Genetic Selection Of Target Stem Cell Populations
ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2007) — Human embryonic stem cells can be
genetically manipulated to help select out desirable cell types,
according to a University of Nottingham study published online in
Molecular Therapy.
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This advance could help scientists develop better ways of deriving
useful cell populations for therapeutic and research purposes.
Although human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) can theoretically become
any kind of cell in the body, directing this differentiation and
selecting for a particular cell type is challenging.
Dr Chris Denning and his team at The University of Nottingham
manipulated certain genetic targets in their stem cells to enhance
the selection of heart muscle cells from other cell types present in
their culture.
They increased the percentage of heart muscle cells present to as
much as ninety-one percent by selecting out fast dividing cells and
selecting for cells that expressed genes characteristic of these
slower dividing cardiac cells.
According to the authors, this strategy could be easily manipulated
to select for other cell types. This paper is one of the first to
document the successful selection of one kind of cell in hESCs — an
important step towards realizing their potential.
Dr Denning, of the Wolfson Centre for Stem Cells, Tissue Engineering
and Modelling (STEM) at The University of Nottingham, said: "Human
embryonic stem cells are remarkable because we can keep them at a
primitive stage of development for a long time in the laboratory, and
yet by changing their environment we can also coax them into becoming
virtually any cell type within the human body.
"This includes beating heart cells, also known as cardiomyocytes. In
the longer term, cardiomyocytes could be used for testing the safety
of new pharmaceutical products or for transplanting into patients
hearts after heart attack. The trouble is that these uses will
require pure populations of cardiomyocytes but until now whenever we
have produced cardiomyocytes, we have also produced many other
unwanted 'contaminating' cell types such as brain cells or liver
cells.
"What we describe in the present research is a method to eliminate
the unwanted cells and produce almost pure populations of
cardiomyocytes.
"There is still a lot of work to be done, but this really does
provide a first step towards being able to use cardiomyocytes derived
from human embryonic stem cells for important clinical applications.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Nottingham.
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MLA University of Nottingham (2007, December 2). Genetic Selection
Of Target Stem Cell Populations. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 22,
2008, from http://www.scienced
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http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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