Canadian team finds new source of stem cells

dr. what · Post by **dr. what** » 2005-02-09 07:27pm

link

Toronto — A part of the umbilical cord once thought to have no value has been found to contain a rich source of stem cells, offering hope for improved success in bone-marrow transplants and tissue repair, Canadian researchers say.

The stem cells are found in the connective tissue surrounding blood vessels in the umbilical cord and can be removed and grown in a few weeks to provide an abundant number of cells, said John Davies, a professor of biomaterials at the University of Toronto and head of the research team.

Blood from the umbilical cord is a source of blood-forming stem cells, and an increasing number of parents are having them frozen and stored as insurance against future diseases in their child or other family members.

“This provides another source of cells which could be stored from the umbilical cord, which is otherwise just thrown away,” Dr. Davies said in an interview Tuesday.

The University of Toronto team used umbilical cords only from full-term newborns, which were donated by parents for research.

Stem cells in the umbilical cord's connective tissue, called mesenchymal progenitor cells, are those that go on to become bone, cartilage, muscle and other connective-tissue cells.

Dr. Davies said these stem cells could be used in transplanting bone marrow — the body's factory for stem cells that develop into the components of all the different tissues of the body, from the brain and organs to muscles and bone.

Bone-marrow transplants are often performed to treat leukemia and some other cancers, as well as immune-deficiency disorders. The transplant requires blood-forming stem cells as well as connective-tissue stem cells.

But with the difficulty of matching bone-marrow donors and recipients, more and more doctors are scooping stem cells from the bloodstream, growing them in the lab, then infusing them into the patient.

But Dr. Davies said research has suggested that adding more connective-tissue stem cells could boost the success rate of bone-marrow transplants, which currently averages about 40 per cent.

In bone marrow, connective-tissue stem cells and blood stem cells “talk to each other and depend upon each other for their survival,” said Dr. Davies. “So there's an increasing understanding out there that we may be able to radically increase the success of marrow transplants by co-infusing blood stem cells with mesenchymal cells.

“But for that you need a source of mesenchymal cells,” said Dr. Davies, adding that the researchers believe they have found it.

Their discovery, published in the journal Stem Cells, also holds out promise that these easily grown cells could be used in the future to treat diseases, such as arthritis, that are common among an greying population.

“Mesenchymal stem cells can leave the marrow during injury and actually home (in) to the tissue which is damaged,” said Dr. Davies. “This is why these cells are very important to us in an ongoing state of tissue repair throughout life.”

Administering an extra dose of these connective-tissue stem cells could help repair broken bones or build new cartilage, he suggested.

The researchers' next step will be to inject these cells into immunologically deficient mice to see how they might develop if they were back in a human body.

Guy N. Cognito · Post by **Guy N. Cognito** » 2005-02-10 02:43pm

Didn't they already do this in South Korea? Get Stem cells from Ubilical cords I mean?

Gustav32Vasa · Post by **Gustav32Vasa** » 2005-02-10 02:48pm

Actually this isnt so new. Several nations save the umbilical cord in storage in case needed in the future.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2005-02-10 02:56pm

Gustav32Vasa wrote:Actually this isnt so new. Several nations save the umbilical cord in storage in case needed in the future.

Yes, but this is a part of the cord that wasn't ordinarily used. This means we have more choice now.

Gustav32Vasa · Post by **Gustav32Vasa** » 2005-02-10 03:04pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:
Gustav32Vasa wrote:Actually this isnt so new. Several nations save the umbilical cord in storage in case needed in the future.
Yes, but this is a part of the cord that wasn't ordinarily used. This means we have more choice now.

Oh, Cool.

Anyway I'm glad that Sweden allowed continued study of stem cells.

Gustav32Vasa · Post by **Gustav32Vasa** » 2005-02-10 03:05pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:
Gustav32Vasa wrote:Actually this isnt so new. Several nations save the umbilical cord in storage in case needed in the future.
Yes, but this is a part of the cord that wasn't ordinarily used. This means we have more choice now.

Oh, Cool.

Anyway I'm glad that Sweden allowed continued study of stem cells.

I'm curious, how is the situation in Great Britain regarding stemcells?

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2005-02-10 04:52pm

Gustav32Vasa wrote:Anyway I'm glad that Sweden allowed continued study of stem cells.

Here in America you can study stem cells, provided they do not come from embryos.

tharkûn · Post by **tharkûn** » 2005-02-10 07:24pm

Here in America you can study stem cells, provided they do not come from embryos.

No in the US you can study stem cells as long as you aren't taking federal funds to do so.

If you are taking federal funding you still can do so, it just has to be from one cell lines that predated the Bush ban of federal funding.