The tiny embryonic like stem cells have been questioned. Some experiments did not find the tiny cells in mice

Xinhua news agency, Washington, July 24 (Reporter Lin Xiaochun): you may be unfamiliar with the word "minimal embryonic like stem cells", but it is highly valued in the scientific community The question is, does this cell really exist? Some researchers at Stanford University recently questioned this   Minimal embryonic like stem cells are a kind of pluripotent stem cells with very small volume and very few quantity in human blood and bone marrow They are considered to have the potential to replace embryonic stem cells However, there is no ethical dispute about the research on them, so they have attracted attention in recent years Neostem, an American biopharmaceutical company, plans to use tiny embryonic like stem cells in human medicine   Researchers from Stanford University said in a paper published in the journal stem cell report on the 24th that if there are very small embryonic like stem cells, their potential application in research and regenerative medicine will have a great impact on society However, as some previous studies reported, they did not find very small embryonic like stem cells in mouse experiments   Irving Weissman, the lead author of the study and director of the stem cell biology and Regenerative Medicine Institute at Stanford University, said in a statement: "we tried our best to repeat the experiment according to the methods described in the initially published research institute, but we could not find the existence of such cells in the bone marrow or blood of experimental mice."   According to reports, Weissman's experiment is the first to evaluate the biological activity of minimal embryonic like stem cells, but most of the "small molecule cells" they get are not real cells, but cell debris and fragments from dead cells "True pluripotent cells can differentiate into various types of tissues, but we can't prove that this' small molecule cell 'can differentiate into hematopoietic cells." Weissman said   In a response statement, neostem CEO Robin Smith compared the researchers' questions about minimal embryonic like stem cells to the attacks that Darwin and Copernicus faced when they proposed evolutionism and heliocentrism "We recognize that there is a debate in the field of minimal embryonic like stem cells, but it's not surprising that most of the new scientific discoveries and theories have been made," Smith said   Maliush ratajiak of Louisville University and others first reported the existence of minimal embryonic like stem cells in the world Since then, some studies have shown that these cells exist in human bone marrow and blood, and can differentiate into specific cells such as lung cells However, other experiments reported that these findings could not be repeated   Earlier this year, neostemm announced plans to conduct clinical trials of human bone regeneration with minimal embryonic like stem cells However, many well-known stem cell scientists say the technology is not mature "I'm a little scared that neostemm is going to conduct clinical trials quickly," rataichak was quoted as saying in a special article on this technology written by cell stem cell magazine in the United States I still think we need to do more basic research "