Scientists from the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), an institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), have discovered that the body uses a unique communication system to decide what its stem cells are going to turn into. They collaborated with the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI) in finding out how the body does this.
Their study was published on June 23, 2011 in the scientific journal PLoS Genetics. It makes new methods of stem cell therapy with fewer side effects possible.
With his team Dr. Kian Leong Lee looked at how the Nodal/Activin pathway instructs stem cells which kind of cell they should become. They noticed the signaling pathway can choose a wide range of cell types to turn into. This discovery goes against current beliefs that chemical signaling systems are very specific and determine just a select few results. For this reason it is a big step for stem cell therapy. Scientists can now exploit the signaling system and control what becomes of a stem cell through adjustment of a cell’s chemical environment. When using this technique to control stem cell differentiation scientists do not need to modify the cell’s genetic material, something that could have caused the cells to become cancerous.
The study’s lead author Dr. Lee, who is post-doctoral research fellow at GIS and CSI, said, “Many scientists believe that protein and chemical signaling systems have highly specific functions in biology. However, our study demonstrates that the same type of signal can be changed very dramatically to give different instructions. This finding is extremely significant because it paves the way for advanced studies in cell regeneration and tissue repair, which could ultimately lead to its use in personalized medicine, where stem cells from the same patient could be manipulated to make other types of cells that are genetically matched to the donor.”
Angeles hospital in Mexico
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