Imaging The Process of How Blood Stem Cells Take Root

Scientists at Stem Cell Research Program of the Boston Children's Hospital has successfully imaged the process on how blood stem cells work inside the body to generate blood.

Using see-through zebrafish and genetic tagging, the scientists got a direct visualization of how the stem cells take root in the body to generate blood.

Owen Tamplin, PhD, the paper's co-first author says, "Stem cell and bone marrow transplants are still very much a black box--cells are introduced into a patient and later on we can measure recovery of their blood system, but what happens in between can't be seen. Now we have a system where we can actually watch that middle step.

The steps are detailed in the video below.

This discovery can lead to new therapies and processes that can improve bone marrow transplants in patients that require it.

Stem cells are special cells in the body that can differentiate into a higher form of cells such as cell tissues and organs. There are different types of stem cells that are associated with a biological system such as heart stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells are cells that can differentiate into any type of cell regardless of origin.

Hematopoietic stem cells are stem cells that comes from the bone marrow ,umbilical cord blood, embryo, or in peripheral blood of the human body. These are the type of stem cells used to treat blood based diseases such as lymphoma and leukemia.

Major Advances in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Presented At Annual ASH Meeting

Major advances in transplant techniques, strategies, and technologies involving Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSC) were presented at the 55th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans.

Stem cells are special cells in the body that can differentiate into a higher form of cells such as cell tissues and organs. There are different types of stem cells that are associated with a biological system such as heart stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells are cells that can differentiate into any type of cell regardless of origin.

Hematopoietic stem cells are stem cells that comes from the bone marrow and in infants, in the umbilical cord blood, in an embryo or in peripheral blood in the human body. These stem cells can differentiate into many different types of blood cells such as erythrocytes, basophils, neutrophils and B-lymphocytes. Hematopoietic stem cells can also stop proliferating when it is unneeded.

HSCs (Hematopoietic Stem Cells) are used in treating blood based diseases such as lymphoma and leukemia. HSCs are transplanted to a patient after radiation therapy or chemotherapy to help the patient in recovering from the treatment. These cells either come from a matching donor ,a bone marrow transplant or harvesting the cells from the patient before the treatment

The studies presented advances in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) has addressed risks involving the procedure such as donor blood rejection and regression.

Presentations during the annual meeting include:

• Encouraging Outcomes in Older Patients (Pts) Following Nonmyeloablative (NMA) Haploidentical Blood or Marrow Transplantation (haploBMT) With High-Dose Posttransplantation Cyclophosphamide (PT/Cy)
• Equality of Access to Transplant for Ethnic Minority Patients Through Use of Cord Blood and Haploidentical Transplants
• Full-Intensity Transplantation and Short Telomeres Increase the Risk of Cognitive Impairment After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) – Results of a Prospective Longitudinal Study
• Donor-Derived Anti-CD19 Chimeric-Antigen-Receptor-Expressing T Cells Cause Regression of Malignancy Persisting After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

These are summarized below. Links to the individual presentations can be found in the Related Links section.

Slowing Down Aging Process Through Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Molecular Protein Wnt5a

Human Stem Cell

Scientists are studying a signalling pathway that links hematopoietic stem cells and the Wnt5A protein that can slow or even reverse aging. They noted that the WNT pathway that signals the production of Wnt5a leads to the activation of another protein called Cdc42 which results in stem cell aging. By suppressing the pathway, stem cells are rejuvenated and functionally acts younger.

Stem cells are cells in the body that can transform into other higher types of cells, tissue, or even organs. The stem cell observed in this study are hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). HSCs can be found in the bone marrow and also in the umbilical cord blood, embryo or peripheral blood in the human body. They can transform into many different types of blood cells such as erythrocytes, basophils, neutrophils and B-lymphocytes.

By suppressing the Cdc42 protein through the molecular signalling pathway, HSC starts to function younger which can lead to therapies that will boost their immune systems, fight illnesses and enhance overall vitality especially for the elderly.