Researchers Make Neurons from Skin Cells

In a finding that seems to suggest differentiated, adult cells are actually a lot more flexible than originally thought, researchers have recently been able to demonstrate a simple conversion method that turns skin cells called fibroblasts into fully functioning nerve cells. The process involved in this type of transformation turned out to be a lot simpler than anyone imagined, biologists at the Stanford University Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine write in the latest issue of the esteemed scientific journal Nature.

But the greatest news about this is that it turns out that adult cells don't necessarily have to be reverted to their embryonic state, in order for the conversion to become possible. This is an incredible finding, because some of the most complex processes associated with changing the function of a set of cells were related to reverting the differentiated cells to a pluripotent state. The new accomplishment was made using just minor genetic tweaks to the original fibroblasts, and the team is currently looking at ways of replicating the findings on cells harvested from humans as well.

If the results of this investigation can be transferred to human patients as well, then a host of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's, could get new courses of treatment in the near future, experts believe. One major advantage that this approach could have would be the fact that the nerve cells, obtained from each individual's own skin graft, would be genetically identical to the ones already inside their brains, which would remove the risk of incompatibility, and reduce the incidence of cases in which the immune system attacks the transplant, endangering that person's life.

“It's almost scary to see how flexible these cell fates are. You just need a few factors, and within four to five days you see signs of neuronal properties in these cells,” ISCBRM biologist Marius Wernig, who has also been the leader of the research team behind the findings, explains. The work was conducted on a batch of only 20 genetic transcription factors, which are basically genes that dictate the expression or suppression of other genes, upon binding to DNA. Three of these factors proved to have the ability to convert fibroblasts into neurons, the team concludes, quoted by Technology Review.