Image of human CD45+ blood cells differentiated from iPS cells. (Image by Rio Sugimura)
Creation of stem cells in a lab could revolutionize stem cell therapies by addressing the need for human donors. Researchers describe successful creation of haematopoietic (blood) stem cells in a lab setting in a new paper. First, the scientists obtained human pluripotent stem cells from donors, and used chemical signals to turn these cells into haemogenic endothelial cells, which can then differentiate into specialized blood cells. The cells were then planted into the bone marrow of adult mice, where they successfully gave rise to healthy blood cells. The development could have promising implications for stem cell treatments, as well as drug therapy and screening. Another study, also published this week in Nature, describes how the research team has successfully used a similar transcription technique to turn mouse endothelial stem cells into viable blood cells.
Authors:
Ryohichi Sugimura, Deepak Kumar Jha, Areum Han, Clara Soria-Valles, Edroaldo Lummertz da Rocha, Yi-Fen Lu, Jeremy A. Goettel, Erik Serrao, R. Grant Rowe, Mohan Malleshaiah, Irene Wong, Patricia Sousa, Ted N. Zhu, Andrea Ditadi, Gordon Keller, Alan N. Engelman, Scott B. Snapper, Sergei Doulatov & George Q. Daley
Corresponding author:
George Daley, Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, US, Email: george.daley@childrens.
Canadian author:
Gordon Keller, McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Email: gkeller@uhnresearch.ca
Original paper published in Nature on May 17, 2017.
