The scientific paper documenting a U of L team’s discovery of cells in the adult body that behave like embryonic stem cells is one of six articles named Editors’ Choice by the editorial staff of Nature Publishing Group.
Mariusz Ratajczak, director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center’s stem cell biology program, and his research team published the paper, “Identification of a Population of Embryonic-like Stem Cells in Adult Bone Marrow” in the February 23 online version of the journal “Leukaemia.”
Editors singled out the paper from among those published in the more than 65 scientific journals that make up the Nature Publishing Group.
The cells, drawn from adult bone marrow, look like embryonic stem cells and appear to mimic their ability to multiply and develop into other kinds of cells, said Ratajczak, who is also a professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
The finding, presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in Atlanta, was announced December 12, 2005 at the society’s news conference prior to its submission to the journal.
Stem cells hold enormous promise for helping understand and treat a wide variety of diseases and disorders. By studying how these cells transform into the array of specialized cells that make us what we are, researchers can gain unprecedented insight into cancer, birth defects and other disorders that develop during cell growth and transformation.
Stem cells also could become a renewable source of replacement cells and tissues that could be used to treat illnesses, conditions and disabilities such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, burns, spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and arthritis.
Ratajczak’s team has grown VSEL cells in a lab and has stimulated them to change into different types of nerve, heart and pancreas cells. Since December, the process has been replicated at more than five other laboratories.
If the process proves to be practical to duplicate on a large scale, it could reduce the need for embryonic stem cells in research and eliminate rejection problems associated with using stem cells from an outside donor.
More information is available at http://www.nature.com/leu/journal/v20/n5/abs/2404171a.html
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