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In tracking the mutational history of somatic cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), researchers found that somatic cells accumulate mutations more frequently than iPSCs.
And none of the mutations found in iPSCs were associated with cancers.
“None of the mutations we found in induced pluripotent stem cells were cancer-driver mutations or mutations in cancer-causing genes,” said Foad Rouhani, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK.
“We didn’t find anything that would preclude the use of [iPSCs] in therapeutic medicine.”
Rouhani and his colleagues reported these findings in PLOS Genetics.
The researchers generated iPSCs using cells from healthy individuals, then sequenced the genomes of the somatic cells and the derived iPSCs.
They found that somatic cells had a mutation rate of 14 single nucleotide variants per cell per generation, and the mutation rate for iPSCs was 10-fold lower.
The researchers said this is the first time that mutation rates of both types of cells, the donor cell and iPSC, have been calculated and compared.
“Until now, the question of whether generating [iPSCs] and growing them in cell culture creates mutations has not been addressed in detail,” said study author Allan Bradley, PhD, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
“If human cells are really to be reprogrammed on a large scale for use in regenerative medicine, then understanding the mutations the donor cells carry will be a crucial step. We now have the tools to do this.”
The researchers also used the iPSCs to trace the history of every mutation that one endothelial progenitor cell had developed from the time it was a fertilized egg to the moment it was taken out of the body.
They said the ability to track the genetic changes in cells over a lifetime could improve scientists’ understanding of how, when, and why mutations lead to cancer. 
Image from the Salk Institute
In tracking the mutational history of somatic cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), researchers found that somatic cells accumulate mutations more frequently than iPSCs.
And none of the mutations found in iPSCs were associated with cancers.
“None of the mutations we found in induced pluripotent stem cells were cancer-driver mutations or mutations in cancer-causing genes,” said Foad Rouhani, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK.
“We didn’t find anything that would preclude the use of [iPSCs] in therapeutic medicine.”
Rouhani and his colleagues reported these findings in PLOS Genetics.
The researchers generated iPSCs using cells from healthy individuals, then sequenced the genomes of the somatic cells and the derived iPSCs.
They found that somatic cells had a mutation rate of 14 single nucleotide variants per cell per generation, and the mutation rate for iPSCs was 10-fold lower.
The researchers said this is the first time that mutation rates of both types of cells, the donor cell and iPSC, have been calculated and compared.
“Until now, the question of whether generating [iPSCs] and growing them in cell culture creates mutations has not been addressed in detail,” said study author Allan Bradley, PhD, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
“If human cells are really to be reprogrammed on a large scale for use in regenerative medicine, then understanding the mutations the donor cells carry will be a crucial step. We now have the tools to do this.”
The researchers also used the iPSCs to trace the history of every mutation that one endothelial progenitor cell had developed from the time it was a fertilized egg to the moment it was taken out of the body.
They said the ability to track the genetic changes in cells over a lifetime could improve scientists’ understanding of how, when, and why mutations lead to cancer.
Image from the Salk Institute
In tracking the mutational history of somatic cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), researchers found that somatic cells accumulate mutations more frequently than iPSCs.
And none of the mutations found in iPSCs were associated with cancers.
“None of the mutations we found in induced pluripotent stem cells were cancer-driver mutations or mutations in cancer-causing genes,” said Foad Rouhani, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK.
“We didn’t find anything that would preclude the use of [iPSCs] in therapeutic medicine.”
Rouhani and his colleagues reported these findings in PLOS Genetics.
The researchers generated iPSCs using cells from healthy individuals, then sequenced the genomes of the somatic cells and the derived iPSCs.
They found that somatic cells had a mutation rate of 14 single nucleotide variants per cell per generation, and the mutation rate for iPSCs was 10-fold lower.
The researchers said this is the first time that mutation rates of both types of cells, the donor cell and iPSC, have been calculated and compared.
“Until now, the question of whether generating [iPSCs] and growing them in cell culture creates mutations has not been addressed in detail,” said study author Allan Bradley, PhD, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
“If human cells are really to be reprogrammed on a large scale for use in regenerative medicine, then understanding the mutations the donor cells carry will be a crucial step. We now have the tools to do this.”
The researchers also used the iPSCs to trace the history of every mutation that one endothelial progenitor cell had developed from the time it was a fertilized egg to the moment it was taken out of the body.
They said the ability to track the genetic changes in cells over a lifetime could improve scientists’ understanding of how, when, and why mutations lead to cancer.