|
Adult marrow cells show versatility
25/01/2002 16:27 - (SA)
Malcolm Ritter
New York - Certain bone marrow cells found in adults can be coaxed into
forming a variety of specialised cells, says research that gives
new hope for growing replacement body parts for treating disease.
It's not the only indication that certain cells from adults can
form an array of cells for other parts of the body, but one expert
called the new work very promising. Another cautioned it's too soon
to tell how useful it will be.
Much attention has lately focused on embryonic stem cells,
unspecialised cells found in embryos that give rise to the widely
varied tissue types of the body. One reason scientists are
interested in them is to make replacement parts, like new brain
cells for people with Parkinson's or new pancreatic cells to treat
diabetes.
But using embryonic stem cells is controversial, because embryos
must be destroyed to harvest them. So some researchers have turned
to stem cells found in adults. Recent research has found these
adult stem cells to be more versatile than scientists once thought,
and the new research is continuing on that path.
Dr Catherine Verfaillie and her colleagues at the Stem Cell
Institute at the University of Minnesota have found that in a test
tube, the marrow cells from humans can give rise to cells of bone,
cartilage, fat and skeletal muscle and to cells that resemble
nerve and liver cells.
Most of the work has not yet been published in a scientific
journal, but it has been submitted to journals, she said in a
telephone interview. The research is described in the Jan 26 issue
of New Scientist magazine.
Verfaillie noted that some other labs have said they've found
cells with similar potential but have not published their results,
so she can't compare her cells to theirs. In any case, it would be
wrong to consider the cells she studies as some ultimate stem cell,
she emphasised.
It's also too soon to tell whether her "multipotent adult
progenitor cells" will be useful for treating disease, she said.
And it's not yet clear whether these MAPCs will prove as versatile
as embyronic stem cells, she said.
She and other stem cell experts said her findings should not be
taken as a reason to stop studying embryonic stem cells.
Dr Diane Krause of Yale University, who last year reported
mouse experiments that showed remarkable versatility for mouse
marrow cells, called the new work "very, very promising".
It's "the best that's out there to date" on the versatility of
adult cells, Krause said.
Krause noted that while her own work showed that mouse cells
could produce a variety of cell types when implanted in a mouse,
Verfaillie's results show scientists can make diversification
happen in the laboratory.
She also said Verfaillie will have to show that the various cell
types produced can function normally in the body. It's also not
clear whether MAPCs exist naturally in the marrow, or whether they
gain their properties in the laboratory, Krause said.
She said the MAPCs appear to be different from the cells she
used in her own experiments, although it's also possible that one
cell type turns into the other. Verfaillie said it's not clear
whether both scientists were studying the same cell.
In any case, Krause said, scientists have studied versatility of
adult cells for only a couple years, and further work may show
there are many highly versatile adult cells.
Dr Irving Weissman of Stanford University, another expert on
stem cells, said it's too soon to assess the importance of
Verfaillie's work until it's published and verified by other
laboratories.
"Nobody knows the real potential of these cells," he said. - Sapa/AP
- SAPA
|
