The Third Pluripotent Stem Cell, Muse Cell

Unlike ES cells, Muse cells are made from bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells found in the body. These cells were discovered by Professor Mari Izawa. In fact, Muse cells were discovered by accident, when Professor Izawa accidentally put skeletal muscle cells that had been differentiated from mesenchymal cells into digestive enzymes and left them there, but the stem cells that survived were concentrated.

Muse cells are characterized by the fact that they are derived from the body, so they are extremely unlikely to become cancerous and are resistant to stress. Another advantage of Muse cells is that they have no ethical problems compared to ES cells.

Comparison of ES cells, iPS cells, and Muse cells

We introduced ES cells, iPS cells, and Muse cells, but what are the advantages and problems of each?

As you can see in the table above, the biggest issue with ES cells is ethical issues. Even iPS cells, which have solved the problems of ES cells, have the disadvantage that they are prone to cancer because the genes they introduce contain cancer-causing genes. Muse cells are less likely to become cancerous and have almost no ethical problems, but their proliferative ability is inferior to other pluripotent stem cells. It is important to solve the problems of each type of cell and use them in different ways.

ES cells, iPS cells, and Muse cells are amazing cells that can revive tissue! Currently, there are still many issues to be solved for their practical use, but we are sure that they will play an important role in biomedicine in the future.

	Incidentally, iPS cells were named after the iPod, which was popular worldwide at the time, with the hope that they would spread like the iPod.