue

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Jun 23, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Wake Forest University researchers say they grew stem cells from human skin into fat, muscle and bone cells -- a potential source to fix tissue and organs.

Stem-cells have been hailed as a promising way to fight many diseases, including Alzheimer's and diabetes, spinal cord injuries and strokes.

"The ability to engineer tissues from a patient's own cells may overcome two major problems in transplantation medicine: immune rejection and tissue shortage," said Anthony Atala, senior researcher at the Winston-Salem, N.C., university.

"Our study shows that stem cells can be obtained from a simple skin biopsy and can be made to become three vital tissues," said researcher Shay Soker. "The bulk of our bodies is made up of fat, muscle and bone."

The next step for researchers, the university said, is testing the function of the fat, muscle and bone tissue created from the stem cells.