Children's Memorial researchers propose a new model of stem cell memory and plasticity
April 7, 2009 — How does a human cell remember its past and decide its future? This is a $6 million question that biomedical researchers have long sought to answer in their attempts to control cell fate and develop better cellular therapy.
Working with human bone marrow stem cells that can turn into bone or muscle, researchers at Children's Memorial Research Center have recently demonstrated how these cells juggle decision-making processes that determine their fate. They showed that these stem cells respond to environmental stimulation by producing bone- or muscle-forming factors.
Feedback loops enable one of these factors to accumulate rapidly and mediate abrupt transformation of the cells into bone or muscle cells. Importantly, the group described a “bistable switch” mechanism similar to an on-off light switch that controls determination of cell fate, revealing important concepts in stem cell memory and plasticity.
Further understanding of these concepts may help researchers discover critical developmental genes that can be applied to cell fate control and cellular therapies. The research was published in the April 6, 2009, online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
The research team included stem cell transplant clinicians in the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplant at Children’s Memorial Hospital and researchers in the Developmental Biology Program of Children’s Memorial Research Center. Team leader William T. Tse, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
This work was supported by grants from the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute, the Dr. Ralph and Marian C. Falk Medical Research Trust, and the North Suburban Medical Research Junior Board.
For more information, contact Peggy Jones, Children's Memorial Research Center, at 773.755.6341 or pmjones@childrensmemorial.org.
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