A step forward in stem cell research - skeletal muscle regeneration

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A step forward in stem cell research

28 Jun 2005

According to research published today, investigators from Memorial

Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have used new techniques in the

laboratory that allowed them for the first time to derive unlimited

numbers of purified mesenchymal precursor cells from human embryonic

stem cells (HESCs). Mesenchymal precursor cells are capable of giving

rise to fat, cartilage, bone, and skeletal muscle cells, and may

potentially be used for regenerative stem cell therapy in bone,

cartilage, or muscle replacement.

The new study, demonstrating the specialized techniques for isolating

mesenchymal precursors and generating, purifying, and differentiating

those cells in culture, is published online and freely available in

the journal PLoS Medicine (Public Library of Science).

Researchers took two lines of completely undifferentiated HESCs and

by culturing them in the presence of mouse cells, stimulated them to

turn into mesenchymal cells. They then treated these cells with

compounds to make them change into specialized bone, cartilage, fat,

and muscle cells. According to the study, researchers were able to

confirm that these cells were all human cells and that there was no

evidence that the cells became cancerous.

Mesenchymal precursors derived from HESCs are different from adult

mesenchymal cells because they can efficiently differentiate into

skeletal muscle (adult mesenchymal cells do not) in addition to fat,

cartilage, and bone. Limited numbers of mesenchymal stem cells have

been isolated from adult bone marrow and connective tissues, but

harvesting these cells from any of these sources requires invasive

procedures and the availability of a suitable donor. The capacity of

these cells for long-term proliferation is also poor. In contrast,

HESCs could provide an unlimited number of specialized cells.

According to Lorenz Studer, MD, PhD, Head of the Stem Cell and Tumor

Biology Laboratory at MSKCC and senior author of the PLoS Medicine

study, the high purity, unlimited availability, and multi-

potentiality of mesenchymal precursors derived from HESCs will

provide the basis for preclinical mouse studies to assess the safety

of these cells. The investigators have already taken the next step in

this research and are testing the therapeutic potential of embryonic

stem cell-derived muscle cells in animal models of muscle disorders.

This work was supported in part by the Kinetics Foundation.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

http://www.mskcc.org