International Stem Cell announces new discovery to produce limitless uncontaminated liver cells

International Stem Cell Corp (OTCBB:ISCOE) said Tuesday that it has discovered a new technology to produce an unlimited number of liver cells that are free from contamination.
The company, which has a method for deriving human stem cells from unfertilized eggs, said that the new technology produces liver cells that are free of contamination with potentially dangerous, "undifferentiated" cells, which are not well-developed and can multiply quickly.
The discovery, in which the company's own human parthenogenetic stem cells are used, is based on the natural properties of the cellular environment, and does not require any additional purification of the final product, resulting in no cell damage, the company added.
This means the company's unique stem cells have the proven ability to be a promising development candidate for a host of liver diseases.
"Methods to generate pure differentiated cells [a process in which a cell becomes more specialized] for transplantation are critical for creating successful cell therapies," said Dr. Marie Csete, co-author of the article in which the company's new technology is described.
"Furthermore, the elegant technology developed by ISCO scientists to enforce critical steps in differentiation illustrates the power and importance of basic engineering tools in stem cell biology."
Indeed, the company said the approach used to derive liver cells from the human parthenogenetic stem cells can be used to create a number of different cell types, potentially curing a wide range of diseases. The technology can also be used with human embryonic stem cells.
"We have discovered technology that has a number of features and advantages, and our plans are to expand the applications of this platform to develop new products," said president and CEO, Dr. Andrey Semechkin.
"This system is universal and does not depend of the particularities of cell lines. Because isolation of undifferentiated cells happens at the first step of the differentiation procedure, the technology could be used to isolate other cell types, for example pancreatic or heart cells."
The technology is described in a new article that will appear in Cell Transplantation, the Regenerative Medicine Journal.