Embryonic stem cells are one kind of pluripotent stem cell. Another cell type, embryonic germ cells are also pluripotent, but they are derived at a later stage of development. |
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Scientists are trying to understand two fundamental properties of stem cells that relate to their long-term self-renewal: 1) why can embryonic stem cells proliferate for a year or more in the laboratory without differentiating, but most adult stem cells cannot; and 2) what are the factors in living organisms that normally regulate stem cell proliferation and self-renewal? Discovering the answers to these questions may make it possible to understand how cell proliferation is regulated during normal embryonic development or during the abnormal cell division that leads to cancer. |  |
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Many years of detailed study of the biology of mouse stem cells led to the discovery, in 1998, of how to isolate stem cells from human embryos and grow the cells in the laboratory. |
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A starting population of stem cells that proliferates for many months in the laboratory can yield millions of cells. If the resulting cells continue to be unspecialized, like the parent stem cells, the cells are said to be capable of long-term self-renewal.
The specific factors and conditions that allow stem cells to remain unspecialized are of great interest to scientists. |  |
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