Taiwanese Research Team Finds New Source of Stem Cells in Placenta

The two possible sources of stem cells, "adult" or post-natal stem cells and those derived from living embryos, have caused a conflict in the scientific community, setting ethics against hoped-for scientific advancement.

Now a group of Taiwanese researchers has isolated stem cells from human placenta tissue and has found that their flexibility may be the equal of embryonic cells. The scientists, from National Health Research Institutes and Cathay General Hospital, Taipei, have isolated stem cells from placentas left after full term pregnancy and offer them as a solution to the ethical impasse.

The researchers have developed bone marrow and other cells from the stem cells extracted from the placenta and say that there may be future applications for brain damage or bone fractures.

The newly discovered cells, called placenta-derived multipotent cells (PDMCs), are available from an organ that is normally discarded after birth. "Unlike embryonic stem cells, PDMCs are free from ethical considerations," said Chen Yao-chang, head of the National Health Research Institutes' Stem Cell Research Center, told reporters.

Much like cord blood, this source of stem cells may be applicable in a variety therapies without the dangers of tissue rejection common to embryonic and fetal cell transplants. The cells are also available without the painful and difficult surgery necessary to extract stem cells from bone marrow.

Read the research abstract in
The International Journal of Cell Differentiation and Proliferation:
http://stemcells.alphamedpress.org/cgi/content/abstract/23/1/3