Not all stem cells the same, Mac scientists discover

Fri Jul 8 2011

Score another breakthrough for McMaster University's Mick Bhatia and his team of stem cell researchers. They've discovered stem cells each have preferences to become certain cells and the discovery is expected to lead to better medical use of stem cells.

Human stem cells can become any type of cell in the body, but now Bhatia and his team know they are stronger if applied to their predisposed ‘favourite' purpose, like becoming blood or neural cells, for example.

It's quite a shift from researchers' belief that all stem cells are identical. This study realizes cells have encoded preferred destinations according to how their DNA is arranged, and this can be detected by specific proteins on the stem cell's surface.

In the journal Cell Stem Cell, Bhatia and his team published a paper highlighting their discovery that “the molecular underpinnings of how human pluripotent stem cells can make decisions. Pluripotency is the ability of stem cells to turn into any one of the 226 cell types that make up the body.”

“The fact they have a preference is a change-maker,” says Bhatia. “The goal here is to make stem cells more efficient … These preferred cells may also function better.”

It's as if the stem cell preferences are “almost poised in a dimmer switch” that can be turned up to special treatment for such diseases as Alzheimer's, diabetes, or Parkinson's, he explained.

If you can differentiate and isolate the cells' preferences, this can be applied in treatments and have large implications for ‘regenerative' medicine, Bhatia said.

Once isolated, they can be refined and optimized for the specialized area and a larger number of such cells can be produced.

In cancer treatment for example, chemotherapy is also very toxic to normal cells — that's what makes the person sick or develop chemotherapy-induced anemia.

“Just making red blood cells may provide an alternative to a (blood) transfusion … it allows us to replace the cells … If we can rescue the blood system, we increase … killing the cancer cells,” he said.

“That's why we're excited about this. It's an effective way of producing blood cells and it has broader implications.”

The discovery is a real thrust forward in better understanding of stem cells.

It is not enough to produce stem cells, it is also important to differentiate the cells that have a preference for becoming a specialized cell, like blood or neural stem cells, for example.

“You can force a cell (to become something else) … They'll do it, but not very well and not happily.”

The results open the door to tailoring stem cells better for tissue and organ regeneration.

"For a happy and healthy world, we need to believe in sharing, loving, caring and stop wasting the most we can." Krishna Sadh

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