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Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Maryland report promising results from using adult stem cells from bone marrow in mice to help create tissue cells of other organs, such as the heart, brain and pancreas - a scientific step they hope may lead to potential new ways to replace cells lost in diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. The research in collaboration with the University of Paris Descartes is published online in Comptes Rendus Biologies, a publication of the French Academy of Sciences.
"Finding stem cells capable of restoring function to different damaged organs would be the Holy Grail of tissue engineering," says lead author David Trisler, PhD, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
He adds, "This research takes us another step in that process by identifying the potential of these adult bone marrow cells, or a subset of them known as CD34+ bone marrow cells, to be 'multi-potent,' meaning they could transform and function as the normal cells in several different organs."
University of Maryland researchers previously developed a special culturing system to collect a select sample of these adult stem cells in bone marrow, which normally makes red and white blood cells and immune cells. In this project, the team followed a widely recognized study model, used to prove the multi-potency of embryonic stem cells, to prove that these bone marrow stem cells could make more than just blood cells. The investigators also found that the CD34+ cells had a limited lifespan and did not produce teratomas, tumors that sometimes form with the use of embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells cultivated from other methods that require some genetic manipulation.
"When taken at an early stage, we found that the CD34+ cells exhibited similar multi-potent capabilities as embryonic stem cells, which have been shown to be the most flexible and versatile. Because these CD34+ cells already exist in normal bone marrow, they offer a vast source for potential cell replacement therapy, particularly because they come from a person's own body, eliminating the need to suppress the immune system, which is sometimes required when using adults stem cells derived from other sources," explains Paul Fishman, MD, PhD, professor of neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
The researchers say that proving the potential of these adult bone marrow stem cells opens new possibilities for scientific exploration, but that more research will be needed to see how this science can be translated to humans.
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Adult Stem Cells From Bone Marrow
New Knowledge About Insulin Production Mapped By Stem Cell Researchers
Scientists from The Danish Stem Cell Center (DanStem) at the University of Copenhagen and Hagedorn Research Institute have gained new insight into the signaling paths that control the body's insulin production. This is important knowledge with respect to their final goal: the conversion of stem cellsinto insulin-producing beta cells that can be implanted into patients who need them. The research results have just been published in the well-respected journal PNAS.
Insulin is a hormone produced by beta cells in the pancreas. If these beta cells are defective, the body develops diabetes. Insulin is vital to life and therefore today the people who cannot produce their own in sufficient quantities, or at all, receive carefully measured doses - often via several daily injections. Scientists hope that in the not-so-distant future it will be possible to treat diabetes more effectively and prevent secondary diseases such as cardiac disease, blindness and nerve and kidney complications by offering diabetes patients implants of new, well-functioning, stem-cell-based beta cells.
"In order to get stem cells to develop into insulin-producing beta cells, it is necessary to know what signaling mechanisms normally control the creation of beta cells during fetal development. This is what our new research results can contribute," explains Professor Palle Serup from DanStem.
"When we know the signaling paths, we can copy them in test tubes and thus in time convert stem cells to beta cells," says Professor Serup.
The new research results were obtained in a cooperative effort between DanStem, the Danish Hagedorn Research Institute and international partners in Japan, Germany, Korea and the USA. The scientific paper has just been published in the well-respected international journalPNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) entitled Mind bomb 1 is required for pancreatic β-cell formation.
Better control of stem cells
The signaling mechanism that controls the first steps of the development from stem cells to beta cells has long been known.
"Our research contributes knowledge about the next step in development and the signaling involved in the communication between cells - an area that has not been extensively described. This new knowledge about the ability of the so-called Notch signaling first to inhibit and then to stimulate the creation of hormone-producing cells is crucially important to being able to control stem cells better when working with them in test tubes," explains Professor Palle Serup .
This new knowledge about the characteristics of the Notch signaling mechanism will enable scientists to design new experimental ways to cultivate stem cells so that they can be more effectively converted into insulin-producing beta cells.
