Breakthrough finding may boost stem cell growth
POSTED March 23, 2010 - 15:48 | POSTED BY Abby Kapoor
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on March 23, 2010 - 16:48
The recent study, conducted on both culture and in-laboratory animals, is being looked as a breakthrough in the cellular therapies, which will help in overcoming one of the most difficult barriers: limited count of stem cells and resistant to expansion.
Researchers from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC, USA, say that blood from umbilical cord can act as a universal source of stem cells for all stem cell treatments. However, there is limited numbers of stem cells in cord blood, and due to this reason, there is a need to develop a method to expand cord blood stem cells for transplantation purposes.
Lead author of the study, Dr John Chute, cell biologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC, USA, and team said, "Unfortunately, there are no soluble growth factors identified to date that have been proven to expand human stem cells for therapeutic purposes."
Details of study
In their study, the researchers divided mice into two groups, one that had received bone marrow-suppressive radiation and another which were not exposed to radiation. They injected pleiotrophin, (PTN), a heparin-binding growth factor, in mice which has received bone marrow-suppressive radiation, and found a 10-fold increase in bone marrow stem cells as compared to untreated mice.
Dr Chute and team found that adding PTN stimulated a ten-fold expansion of stem cells taken from the bone marrow of a subject mouse.
Also, PTN increased the numbers of human cord blood stem cells. When they injected pleiotrophin into mice that had received bone marrow-suppressive radiation, they observed a 10-fold increase in bone marrow stem cells compared to untreated mice.
"These results confirmed that pleiotrophin induces stem cell regeneration following injury," said Chute.
"Perhaps more importantly, systemic treatment with pleiotrophin may have the potential to accelerate recovery of the blood and immune system in patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy," he added.
More study needed
The team is conducting further experiments to see if pleiotrophin is necessary for normal stem cell growth and development. The scientists feel more study is needed on animals before they could start with human clinical trials.
The findings of the study have appeared in the journal Nature Medicine.
