Human Skin Cells converted directly into functioning brain cells

American scientists have used genetically modified viruses which had the effect of causing a small portion of skin cells to behave like neurons. The method, unlike other approaches, did not involve reprogramming the skin cells into stem cells but is a direct transformation of the skin cells into neurons.

A Californian team say they have managed to convert human skin cells directly into functioning brain cells. The scientists manipulated the process by which DNA is transcribed within foetal skin cells to create cells which behaved like neurons.

The technique had previously been demonstrated in mice, says the report in Nature. It could be used for neurological research, and might conceivably be used to create brain cells for transplant.
Reprogrammed skin:
The scientists used genetically modified viruses to introduce four different "transcription factors" into foetal skin cells. These transcription factors play a role in the "reading" of DNA and the encoding of proteins within the cell.

Marius Wernig, an assistant professor of pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine in California, was one of the researchers. He believes the immediate application will be in modelling diseases, whereby skin cells from a patient with a known neurological condition could be used to produce new brain cells for research. The technique might one day also be used to create new brain cells which could be transplanted into patients with neurological disorders, he said.

Note - We asked Marius Wernig if he and his team consider that this work has the potential to repair the damage caused by a disease such as multiple sclerosis? “Not directly - but similar approaches perhaps” he said.

Supplementary Information - natures journal - webpage pdf file