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| After two transcription factors are used, stem cells form endothelium (green), which subsequently becomes blood cells (red).--Image courtesy of Irina Elcheva and Akhilesh Kumar, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, UW-Madison |
Investigators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have figured out a way to genetically program stem cells into both red and white cells that make up human blood.
The discovery shows that blood can be made by manipulating genetic mechanisms, a finding that could be used in treating a number of blood disorders and cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. A similar process could also be used to make other types of cells with therapeutic potential, including cells of the pancreas and heart.
Writing in the journal Nature Communications, University of Wisconsin-Madison stem cell researcher Igor Slukvin and his team identify two distinct groups of transcription factors that can directly convert human pluripotent stem cells into the hemogenic endothelial cells. The cells then develop into various types of blood cells. Transcription factors are proteins that bind to DNA and control the flow of genetic information, which dictates how undifferentiated stem cells will develop into more specialized ones.
"By overexpressing just two transcription factors, we can, in the laboratory dish, reproduce the sequence of events we see in the embryo," Slukvin said in a statement from the university. During development, blood cells first take form in the aorta, a major blood vessel in the embryo. Here, blood cells, including hematopoietic stem cells, are generated by nascent hemogenic endothelial cells.
One barrier to producing a large number of specialized cells from human pluripotent stem cells has been the very low conversion rate. But the method developed by Slukvin's group yielded 30 million blood cells for every million stem cells.
- read the press release
- see the study abstract