Using cellular barcoding, scientists have uncovered new findings about the behavior of stem cells. The work was published yesterday in Nature by researchers at the National Institute of Health.
"The findings of this research, if applicable to humans, will have implications for blood cell transplantation, and for clinical and research methods using blood cells, such as gene therapy or gene editing," said John W. Thomas, Ph.D.
"Our results show that stem cells and their less pluripotent descendants, blood progenitors, behave somewhat differently when studied without removing them from their native environment versus when studied in a laboratory or in transplantation; leading to differences in the type of blood lineages they make," said study's first author Alejo Rodriguez Fraticelli, Ph.D.
In this study, the researchers tagged cells using a transposon to track blood progenitors and adult stem cells during the natural, unperturbed process of blood regeneration.
According to the authors, most studies that shed light on blood formation are completed with cells that have been done after a transplant. This current study provides a way that is more likely to represent a roadmap of lineage potential for the blood cells' natural offspring without the natural environment being disrupted.
Rodriguez Fraticelli hopes that this study shows the importance of studying blood regeneration in its natural environment and help find the best type of cell to use for a particular therapy.
Image: Landscape of the lineage fate (natural environment) of unperturbed haematopoiesis (the process of mature blood and immune cell production). Image courtesy of the Stem Cell Program, Boston Children's Hospital.