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IPS cells
Why is it in news?
- A team of Japanese researchers will carry out an unprecedented trial using human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) to treat spinal cord injuries.
- The team at Tokyo’s Keio University has received government approval for the trial — which have the potential to develop into any cell in the body — to treat patients with serious spinal cord injuries.
More about trial
- The team will transplant two million iPS cells into the spines of the patients, who will be monitored for a year.
- World’s first clinical trial: The strict limitations on the number of participants are necessary because the process is an unprecedented and world’s first clinical trial.
- Parkinson’s trial: The research team hopes to test the efficacy and safety of the treatment for chronic injuries as well in the future if they can confirm the safety of the technique through the clinical trial.
- Basic terminologies:(1) Parkinson’s disease: It is a chronic, degenerative neurological disorder that affects the body’s motor system, often causing shaking and other difficulties in movement.(2) IPS cells: These are created by stimulating mature, already specialised, cells back into a juvenile state — basically cloning without the need for an embryo.
Source
The Hindu