stem cell research journal

another major coup for stem cell researchnext researchers regrow corneas using adult humanstem cells loren grush reporting for fox news describeda procedure where boston researchers have successfully regrown human corneal tissue– a feat that could potentially restore vision in the blind.the achievement also marks one of the first times that scientists have constructed tissueusing adult-derived human stem cells. in a new study published in the journal nature,researchers from massachusetts eye and ear institute, boston children’s hospital, brighamand women’s hospital and the va boston healthcare system detailed their groundbreaking research.according to the paper, the key to the study’s

success revolves around a molecule known asabcb5, which serves as a biomarker for previously elusive limbal stem cells.residing in the eye’s limbus – the border of the cornea and the whites of the eye – thelimbal stem cells are responsible for maintaining and recreating corneal tissue. because oftheir regenerative ability, scientists have long hoped to harness these stem cells forregrowing human tissue in those with blindness due to corneal injury or disease.the only problem? they’ve been rather difficult to track down.frank’s lab originally discovered the crucial abcb5 molecule over 10 years ago, findingthat it was present in skin and intestine precursor cells. but more recently, his teamrevealed that abcb5 was also an important

component of the eye’s limbal stem cells,preventing them from undergoing apoptosis – or cell death.to further prove abcb5’s role in the eye, frank and his team created two groups of mice– ones lacking a functional abcb5 gene and ones with a fully functioning abcb5 gene.the mice lacking abcb5 lost their population of limbal stem cells and were unable to repairinjuries to their corneas. “when we found this…we thought if we couldenrich or isolate these abcb5-positive cells and transplant them, they should be able tocure corneal disease,” frank said. using the corneal tissue from deceased humandonors, the researchers were able to locate the limbal stem cells using antibodies thatbind to abcb5. once they identified the stem

cells, they extracted them from the donortissue and transplanted them into mice whose limbal stem cells had been removed. as expected,fully normal human-derived corneal tissue was generated in the mice – allowing themto see once again. comment: what an elegant study! i am so impressed.