Surgical sutures filled with stem-cells

Biomedical engineering students at Johns Hopkins have shown how to make sutures containing the patient's own adult stem cells to promote quicker healing:

"Using sutures that carry stems cells to the injury site would not change the way surgeons repair the injury," said Matt Rubashkin, the student team leader, "but we believe the stem cells will significantly speed up and improve the healing process. And because the stem cells will come from the patient, there should be no rejection problems."

Students Embed Stem Cells in Sutures to Enhance Healing (via Medgadget)

[#1 posted by Anonymous, July 21, 2009 3:12 AM]

Interesting, but I would be concerned about the propensity of stem cells to develop into cancer cells, especially when exposed and treated as they are to make these sutures - eg, to UV light, chemicals, air.

A lot of cancers are derived from stem cell mutations, so I would be concerned about just using them for minor injuries like this

[#2 posted by Snig, July 21, 2009 4:05 AM]

And you can use them to weave into bandages and then have a pretty good exposition for a mummy movie.

[#3 posted by Snig, July 21, 2009 4:07 AM]

Or maybe the Egyptians knew that and did that...

[#4 posted by Anonymous, July 21, 2009 6:00 AM]

How long before we hear of someone accidentally suturing the wrong stem cells into a patient?

[#5 posted by Drew from Zhrodague, July 21, 2009 8:10 AM]

I guess I am going to live for a very long time, if I am able to get medical care when I need this kind of thing. That will keep me working long enough to pay for the procedures.

Or, I'll become like General Grievous, or Lady Cassandra.

[#6 posted by Anonymous, July 21, 2009 9:38 AM]

One big problem. Undifferentiated stem cells introduces into the body have a tendency to develop into tumors. By definition stem cells form tumors when injected into a subject.

For this to work, not only would the cells need to be derived from the patient (a long finicky process), but they would also need to be already differentiating along the path to becoming the tissue being sutured/operated upon. This seems like gee-wow science rather than a practical therapeutic technique.

[#7 posted by Daemon, July 22, 2009 8:05 PM]

Hmm. Forget sutures, if this can be made to work without cancerous side effects, imagine the applications for burn victims and the like.

[#8 posted by J.H. Kranti, July 26, 2009 5:36 AM]

What are stem cells???