HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS NOT SO INVISIBLE OR THERAPEUTIC AFTER ALL — Research by a team at the Hebrew Univ of Jerusalem that contradicts a claim of human embryonic stem cell research (hESCR) proponents was published in recent weeks in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a major scientific journal.
Their experiments show that a previously-touted notion that hES cells can slip under the surveillance of a normal human immune system as if they were invisible is completely false. They compared hES cells to other cell lines including a non-hES line of cells called HeLa cells, by performing a technique called flow cytometry that utilizes fluorescent-tagged antibodies. This allowed them to analyze the cells for protein markers called MHC proteins.