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In the July issue of Nature Medicine, Canadian researchers describe a novel class of human stem cells that can rapidly generate blood cells. The results may help develop new human cell-based therapies.
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) reside in the bone marrow and replenish the body’s supply of blood cells. John Dick and colleagues injected human cord blood cells into the bone marrow - rather than into the bloodstream - of mice. Different classes of human blood cells quickly grew from a previously undescribed class of HSCs, the researchers found. Transplanting cord blood into the bone marrow is an efficient method to identify and characterize stem cells, the researchers conclude. Their study also promises to further knowledge about human stem cells, which are currently much less understood than mouse stem cells. Author contact: John Edgar Dick
University of Toronto
Ontario, Canada
Tel: + 1 416 946 6549
E-mail: jdick@uhnres.utoronto.ca Also available online. (C) Nature Medicine press release.
Message posted by: Trevor M. D'Souza
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