New Delhi: If there was ever a missing piece to a puzzle in medical science before, it was the development of human blood.
It seems, however, that scientists from Singapore have managed to do the impossible and may have found a way to develop human blood from skin cells by successfully creating artificial mouse blood and immune cells from skin cells.
This brings them one step closer to actually making this miraculous discovery. Described in a paper published in the journal Nature Communications, this is being considered to be a potential breakthrough in the field of regenerative medicine.
"On the face of it, skin cells and blood cells couldn't be more different from one another," explained Dr Cheng Hui, who worked initiated the study during his stay at A*STAR's Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), in a press release. We have been interested in whether it might be possible to rewrite the identity of cells, specifically to turn skin into blood," Nature World News reported.
This is not the first time that scientists tried to create blood cells using skin cells. Previous efforts yielded cells that could only last two weeks when injected in mouse models.
Nature World News further reported that, with their findings, researchers are hoping to spring the same results with human skin cells. If proven to be safe and effective, this conversion technique could provide a robust source of new blood or immune cells. It will be easier for patients suffering from immune disorders and other diseases, as well as those who are in need of blood transfusions, to receive the necessary treatment they require.
