This understanding could lead to better treatment for diseases like cancer and birth defects which are caused by cell division and differentiation gone awry. Growing Tissue, Organs Unlike adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells also multiply tirelessly in culture and offer a potential supply for scientists who hope to grow human tissue and organs for people with various diseases. A diabetes patient, for example, might someday have access to pancreases grown from embryonic cells in culture that can produce insulin. Cancer patients might receive healthy bone marrow transplants and victims of Alzheimer's disease could someday receive healthy neuron transplants. Stem cells could also provide a useful model for testing new drugs and their effects.
Stem cells are the basic units that eventually develop into the body's tissue and organs.
To develop organs and tissues in culture, scientists would mix the embryonic stem cells with growth factors that would prompt them to multiply. Then they would use triggering substances such as hormones to assign particular roles to each cluster of cells. But Prentice argues embryonic stem cells are not the only way to culture tissue and organs. He says that cells taken from adult organs offer the safest and least controversial medium for developing transplant tissue and organs. He points to a study released just last week in which scientists converted adult bone marrow cells into nerve cells.