A group of local scientists in Shanghai have successfully turned sheep and mouse stem cells into functioning body cells -- a crucial step toward creating new therapies for complicated human diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

They said they plan to conduct similar tests on stem cells from human embryos and eventually hope to use the body cells they create to treat a whole range of unmanageable diseases.

"Our ultimate purpose is to invent new, effective therapies to tackle unmanageable human diseases," said Zang Jingwu, director of the city's Institute of Health Science, which is overseeing the project.

The institute is co-run by Shanghai Second Medical University and the Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, an arm of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The city and central governments have spent millions of yuan on the project over the past three years. During that period, a team of six researchers has turned stem cells from animal embryos into cardiac and bones cells. They also created nerve cells from stem cells of rat embryos.

Scientists hope to use their technique to duplicate human body cells using embryonic stem cells, but that is a difficult task.

"It will take a long time for stem cell research achievements in the laboratory to be put into practical use," said Xu Feng, deputy director of Shanghai Jiading District Central Hospital.

Embryonic stem cells are extracted from embryo within 14 days of an egg being fertilized.

At that stage, all cells in the body are the same. They turn into specialized cells -- such as bone, heart, or skin cells -- during gestation. Scientists say stem cells taken from embryos can be made into specialized cells to replace diseased cells in a body. For example, they could be made into bone marrow cells to help someone with leukemia.

Late last month, a group of researchers led by Zang explained why a therapy used to battle multiple sclerosis worked -- the first time anyone has explained the therapy. Zang said the therapy was discovered by accident, but proved successful, although no one understood why it was effective in battling the disease.

(Shanghai Daily June 10, 2005)