The stem cell field has puzzled on and off for years over a constellation of papers on purported stem cells including so-called VSEL and MUSE cells. Many of us haven’t been convinced that these are real stem cells. I see VSEL and MUSE fitting into a larger pattern of dubious stem cell claims including the STAP cell debacle. Now the whole idea of VSEL, which stands for very small embryonic-like stem cells, has taken a big and perhaps final blow. The primary VSEL proponents, the …Read More
Muse cells
There have been many other interesting scientific and specifically regenerative medicine developments and papers this past week including with CIRM and exciting CIRM funding to UC Davis so read on, but first a somewhat random question: are you more of a cat person or dog person? I’d say I’m both. But our big dog is not a fan of cats so I have to get my random cat time in on walks if I happen to run into a cat. I crossed paths with …Read More
The stem cell universe is populated by sometimes mysterious acronyms (see an image of a whole alphabet stem cell acronym soup), many of which refer to specific kinds of stem cells including one nebulous type called MUSE cells. I’m not convinced that MUSE cells exist, but oddly there appear to be four clinical trials ongoing in Japan based on MUSE cells. So somebody believes in them. Is the clinical work using MUSE cells in Japan allowed because of the more permissive regenerative medicine regulatory …Read More
Once upon a time this blog and major outlets around the world were regularly writing about a Japanese stem cell researcher named Haruko Obokata (小保方 晴子). Whatever happened to Obokata and the other folks directly involved in STAP cell research? First, a bit of background because maybe still a few people never heard of STAP cells and Obokata or forgot the key points behind the controversy. Haruko Obokata became well known because of her research claiming to make pluripotent stem cells like IPS cells without …Read More
Some unproven stem cell clinics just make things up, but when a big medical organization like Seattle’s largest nonprofit health firm, Swedish Medical Group, has a marketing segment on TV with what in my view are odd and inaccurate claims related to regenerative medicine, the negative impact could be far greater. The segment in question was a sponsored content piece on KING 5 TV, essentially a medical ad for unproven stem cells and regenerative medicine. In my original post I list what I see …Read More
When I was a kid there was this commercial on TV for Chiffon margarine (fake butter) with the slogan, “It’s not nice to fool mother nature!” As a kid I thought it was dumb but kind of funny. A modified version of that mother nature advertising slogan has become a cultural tagline. Don’t mess with mother nature! Who knows, maybe “don’t mess with mother nature” predated Chiffon margarine. Some scientists might have their own version of such a slogan “Don’t mess with (mother) Nature, …Read More
Something very strange just happened at the journal Nature related to what’s called Muse cells. Kudos to them for dealing with it quickly though. They published an unreviewed research “article” on controversial (perhaps non-existent) stem cells called “Muse cells” that was actually a paid advertisement. After I communicated with the Nature team eventually they ended up pulling down the ad/article as of today. How can a research article be an advertisement? I don’t think it should be possible. An “ad/article”? Of course, research journals run …Read More
Are MUSE cells for real? Stem cells come in different types that vary in a key property called “potency”, but very few are pluripotent. The more potency, the greater the flexibility of a stem cell to make other cell types. Flexibility in the cellular world is power. The most powerful stem cells generally used are called “pluripotent”, which refers to a special kind of stem cell that can make all 200+ other types of cells in the body through differentiation. Pluripotent stem cells are hard …Read More