News: stem cells

[0416Dr]

http://www.umcutrecht.nl/research/news/ ... wounds.htm

"A stem cell that not only makes skin, hair follicles and sebaceous glands but is also capable of repairing wounds; researchers at the Hubrecht Institute describe such a stem cell in today’s issue of Science."

Always nice to hear....again a step closer to the cure

[Jacob]

I must have missed this post..which is a good one. I wonder what their time-frame is.

From Sciencemag.org:

Lgr6 Marks Stem Cells in the Hair Follicle That Generate All Cell Lineages of the Skin
Hugo J. Snippert,1,* Andrea Haegebarth,1,* Maria Kasper,2 Viljar Jaks,2 Johan H. van Es,1 Nick Barker,1 Marc van de Wetering,1 Maaike van den Born,1 Harry Begthel,1 Robert G. Vries,1 Daniel E. Stange,1 Rune Toftgård,2 Hans Clevers1,{dagger}

Mammalian epidermis consists of three self-renewing compartments: the hair follicle, the sebaceous gland, and the interfollicular epidermis. We generated knock-in alleles of murine Lgr6, a close relative of the Lgr5 stem cell gene. Lgr6 was expressed in the earliest embryonic hair placodes. In adult hair follicles, Lgr6+ cells resided in a previously uncharacterized region directly above the follicle bulge. They expressed none of the known bulge stem cell markers. Prenatal Lgr6+ cells established the hair follicle, sebaceous gland, and interfollicular epidermis. Postnatally, Lgr6+ cells generated sebaceous gland and interfollicular epidermis, whereas contribution to hair lineages gradually diminished with age. Adult Lgr6+ cells executed long-term wound repair, including the formation of new hair follicles. We conclude that Lgr6 marks the most primitive epidermal stem cell.

1 Hubrecht Institute–KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) and University Medical Center Utrecht, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, Netherlands.
2 Karolinska Institutet, Center for Biosciences and Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Novum, SE-141 57 Huddinge, Sweden.

[fooliisa]

Stem cells are cells with the potential to develop into many different types of cells in the body They may offer a renewable source of replacement cells to treat diseases, conditions, and disabilities. Stem cells derived from human tissues, but some studies of animal-derived stem cells are also described. Adult stem cells are found in some tissues in the adult body, such as the epidermis of the skin, the lining of the small intestine, and the bone marrow, where they serve in the regeneration of old or worn tissue. Stem cells can now be grown and transformed into specialized cells with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves through cell culture.

[Lady Jo]

Does it mean that cancer can be cured soon?