Researchers at the University of Glasgow have successfully grown human stem cells used for blood stem cell transplants in a bioengineered gel designed to mimic bone marrow. This gel supports long-term haematopoietic stem cells, which are critical for blood cell regeneration but are notoriously difficult to culture outside the body.
The innovative method involves using a gel that replicates the bone marrow's natural microenvironment, encouraging these stem cells to replicate instead of differentiating or dying. This breakthrough could significantly impact drug testing and treatments for blood disorders like leukaemia. Dr. Hannah Donnelly, who led the study, emphasized the clinical value of long-term haematopoietic stem cells and the importance of the engineered gel in supporting and studying these cells in the lab.
Stem cell transplants, used to treat various blood disorders including leukaemia and sickle cell disease, require the depletion of a patient's bone marrow stem cells followed by the infusion of matched donor cells. However, the demand for these transplants often exceeds supply. One major challenge is that the crucial long-term haematopoietic stem cells constitute a tiny fraction of bone marrow cells. This new method of expanding these cells outside the body could enhance the success rate of transplants.
Published in Nature Communications, the research details how the bioengineered gel maintains the essential properties of the stem cells by replicating multiple elements of the bone marrow microenvironment, such as gel softness, signaling factor concentrations, and the presence of supporting cell types. Additionally, the team demonstrated that these cultured stem cells could be genome-edited using CRISPR, facilitating further research and treatment development.
Professor Manuel Salmeron Sanchez highlighted the significance of this work, noting that it provides a human-based model to study disease progression and develop new treatments, reducing reliance on rodent models.
