Stem Cells Found In Adult Skin Can Be Transplanted And Function In Mouse Models

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Stem Cells Found In Adult Skin Can Be Transplanted And Function In

Mouse Models Of Disease

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=45254

Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the

University of Calgary have found that stem cells derived from adult

skin can create neural cell types that can be transplanted into and

function in mouse models of disease. This research is reported in the

June 14, 2006 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

SickKids researchers previously discovered what type of cells can be

made from these stem cells (called skin-derived precursors, or SKPs)

based on the role played by neural-crest stem cells during

embryogenesis. In addition to generating the peripheral nervous

system, neural crest stem cells generate other tissues such as bone,

cartilage, some types of muscle, and even part of the heart.

In The Journal of Neuroscience paper, the research team found that

SKPs can efficiently generate a type of glial cell, called Schwann

cells, that can myelinate demyelinated axons (part of a neuron), and

that have been shown to provide a good growth environment for injured

central nervous system axons. These types of axons normally do not

regenerate.

" Schwann cells have been proposed as a cell type for treatment of

nerve injuries, demyelination disorders such as multiple sclerosis,

and even spinal cord injury, " said Dr. Freda , the study's

principal investigator, a senior scientist in Developmental Biology

in the SickKids Research Institute, a professor of Molecular and

Medical Genetics, and Physiology at the University of Toronto and

Canada Research Chair in Developmental Neurobiology. " Our finding

that we can efficiently generate and isolate these Schwann cells from

SKPs raises the possibility that we could treat humans with Schwann

cells derived from human skin stem cells, and perhaps even use the

patient's own skin to generate Schwann cells for treatment. "

The research showed that these SKP-derived Schwann cells can

myelinate axons in culture, in the injured peripheral nerve, and even

in the central nervous systems of mice that don't have myelin in

their brains. While the research occurred in mouse models, some of

their data indicate that human SKPs can do the same thing.

" Previous work has only dealt with SKPs in culture and their more

basic biology. Now we have shown that SKPs can make at least one cell

type that functions as predicted in animals, " said Dr. Rajiv Midha,

study author, a scientist at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute as well as

chairman of the Division of Neurosurgery and professor and deputy

head in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of

Calgary. " This is the first time SKPs have been demonstrated to make

bona fide neural cell types that can be transplanted into and

function in animal models of disease. "

Other members of the research team included Drs. Ian McKenzie, Jeff

Biernaskie and Toma, all from SickKids.

The next steps for the research team are to perform similar

functional studies for the other cell types that they have shown are

made by SKPs, including nerve cells, and to ask whether these SKP-

derived Schwann cells can function in situations of human nervous

system disease, such as spinal cord injury. On the basis of their

findings, Dr. and Dr. Wolfram Tetzlaff at the University of

British Columbia have obtained a $1.5 million team grant from

NeuroScience Canada's Brain Repair Program to determine whether human

SKPs can be used to repair the injured spinal cord in rodents. The

mission of NeuroScience Canada's Brain Repair Program is to fast-

track neuroscience research in order to develop treatments and

therapies more quickly.