Rudimentary Egg and Sperm Cells Made from Stem Cells
December 29, 2014
(Nature) – Israeli and UK researchers have created human sperm and egg precursor cells in a dish, starting from a person’s skin cells. The achievement is a small step towards a treatment for infertility, although one that could face significant controversy and regulatory hurdles. The experiment, reported online in Cell on 24 December1, recreates in humans parts of a procedure first developed in mice, in which cells called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells — ‘reprogrammed’ cells that can differentiate into almost any cell type — are used to create sperm or eggs that are subsequently manipulated to produce live births by in vitro fertilization.
