Discovery - 'Mother' Of All Blood Stem Cells
Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered the earliest form of human blood stem cells and deciphered the mechanism by which these embryonic stem cells replicate and grow. They also found a surprising biological marker that pinpoints these stem cells, which serve as the progenitors for red blood cells and lymphocytes. The research reported today used federally approved embryonic stem cell lines. The biochemical marker, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), is well known for its role in the regulation of blood pressure, blood vessel growth, and inflammation. ACE inhibitors are already widely used to treat hypertension and congestive heart failure, and the findings are, the researchers say, likely to hold promise for developing new treatments for heart diseases, anemias, leukemia and other blood cancers, and autoimmune diseases because they show for the first time that ACE plays a fundamental role in the very early growth and development of human blood cells. Read More...
Read the whole article on Scientific Blogging
More from Scientific Blogging
Related
- Researchers devise means to create blood by identifying earliest stem cellsFri, 29 Aug 2008, 17:56:37 EDT
- Embryo's heartbeat drives blood stem cell formationWed, 13 May 2009, 13:24:44 EDT
- What do blood stem cells need to grow? Blood flowWed, 13 May 2009, 13:24:37 EDT
- UCLA scientists prove endothelial cells give rise to blood stem cellsWed, 3 Dec 2008, 12:38:09 EST
- New research sheds light on how stem cells turn into blood cellsThu, 5 Mar 2009, 12:38:57 EST