Stem cell banks could pay medical dividends

The road ahead
In fact, there's a lot more work that needs to be done to clear the way for IPS cell banks.

First, scientists have to find out whether the reprogrammed cells are actually the functional equivalent of embryonic stem cells. Kamp and his colleagues are checking into that question for heart cells, by attaching tiny electrodes to the cells and measuring their electrical function.

"So far, the properties look similar, but that's not really the end of the story," Kamp said. "I think you're going to find an explosion of literature in the next year."

Other researchers have undertaken similar experiments using neurons, blood cells and other tissue types spawned by IPS cells.

Scientists also have to figure out safer methods for creating IPS cells from skin cells. Currently, genetic factors have to be introduced into the cells using retroviruses - which is not considered safe enough for transplantation into humans.

It will take a lot of samples to build an IPS cell bank. Kamp said many of the lines could be reprogrammed using cells held by other biobanks, such as the Coriell Institute for Medical Research as well as UW's own National Stem Cell Bank. Other disease-specific lines might have to come from new donors, however.

Who's in the banking business?
Then there's the issue of funding: UW's institute isn't the only organization interested in setting up an IPS cell bank. Kyoto University's Shinya Yamanaka, the stem-cell researcher who independently created IPS cells last year, has also called for the establishment of such a bank. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, the Japanese government backs the idea.

Although Kamp doesn't know specifically what other research groups in the United States are working on, he knows there's lots of interest in the cell-bank idea.

"Everybody's plans are not well-designed and not public knowledge at this point," he said. "I expect the NIH [National Institutes of Health] will support some of this banking in the long term, but it will take some time."

Theoretically, people could "bank" their cells for conversion into IPS cells, just as an increasing number of families bank newborns' umbilical-cord blood as a stem-cell insurance policy. But the IPS conversion process is so expensive that Kamp doesn't think such a scenario is realistic.

"We're already spending 16 percent of our gross domestic product on health care," he said. "Developing your own stem-cell line for every patient? I don't think that's going to lower the cost of health care."

The more likely scenario is that your doctor would go to the cell bank and pick out the IPS cell type that was the closest genetic match - following the medical model set for bone marrow transplants (which is one of the oldest forms of stem-cell therapy).

"I expect we're going to get smarter and smarter as far as the issue of immune rejection goes," he said.

Kamp emphasized that these are only the early days of the IPS cell revolution. After all, the first successes with human cells were reported just six months ago. Medical researchers haven't yet figured out precisely how to define high-quality cells, let alone how to make them reliably and efficiently. But Kamp is confident that things will be getting a lot more interesting in the months and years ahead.

"There are a lot of surprises around every corner," he said. "That's part of the fun."

To learn more about regenerative medicine, check out msnbc.com's special section on cloning and stem cells . An extended version of this report was published as a Cosmic Log item.

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