US scientists have managed to turn skin cells into nerve cells, in what has been called a ‘huge leap forward’ for regenerative medicine.

The Press Association reports that joint lead researchers Dr Marius Wernig and Dr Irving Weissman – and a team at Stanford University School of Medicine in California – caused the change using just three genes and without using the intermediate stem cell stage of the technique.

Normal skin cells are usually encouraged to change by having their development reversed so that they become similar to stem cells.

At this stage they are known as iPS cells (induced pluripotent stem cells) and have properties similar to stem cells taken from embryos.

In a study using mouse cells, the team managed to turn the cells into functioning nerve cells (neurons) without having to reverse the cells’ development beforehand, opening the way for them potentially to become any kind of body tissue.

The cells were seen to ‘signal’ and make connections with other nerve cells in a Petri dish –

vital activity in nerve cells if they are to be used for treating patients with diseases such as Parkinson’s and other brain disorders.

The researchers say that the breakthrough could revolutionise the future of human stem cell therapy.

Dr Wernig said:

‘We actively and directly induced one cell type to become a completely different cell type. These are fully functional neurons. They can do all the principal things that neurons in the brain do.’

The researchers found that the cells changed within one week – and with an efficiency of almost 20 per cent. The team now hopes to repeat the technique using human rather than mouse cells.

Dr Weissman – who is the director of Stanford's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine – said:

‘This study is a huge leap forward – the direct reprogramming of these adult skin cells into brain cells that can show complex, appropriate behaviours, like generating electrical currents and forming synapses, establishes a new method to study normal and disordered brain cell function.’

The findings of the research are published in the journal Nature.

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