Turning on adult stem cells may help repair bone
Potential new approach to treating osteoporosis, other degenerative
conditions
The use of a drug to activate stem cells that differentiate into bone
appears to cause regeneration of bone tissue and be may be a
potential treatment strategy for osteoporosis, according to a report
in the February 2008 Journal of Clinical Investigation. The study –
led by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) – found that treatment with a
medication used to treat bone marrow cancer improved bone density in
a mouse model of osteoporosis, apparently through its effect on the
mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that differentiate into several types
of tissues.
"Stem cell therapies are often thought of as putting new cells into
the body, but this study suggests that medications can turn on
existing stem cells that reside in the body's tissues, acting as
regenerative medicines to enhance the body's own repair mechanisms,"
says David Scadden, MD, director of the MGH Center for Regenerative
Medicine and HSCI co-director. "Drugs that direct immature cells to
become a particular cell type, like in this study, could potentially
be very useful."
The study was designed to examine whether the drug bortezamib (Bzb),
which can alleviate bone destruction associated with the cancer
multiple myeloma, could also regenerate bone damaged by non-cancerous
conditions. In their first experiments, the researchers showed that
treating mice with Bzb increased several factors associated with bone
formation. Similar results were seen when cultured MSCs were treated
with Bzb, but not when the drug was applied to cells that were
committed to become particular cell types. Found in the bone marrow,
MSCs have the potential to develop into the bone-building osteoblasts
and several other types of cells – including cartilage, fat, skin and
muscle.
Subsequent experiments supported the hypothesis that Bzb increases
osteoblast activity and bone formation by acting on MSCs but not on
more differentiated osteoblast precursors. Use of Bzb to treat a
mouse model of menopausal osteoporosis produced significant
improvements in bone formation and density. Since current treatments
for osteoporosis – which target differentiated cells like osteoblasts
and the osteoclasts that break down bone – have limitations, the
ability to direct differentiation of MSCs could be a promising
approach to treating osteoporosis and cancer-associated bone loss,
the researchers note.
"If the paradigm displayed in this study holds true for other
tissues, we may have options for repairing and regenerating sites
affected by injury or disease with medications – that would be pretty
exciting." says Scadden, who is the Gerald and Darlene Jordan
Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
###
Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, of the MGH Center for Regenerative Medicine
(CRM) and HSCI is lead author of the study, which was supported by
grants from the National Institutes of Health. Additional co-authors
are Jesse Schoonmaker, David Seo, Joshua Aronson, and Louise Purton,
PhD, MGH-CRM; Noopur Raje, MD, MB, MGH Cancer Center; Julie Liu, Jane
Lian, PhD, and Gary Stein, PhD, University of Massachusetts Medical
School; Teru Hideshima, MD, PhD, Sonia Vallet, MD, Samantha Pozzi,
Shweta Chhetry, Mariateresa Fulciniti and Kenneth Anderson, MD, Dana-
Farber Cancer Institute; Marc Wein, Dallas Jone, PhD, and Laurie
Glimcher, MD, Harvard School of Public Health; and Mary Bouxsein,
PhD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Massachusetts General Hospital (www.massgeneral.
1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard
Medical School. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research
program in the United States, with an annual research budget of more
than $500 million and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular
research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous
biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative
disorders, regenerative medicine, systems biology, transplantation
biology and photomedicine.
Public release date: 25-Jan-2008
Contact: Sue McGreevey
smcgreevey@partners
617-724-2764
Massachusetts General Hospital
http://www.eurekale
More:
http://uk.reuters.
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
____________________________________________
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Earn your degree in as few as 2 years - Advance your career with an AS, BS, MS degree - College-Finder.net.
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
__,_._,___
