By Dr. David Prentice
For the first time scientists have shown that cultured red blood cells can be grown in the lab from adult stem cells and injected successfully into a human. Whereas stem cells taken from human embryos produce only unsuitable, immature cells, with rejection and uncontrolled tumor growth remaining a concern as well, by contrast adult stem cells can efficiently produce healthy, safe cells for transfusion.
The study was published online in the journal Blood.
French scientists first took hematopoietic stem cells (HSC’s; the adult stem cells that form all blood cells) from a human donor. From those cells, they generated billions of “cultured red blood cells” (cRBC’s) in the laboratory. Dr. Luc Douay et al. first tested the function of the cells by injection into mice, showing that the lab-generated cells were able to mature fully.
Then they took adult stem cells from a human volunteer donor, made more cells in the lab, and injected ten billion cells back into the human donor. The cells survived and functioned comparable to normal red blood cells.
Dr. Douay, senior study author, noted:
“Although previous research has shown that HSCs can be developed into fully matured red blood cells, this is the first study that has proven that they are capable of survival in the human body, a major breakthrough for the transplant community. The results from our study establish the feasibility of the concept of transfusing cRBCs and show promise that an unlimited blood reserve is within reach. Although the full-scale production of these cells will require additional technological advances in cell engineering, we believe cRBCs could prove to be a valid alternative to classic transfusion products that will not only provide an adequate supply of blood, but reduce the risk of life-threatening complications and infections that can accompany traditional transfusion.”
Human Colon Adult Stem Cells Identified and Grown in Lab
By David Prentice
An international research team has become the first to isolate and grow adult stem cells from a human colon outside the human body.
According to first author Peter Jung, the main elements for making regenerative medicine a reality, namely adult stem cells, are just starting to be understood. The ability to grow and study colon stem cells in the lab may lead to insights regarding numerous intestinal diseases, including Crohn’s disease.
Scientists have long known that throughout life, adult stem cells of the colon regenerate the inner layer of our large intestine on a weekly basis. But it has previously been impossible to grow these adult stem cells successfully in the laboratory.
Working together, scientists from Spain, Japan, and the Netherlands have established the conditions to maintain living human colon stem cells (CoSCs) outside of the human body long-term: According to Dr. Jung:
“This is the first time that it has been possible to grow single CoSCs in lab-plates and to derive human intestinal stem cell lines in defined conditions in a lab setting. Now we can maintain stem cells in a plate up to 5 months or we can induce these cells to differentiate artificially, as they do inside our bodies. This achievement opens up an exciting new area of research with the potential to bring about a huge breakthrough in regenerative medicine,”
The report is published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Editor’s note. These two entries appear on Dr. Prentice’s great blog at frcblog.com.