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Skeptical Stem Cell Researcher Admits New Adult Stem Cell Findings Are Hopeful

Adult stem cells successfully used to replace bone marrow cells and immune system in mice

By Meg Jalsevac

MINNEAPOLIS, MN, January 17, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Together with researchers from Stanford University, stem cell researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Stem Cell Institute have succeeded in replacing the immune system and bone marrow cells in mice using adult stem cells, reports Medicalnewstoday.com.  

The researchers in this particular study used multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPCs) which can be extracted from bone marrow tissue and differentiated into specific cellular groups that have the unique capability to develop into other cell types including neural, muscle and bone tissue.  

This recent breakthrough in adult stem cell research is especially significant because scientists have been, up until now, unsuccessful in finding a way to reproduce hemotopoietic stem cells, or cells that produce the blood system.  These cells are formed in the bone marrow.

Dr. Catherine Verfaillie is the director of the Stem Cell Institute and co-author of the recent study.  She first identified MAPCs in 2001 and, despite skepticism from many researchers in the same field, the ability to identify and reproduce MAPCs has continued to progress.

In this particular study, Verfaillie and her associates extracted MAPCs from mice, reproduced the cells in the lab and then transplanted them into other mice that were lacking an immune system due to radiation treatment. Verfaillie commented on the successful outcome of their study saying, “The cells not only survived when transplanted but completely repopulated the blood system of the mice.”

The MAPCs did not reproduce into foreign tissue or produce tumors in any of the study subjects as embryonic stem cells have been known to do in other studies.

Irving Weissman, director of Stanford University’s Institute for Stem-Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and co-author of Verfaillie’s report, was initially skeptical of MAPCs ability to reproduce cells of the blood system.  His skepticism led to intense scrutiny of each step of the experimental process and accurate documentation so that no errors or embellishment of the results could occur.  

Weissman said, “These experiments point to potential precursors of blood forming stem cells in an unexpected population of cultured cells.”  

Weissman was careful to point out that the MAPCs did not regenerate into bone marrow cells on their own but only when combined with other live bone marrow cells.

The full report of the research will be available in the online version of the Journal of Experimental Medicine on January 15th and in print in the January 22nd version.  

While Verfaillie & Weissman’s findings must still be corroborated with human cells, the results so far are extremely promising.  Further research at the University of Minnesota suggests that MAPCs could be introduced into the blood stream in order to condition the body to accept tissue transplants grown from similar MAPCs.  

Separate studies have also been successful in having MAPCs reproduce arterial tissue and, for the first time ever, reproduce functioning smooth muscle cells which contract, often uncontrollably, in such organs as the heart and digestive tract.  The ability to reproduce smooth muscle cells would not only allow for treatment of disease but could also provide functional tissue in the laboratory to be used for experimental purposes to determine the effects of new treatments and medications.

As previously reported by LifeSiteNews.com, adult stem cells have been successfully used to treat several diseases and conditions including leukemia, heart ailments and paralysis.  Embryonic stem-cell treatments have had no concrete success and are widely opposed by conservatives because they require the destruction of the living human embryo.  

Read Previous LifeSiteNews.com Coverage:

Success Stories with Adult Stem Cells Coming in Almost Too Fast to Track
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jan/05012007.html

UK Researcher: Cord Blood Real Potential for Cures, Not Embryonic Stem Cells - Part 1
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06081804.html

UK Researcher: Embryonic Stem Cells Have Never Been Used to Treat Anyone and no Plans Exist to do so
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06082401.html

Human Liver Grown from Cord Blood Stem Cells--Media Ignores UK Breakthrough
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/nov/06110105.html

Study: Human Embryonic Stem Cells May Cause Brain Tumors
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06102309.html

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