These cells have huge implications for regenerative medicine
- Nicholas Hannan
A new method for creating stem cells for the human liver and pancreas, which could enable both cell types to be grown in sufficient quantities for clinical use, has been developed by scientists.
Using the technique, researchers have for the first time been able to grow a pure, self-renewing population of stem cells specific to the human foregut, the upper section of the human digestive system.
These so-called “Foregut stem cells” could then be developed further to produce liver or pancreatic cells. The method significantly improves on existing techniques for cultivating this type of stem cell, and raises the possibility that, with further work, they could be grown in large numbers in bioreactors. That would make it possible to use them for regenerative therapies, repairing damaged organs or tissues in the body, and treating conditions such as type I diabetes or liver disease.
“We have developed a cell culture system which allows us to specifically isolate foregut stem cells in the lab,” Dr Nicholas Hannan, from the University of Cambridge Wellcome Trust MRC Stem Cell Institute, Department of Surgery, explained. Hannan led the study, which was carried out in the lab of Dr Ludovic Vallier.
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Image: Foregut stem cells (green) differentiated into pancreatic cells expressing insulin.
Credit: Nicholas Hannan
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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