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The possibilities/perplexities of stem cells

Nature Biotechnology volume 18, pages 827–828 (2000)Cite this article

A recent paper in Science by Clarke et al.1 adds another piece to the puzzle that is the “stem cell.” It joins a series of other reports2,3,4,5,6,7,8 from the past two years suggesting that mammalian cells with exceptional and unanticipated capacities to mature into a broad range of phenotypes may be isolated from a variety of organs at multiple ages, grown to abundance in culture, and reimplanted into other regions with apparent accommodation to these new environments. Nevertheless, questions are emerging at a far greater rate than answers.

Primordial cells with this degree of self-renewal and potential have come to be termed stem cells (SCs). Because their “potential” has typically been revealed by forcing the cells to mature in altered environments or in regions and developmental stages other than those of their origin, the implications of these findings for understanding normal development remain areas of intense speculation. That such cells, however, may be the repository of unimagined plasticity provides an irresistible invitation to translational biologists and entrepreneurs to exploit such phenomena.

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Figure 1: Speculating on stem cells.

© Bob Crimi

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Pediatrics, Neurosurgery, & Neurology, Children's Hospital, Boston Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, MA

    Evan Y. Snyder & Angelo L. Vescovi

  2. Institute For Stem Cell Research, DBIT, Hospital San Raffaele , Milan, I-20132, Italy

    Evan Y. Snyder & Angelo L. Vescovi

Authors
  1. Evan Y. Snyder
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  2. Angelo L. Vescovi
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Snyder, E., Vescovi, A. The possibilities/perplexities of stem cells. Nat Biotechnol 18, 827–828 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/78428

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