The Canadian publication Ananova reported in December that researchers have found a type of adult stem cell which could repair damaged organs without any chance of being rejected by a patient's immune system. The discovery comes while other scientists have been trying unsuccessfully to perfect cloned stem cells as a way of overcoming the rejection problem.

The New Scientist magazine reported that a type of bone marrow cell, called mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is found to be so safe it can be transplanted between species.

Ray Chiu, of McGill University in Montreal, successfully transplanted MSCs from pigs to rats. He said the cells, once injected, seemed to go only to damaged areas and turned into heart muscle, blood vessels and fibrous tissue.

MSCs show important promise as an alternative to the harvesting of embryonic stem cells.

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