Stem cells from wisdom teeth

Tokyo: A team of scientists in Japan have devised a method of creating stem cells from wisdom teeth that would otherwise have been discarded, enabling them to seek cures to diseases without the ethical controversy inherent in using embryos.

"I hope this will prove to be a major breakthrough," said Dr Hajime Ogushi, from his Osaka laboratory of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

Ogushi's team was able to extract dental pulp from wisdom teeth removed from a 10-year-old girl three years ago and had been stored in a freezer. From that, stem cells with the ability to develop into replacement human organs or nerves can be grown.

To date, research on stem cells taken from human foetuses has attracted criticism, notably from the Vatican, for destroying human life.

The research has been seeking cures to a range of illnesses, including diabetes and cancer.

Significant in two ways

Oguchi said the research was significant in two ways. "One is that we can avoid the ethical issues of stem cells because wisdom teeth are destined to be thrown away anyway," he said. "Also, we used teeth that had been extracted three years ago and had been preserved in a freezer. That means that it's easy for us to stock this source of stem cells."

Dr Oguchi added he plans to develop a tissue bank - as long as the funding is forthcoming. He estimates that will take a decade to achieve, but will give future scientists a range of genetic codes that can be matched to a patient to minimise the risk of transplanted organs of tissue being rejected.