Mayo Clinic researchers have found a way to detect and
eliminate potentially troublemaking stem cells to make stem cell therapy safer.
Induced Pluripotent Stem cells, also known as iPS cells, are bioengineered from
adult tissues to have properties of embryonic stem cells, which have the
unlimited capacity to differentiate and grow into any desired types of cells,
such as skin, brain, lung and heart cells. However, during the differentiation
process, some residual pluripotent or embryonic-like cells may remain and cause
them to grow into tumors.