Japan Team Transplants iPS-Derived Cartilage between Monkeys

Osaka, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese research group said Monday that it has successfully transplanted cartilage made from induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells derived from a monkey to a joint of another monkey.

The group of researchers mainly from Osaka University's Graduate School of Medicine and Kyoto University's Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, or CiRA, said that it observed no graft rejection reaction and that the method would be applicable to human iPS cells.

The study result was published in the electronic edition of the British journal Nature Communications on Monday.

Once damaged, articular cartilage does not recover naturally. Doctors treat patients mainly by transplanting cartilage collected from their own bodies, in order to prevent an adverse reaction.

The group transplanted cartilage made from a crab-eating macaque's iPS cells to a damaged part of another crab-eating macaque's knee joint.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]