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A German group has recently published a paper that gives some hope of researchers being able to obtain stem cells nearly as versatile as embryonic ones from non-embryo tissue (acini). To quote the abstract: "Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells found within fully developed tissues or organs of an adult individuum. Until recently, these cells have been considered to bear less self-renewal ability and differentiation potency compared to embryonic stem cells. In recent studies an undifferentiated cell type was found in primary cultures of isolated acini from exocrine pancreas termed pancreatic stellate cells. Here we show that pancreatic stellate-like cells have the capacity of extended self-renewal and are able to differentiate spontaneously into cell types of all three germ layers expressing markers for smooth muscle cells, neurons, glial cells, epithelial cells, chondrocytes and secretory cells (insulin, amylase)"... "pancreatic stellate-like cells are a new class of lineage uncommitted pluripotent adult stem cells with a remarkable self-renewal ability and differentiation potency. The data emphasize the versatility of adult stem cells and may lead to a reappraisal of their use for the treatment of inherited disorders or acquired degenerative diseases." Only the abstract is available online without charge; the paper was published, by invitation (presumably unrefereed, therefore), in "Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing", one of the Springer Verlag journals. The URL is a monster: http://springerlink.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?wasp=eafvukqrrq7gjxhpyddj&referrer=parent&backto=issue,1,193;journal,1,129;linkingpublicationresults,1:100501,1 If these adult stem cells do in fact prove useful, a lot of the political strife about embryos may be avoidable. -- | G r e g L o u i s | gpg public key: 0x400B1AA86D9E3E64 | | http://www.bgl.nu/~glouis | (on my website or any keyserver) | | http://wecanstopspam.org in signatures helps fight junk email. | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn