Controlling adult stem cells

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Professor Cay Kielty of the University of Manchester recently announced the ability achieved by her research team to elaborate on the system that tells adult stem cells how to aid tissue repair. Adult Stem Cells (ADCs) do this through response to chemical indicators within the body. The discovery provides hope for the development of various techniques through which adult stem cells can be used to repair damaged tissues.

The use of adult stem cells does not carry with it the moral and ethical issues that embryonic stem cell research does. Because of this, researchers will face few roadblocks in learning how adult stem cells can be controlled by signal systems within the body. Doing so will offer the potential for researchers to generate stem cells for transplant purposes.

Professor Kielty's team studied mesenchymal stem cells, which are located in the bone marrow of humans. These stem cells have the ability to develop and relocate into several different types of stem cell tissues and are likely a primary source for cells to be used in tissue repair transplants.

"What we have shown is that adult stem cells respond in particular ways to some of the chemical signals in the body. The next stage will be to understand how this messaging system regulates relocation of the mess in key meal stem cells and instructs them to become blood vessel cells. After that, we can look at applying our understanding to develop stem cell derived therapies for tissue or a pair," says Professor Kielty.

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