Universal stem cells can be produced that will work for everyone and there will not be the need for personalized stem cells. This will bring mass production of stem cells for regenerative medicine.

The immune system is unforgiving. It's programmed to eradicate anything it perceives as alien, which protects the body against infectious agents and other invaders that could wreak havoc if given free rein. But this also means that transplanted organs, tissues or cells are seen as a potentially dangerous foreign incursion, which invariably provokes a vigorous immune response leading to transplant rejection.

Drugs are currently used to suppress the immune system, but this makes the patient vulnerable to other diseases and problems.

In the new work, three genes were altered. The stem cells were able to avoid rejection after being transplanted into histocompatibility-mismatched recipients with fully functional immune systems.