Treated mouse embryonic stem cells reverse mouse hemophilia

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill treated mouse embryonic stem cells with a growth factor and then injected the cells into the livers of mice with the mouse form of hemophilia B. The mice lacked Factor IX, a clotting substance. The injected cells went into the mouse livers and started to function as liver cells, and were not rejected by the mouse immune systems. This resulted in the persistent production of Factor IX and reversal of the hemophilia. The research was published in the February 15, 2005, edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.