Chinese scientists have succeeded in the world's first trial of converting monkey primed-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into a naive state, a breakthrough in the stem cells field, the People's Daily reported.

The research report, titled "Generation of Naive Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Rhesus Monkey Fibroblasts," has been published in the academic journal Cell Stem Cell.

The study was led by a research team at the College of Life Science at Peking University. Deng Hongkui, a professor at the university, and his team members made the breakthrough based on traditional rhesus monkey iPSCs, which were also pioneered by the team.

The research provides insight into how to achieve naive pluripotency in primates in vitro, and how naive pluripotency can be acquired in other species.

iPSCs hold great promise in the field of medicine, as they can proliferate infinitely and be induced to give rise to every other cell type, such as neurons, heart, and liver cells.