Posted
9/14/2005 05:48:00 PM
by Douglas
I could care less about stem cell and its associate issues, but
this article really scared the crap out of me:
The proof is projected on the screen. The x-ray shows a teratoma, a naturally occurring tumor that grows from an egg or sperm cell. Like an embryo, a teratoma produces stem cells. But the teratoma does not have the right balance of gene expression to create a fully integrated organism. So it grows into a dense ball of teeth, hair, and skin, a ghastly grab bag of organs like some randomly constructed Frankenstein. Hurlbut points to the x-ray. "They're about the ugliest thing in medicine," he says, "but they might offer us a solution to our stem cell dilemma."
Ok, maybe the article isn't that disturbing, but don't do a google image search for "teratoma" if you've just had spaghetti.