Isolation of blood stem cells in pure form

50 years ago, researchers from the University of Toronto, Canada discovered stem cells.

However, since that time until now, this is the first time, scientists have succeeded in isolating a human hematopoietic stem cell in its purest form , as a Stem cells are capable of restoring the whole blood system.

This breakthrough opens the door to exploiting, using the power of these cells in the treatment of cancer and other debilitating diseases more effectively.

This study was published in the August 29 issue of the American Journal of Science. " This finding means we will have a detailed migration map of the blood development system after finding stem cells. " Professor John Dick from McEwen Center for Regenerative Medicine and Ontario Cancer Institute, Health Network (UHN) said.

"We isolated a single cell that is the key to maximizing the potential power of stem cells in the use of clinical applications. Stem cells are really rare , in when its role in medicine is huge '.

New breakthroughs can lead to effective cancer treatments.

Professor John Dick, who pioneered the use of cancer stem cells with previous discoveries in leukemia and colon cancer, has also developed a way to replicate the entire process. and develop leukemia by using genetically modified mice.

The discovery of Professor James Till in 1961 and Ernest McCulloch then quickly led to the use of stem cells for bone marrow transplantation in leukemia patients. This is one of the most successful clinical applications to date in regenerating medicine and treating thousands of patients every year in the world.

"Since stem cell science began, scientists have been searching for pure stem cells that can be controlled and expanded during transplantation before transplanting into patients. Recently Scientists who have begun to exploit and use cord blood stem cells, which are used to treat children with leukemia, can also save lives for millions of infected adults. could not find a bone marrow donor.

The only problem with umbilical cord blood is that it usually does not produce enough stem cells to treat patients with large or medium shape but only enough for a person with small size. Therefore, these new findings are an important step to creating enough stem cells, providing more practical and effective applications in life, " Dick said.

"The bone marrow transplant technique between unrelated people has been around for decades, and the problem is that the number of people with marrow matching the recipient is very limited. Millions of people The world with blood cancer needs marrow transplantation, but sometimes it is not possible to find a suitable marrow donor , ' said Dr. Mary J. Laughlin at Case Western Reserve Medical University (Cleveland, Ohio, USA), the lead researcher. one of the two works, said. "This finding helps us expand the scope of donors. Of course, for this technique we still have a lot of work to do because the number of umbilical cord stem cells is much less than bone marrow." .

The first study, conducted by the Laughlin team, investigated the treatment data for 601 adults with leukemia. They were classified into two groups: one group received stem cells from cord blood, the other received bone marrow transplants. The second group is divided into two categories: subjects with bone marrow that are fully compatible with marrow donors and only partially matched subjects.

The results showed that those who had a transplant with marrow transplantation had the highest survival rate after 2 years, 33%. The other two groups have a 22% survival rate in the same time.

The second study, conducted by John Dick, compared 584 people with acute leukemia with bone marrow transplantation with 98 patients receiving umbilical cord blood transplants, in both cases the donor was unrelated. with the recipient. After 2 years, 1/5 of the patients have recovered, an approximation of Laughlin's results.

Thus, it can be seen that the chance of getting rid of the disease when the bone marrow transplant is incompatible and cord blood is the same. Thereby, it can be confirmed that umbilical cord blood can be a source of bone marrow replacement stem cells for patients with blood cancer who want to transplant bone marrow but no suitable marrow donor.