Researchers took one more step toward so-called regenerative medicine by developing a safer way of obtaining stem cells from common skin cells without using harmful viruses that can cause cancer. More exactly, they were able to transform adult cells into embryonic-like cells – capable of developing into any cell in the body – by using a type of virus employed in gene therapy to deliver genes to mouse cells. Details of the study appeared in the journal Science this week.

The hope is to create human, embryonic cells without using eggs or destroying embryos, one of the reasons for which stem cell research has been a subject of controversy since its debut. The old method of obtaining stem cells by destroying human embryos was one of the reasons for which, President George W. bush has restricted federal funding for such work. However, there are many scientists supporting this controversial field, saying that the fast-multiplying cells obtained in a human embryo could result in medical advances that save lives.

Scientists were able to manipulate the genes of adult cells to convert them into the equivalent of embryonic cells, which they called “induced pluripotent stem cells” or iPS cells. These cells could then be transformed into any type of cell in the body. In fact, studies made on mice showed that the cells can alleviate symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and sickle anemia. But the discovery came with an inconvenient as well. iPS cells creation depended on the use of retroviruses, which can integrate into the genome and pose a risk of cancer. This is exactly where the new study comes with improvements.

Konrad Hochedlinger of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston and colleagues used a much more harmless virus called an adenovirus to carry into the cells the four transformative genes, called Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc.

“The nice thing about adenoviruses in contrast with retroviruses is they deliver proteins inside the cells but they will never, ever integrate their DNA into the cells,” Hochedlinger told Reuters. Therefore, they do not pose the risk of cancer.

If the new method can be applied to human cells as well, it could lead to advances in cell therapy and treatments of human diseases, which are incurable at the moment. Doctors will have this way the possibility to make tailor-made transplants to treat diseases in people by removing a few cells, transforming them in the lab, and transplanting the new tissue or organs back in.

Dr. Hochedlinger said he is confident that the method will be successful in the human field as well. In fact, he has no reason to believe it won’t, he added.

Earlier this month, the University of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center launched the International Stem Cell Registry a database intended to act as an online resource on human embryonic stem cells for both academic and private sector biomedical research.

The registry describes nearly 200 embryonic stem cell lines, their properties, how they’ve been used to date, and scientific reports about the cells. Some material on the Web site is educational and aimed at a broad audience.