Therapeutically useful stem cell derivatives in need of stability

Human stem cells capable of giving rise to any fetal or adult cell type are known as pluripotent stem cells. It is hoped that human embryonic stem cells can be used to generate cell populations with therapeutic utility. In this context, neural derivatives of hESCs are being tested in clinical trials. However, researchers in France have now generated cautionary data that suggest that additional quality controls need to be put in place to ensure that neural derivatives of hESCs are not genomically unstable, a common characteristic of cancer cells.