Researchers from the Miller School of Medicine have discovered that the age of stem cell donors alters stem cell effectiveness in repairing lung damage. The researchers made the discovery while performing animal tests with mice.
They were using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to repair lung damage caused by pulmonary fibrosis when they identified the age of donor mice was playing a significant role in success rates. The study was recently published in the journal Translational Research and is an important finding for future stem cell research involving patients with damaged lung tissue.
Lead researcher, Marilyn K. Glassberg, explains: “Donor stem cells from younger mice were effective in preventing damage when infused into older mice at the same time as a disease-causing agent. However, donor mesenchymal stem cells from older mice had virtually no effect.” Dr Glassberg is the professor of medicine, surgery and paediatrics at the university.
Researchers are very interested in using mesenchymal stem cells to treat pulmonary fibrosis because there are currently no effective drug treatments. Research often uses autologous stem cells that have come from the recipients own body.
Dr Glassberg explains the benefit of young stem cells: “Our study found that the age of the donor animal is important. This would indicate that it’s unlikely that infusions of autologous stem cells from the body of an older patient would be effective in treating pulmonary disease.” This finding has important ramifications for ongoing research projects around the world which are testing stem cell effectiveness in repairing lung damage.
The first laboratory studies that indicated stem cells could treat lung damage were published in the later 1990s. Mice given bleomycin (BLM)-induced pulmonary fibrosis saw an improvement after being having a stem cell transplant. However, these studies used young mice, so they would have seen more effective results compared to the norm.
This latest research used older mice to ensure the results were more indicative of what could be expected in human treatments. The older donor mice were the equivalent of a 70-yeah told human. When the young recipient mice received the stem cell transplant from old donors, there was no indication of improvement. However, when old recipient mice received a transplant from young donor mice, improvement was immediate.
The next step is to determine what components old stem cells are lacking which makes them less effective. There may be a technique available to improve the effectiveness of older cells and it may help scientists gain insight into how stem cells work.
Source: Age of Donor Affects Stem Cell Effectiveness in Repairing Lung Damage from Pulmonary Fibrosis
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