14 DAY TRIAL // Embryonic stem cells are known worldwide for their ability to differentiate into any type of cells that exist inside the body. Once this was discovered, scientists were able to find numerous other types of stem cells, which dealt exclusively with generating replacement cells for specific organs. One of the main goals in this line of research was discovering such a cell line for the skin. This was recently achieved, when experts found a stem cell for the dermis, or the second layer of the skin.
The find holds tremendous importance, as it could soon allow doctors and other healthcare experts to start producing patches that could be applied to severe burns. Isolating these cell lines from the burn patients and working on them could mean that, once applied, they would entail no risk of being rejected, or having the immune system fight them off. The new work was conducted by experts at the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), in Canada, PhysOrg reports.
“Understanding the regeneration of the dermis is very important in understanding how wounds heal. If we can understand wound healing, then we can address the many conditions and diseases that involve wounds that don't repair themselves,” SickKids Molecular Genetics Professor Freda Miller explains. She is also a senior scientist at the Hospital, and the principal investigator of the new paper. Details of the work appear in the December 4 issue of the respected scientific journal Cell Stem Cell. The newly discovered cells were determined to be a group of cells known as skin-derived precursors (SKP).
“I think a lot of people in the field are hoping that one day we won't even have to think about cell therapy and we will be able to harness the stem cells [of] our own tissues to repair the body. Imagine if it would be possible to give someone a drug to recruit their own stem cells and thereby repair their tissues,” Miller says. In the investigations, it was determined that the SKP were able not only to maintain skin through regeneration, but also to cure wounds. Albeit, they weren't of the very serious type, but their ability was proven nonetheless.