Researchers at the Salk Institute in California have developed a new method of turning human skin cells into transplantable white blood cells, the body's primary line of defense against infections and invaders.

The new method could potentially pave the way for treatments that introduce new white blood cells in a body afflicted by diseased or cancerous cells, or help the immune system against other illnesses.

Like Us on Facebook

The technique, developed by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, Ignacio Sancho-Martinez  and their colleagues,  only requires a little change in the skin cells to become the immune system's foot soldiers.

"The process is quick and safe in mice," says senior author Belmonte, holder of the Roger Guillemin Chair.

"It circumvents long-standing obstacles that have plagued the reprogramming of human cells for therapeutic and regenerative purposes."

The problems include the length of time, which can last two months or more, and the tedious lab work it requires to make, identify and categorize induced pluripotent stem cells, a technique usually used to cultivate new kinds of cells.

Blood cells made through the iPS cells also have their set of problems, such as the possibility of creating tumors and its inability to attach to organs and bone marrow.

The new technique, which only requires two weeks, lets cells engraft to the organs and marrow and has no chance of producing tumors.

"We tell skin cells to forget what they are and become what we tell them to be--in this case, white blood cells," said Sancho-Martinez, one of the authors.

"Only two biological molecules are needed to induce such cellular memory loss and to direct a new cell fate."

The team is currently conducting toxicology tests and proof-of-concept studies of cell transplantation. 

TagsWhite blood cells, stem cells, stem cell research, Stem Cell Regeneration, immune system, Immune System booster, AIDS, HIV