Stem Cell Experiment Reverses Aging In Rare Disease

Researchers working with an engineered type of stem cell said they reversed the aging process in a rare genetic disease. The team at Children's Hospital in Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute were working with a new type of cell that was called induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells, which closely resemble embryonic stem cells, but are made from ordinary skin cells.
In this case, they wanted to study a rare, inherited premature aging disorder called dyskeratosis congenita. The blood marrow disorder resembles the better-known aging disease progeria and causes premature graying, warped fingernails and other symptoms as well as a high risk of cancer. It is very rare and normally diagnosed between the ages of 10 and 30. About half of patients have bone marrow failure, which means their bone marrow stops making blood and immune cells properly. One of the benefits of stem cells and iPS cells is that researchers can make them from a person with a disease and study that disease in the lab. Harvard's Dr. George Daley and colleagues were making iPS cells from dyskeratosis congenita patients to do this.