14 DAY TRIAL // A group of scientists from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) announce the discovery of a new type of cell, believed to be the missing link in the transition from stem cells in the bone marrow to all other cell types in the immune system.
The findings could be used to gain a deeper understanding of how our bodies' natural defenses work, and may lead to the development of new drugs and therapies in the near future. Furthermore, the results could reveal how certain diseases cause the immune system to fail.
For this research, the UCLA team focused its efforts on bone marrow, since it contains all the stem cells that will go on to produce blood throughout the course of a human lifespan. For years, scientists have been trying to understand the process of stem cell differentiation, but made little progress to date.
A research paper detailing the findings appears in the September 2 early online issue of the top scientific journal Nature Immunology. The senior author of the study was the co-director of UCLA's Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, Dr. Gay Crooks.
The expert also holds an appointment as the co-director of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center's cancer and stem-cell biology program, and as a professor of pathology and pediatrics.
“We felt it was especially important to do these studies using human bone marrow, as most research into the development of the immune system has used mouse bone marrow,” the investigator explains.
“The few studies with human tissue have mostly used umbilical cord blood, which does not reflect the immune system of post-natal life,” she adds, saying that the new results could lead to learning more about how blood cancers called leukemias develop.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Broad Stem Cell Research Center at UCLA and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center all supported the new research effort.
These results could also help improve the efficiency and success rates of bone marrow transplants, procedures that are commonly used on leukemia patients, or on those who suffer from diseases affecting the immune system.
Prior to transplantation, immunosuppressive drugs are administered to the patients, in order to prevent rejection. Crooks says that the new study could help physicians develop a way of boosting immune recovery following such a surgery.