Stem cells have been making headlines for the past three decades for good reason – they are master cells, capable of generating nearly any specialised cell in the human body.

Our ability to manipulate and replicate these cells holds tremendous hope for regenerative medicine,  to test the safety and effectiveness of treatments, and understand disease progression in general. A staggering breakthrough has permitted scientists to successfully engineer male and female stem cells from the same person, with the exact same genetic code.

The results of a study, led by pioneer stem cell researcher, Prof. Benjamin Reubinoff, together with PhD student Ithai Waldhorn, MD, were recently published in Stem Cell Reports. Prof. Reubinoff is the Director of the Sidney and Judy Swartz Stem Cell Research Centre of the Goldyne Savad Institute of Gene Therapy at Hadassah.

Exploring the differences in how men and women respond to illnesses and treatments is essential. For example, women have a higher risk of developing autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, while men are more likely to have more significant illnesses when infected with COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. There are also differences in cardiac morbidity and various psychiatric disorders. And there are differences between the sexes in the effectiveness and side effects of medicines.

“This is a breakthrough in the field of gender medicine,” says Reubinoff. “The world of medical science today recognises the great importance of the differences between women and men,” says Prof. Reubinoff alluding to the “one medicine fits all” approach that has been prevalent for many years.

People respond differently to an illness and to treatment because of many factors: their gender, their genes, their medical background, to name but a few. “For the first time, we now have cells that are absolutely identical genetically, but in both male and female versions,” says Reubinoff. “This means that we can now compare and contrast how they respond to a medication when all other factors are identical.”

Editors Notes

This is an excerpt from an article published in the recent Hadassah International Year In Review. To access the complete Hadassah International 2022 Year in Review – click here:  Cure. Innovation. Humanity.

Prof. Benjamin Reubinoff is one of the pioneers of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research. With colleagues from Australia and Singapore, he was the second in the world to derive hESC lines, and the first to show somatic differentiation of the hESCs in culture. The focus of his research is the exploitation of hESCs in regenerative medicine for the treatment of neural and retinal degenerative disorders.

He is the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd. – a biotechnology company focused on the manufacture of specialised stem cells for regenerative medicine in retinal and neural degenerative diseases. His work on human pluripotent stem cells has led to the development of numerous pioneer programmes that are now in clinical trials.