Posted on 07/13/2008 7:49:41 PM PDT by neverdem
Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have demonstrated for the first time that transplanted muscle stem cells can both improve muscle function in animals with a form of muscular dystrophy and replenish the stem cell population for use in the repair of future muscle injuries.
"I'm very excited about this," said lead author Amy J. Wagers, Ph.D., Principal Investigator in the Joslin Section on Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, principal faculty member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Assistant Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University. "This study indicates the presence of renewing muscle stem cells in adult skeletal muscle and demonstrates the potential benefit of stem cell therapy for the treatment of muscle degenerative diseases such as muscular dystrophy."
The study was designed to test the concept that skeletal muscle precursor cells could function as adult stem cells and that transplantation of these cells could both repair muscle tissue and regenerate the stem cell pool in a model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, she said. The research is published in the July 11 issue of Cell.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common form of the disease and is characterized by rapidly progressing muscle degeneration. The disease is caused by a genetic mutation and there is currently no cure.
The data from this new study demonstrate that regenerative muscle stem cells can be distinguished from other cells in the muscle by unique protein markers present on their surfaces. The authors used these markers to select stem cells from normal adult muscle and transferred the cells to diseased muscle of mice carrying a mutation in the same gene affected in human Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
"Once the healthy stem cells were transplanted into the muscles of the mice with muscular dystrophy, they generated cells that incorporated..."
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
A how about that bump!
I don’t this is too far away from human trials, maybe within the next year or two.
Those interested in the stem cell issue will want to read this.
Thanks for the link. It appears to be the same press release, the only differences being the title and where paragraphs were started.
Jim, are you aware of this research?
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