An international team of scientists have discovered a genetic switch that can encourage cord blood stem cells to proliferate.  The team was co-led by Dr. Gerald de Haan form the Netherlands and Dr. John Dick from Canada.

One of the greatest challenges of using cord blood stem cells is obtaining enough cells from a relatively small sample.  By encouraging stem cells from cord blood to proliferate, doctors will be able to obtain more stem cells for cancer patients requiring a transplant.

Dr. Dick described the importance of the findings, saying: “Stem cells are rare in cord blood and often there are not enough present in a typical collection to be useful for human transplantation. The goal is to find ways to make more of them and enable more patients to make use of blood stem cell therapy,”  He continued: ”Our discovery shows a method that could be harnessed over the long term into a clinical therapy and we could take advantage of cord blood being collected in various public banks that are now growing across the country.”

When a person has a cancer like leukaemia, their body rapidly produces immature white blood cells.  This causes a variety of symptoms and causes the patient to be vulnerable to other life-threatening illnesses.

Chemotherapy or radiotherapy can be used to stop or slow the production of these immature white blood cells.  Unfortunately, these treatments also damage the bone marrow and prevent the body from producing healthy blood cells.

A stem cell transplant can restore the body’s ability to produce healthy blood cells. stem cells from cord blood are particularly useful because they are less likely to trigger an immune system response in the patient. 

The only problem with using cord blood stem cells is the small number of stem cells per sample.  This new scientific breakthrough helps to solve that problem by changing the way stem cells divide, allowing them to continuing producing new stem cells for longer periods.

Scientists modified a genetic switch called microRNA (mirR-125a) to alter how stem cells from cord blood matured.  The change made the stem cells think they were still in a developmental phase where they should produce more stem cells.

The findings will help many thousands of people who require a stem cell transplant in the future.

Source: Stem cell scientists discover genetic switch to increase supply of stem cells from cord blood

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