New hope in regenerative medicine
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have reprogrammed mature blood cells from mice into blood-forming hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), using a cocktail of eight genetic switches called transcription factors. The reprogrammed cells, which the researchers have dubbed induced HSCs (iHSCs), have the functional hallmarks of HSCs, are able to self-renew like those cells, and like them can give rise to the cellular components of the blood. The findings mark a significant step toward one of the most sought-after goals of regenerative medicine: the ability to produce HSCs suitable for transplantation using more mature or differentiated cells. Blood stem cell transplants, also known as bone marrow transplants, have been saving the lives of patients for almost three decades, but have been limited by the difficulty of obtaining good cell matches for transplantation. The work, reported online in the journal Cell, was led by HSCI principal faculty member Derrick J....