Blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma will account for about 10% of all new cancer cases this year.
Doctors often treat these diseases with irradiation, which kills the patient’s bone marrow — the source of blood cell production. The treatment wipes out cancerous cells but also destroys healthy ones. As a result, patients face a period of high infection risk because their immune systems cannot function.
New approach
Scientists at MIT have now developed a way to help blood cells regenerate faster and shorten this vulnerable window.
The team grew multipotent stem cells on a new surface that mimics bone marrow. This surface encouraged the cells to develop into various blood cell types. When researchers transplanted these cells into irradiated mice, the mice recovered far faster than those given stem cells grown on standard plastic surfaces.
The study, published in Stem Cell Research and Therapy, is the first to show that mechanical cues can influence how stem cells differentiate and behave.
The importance of osteopontin
The lead author believes the faster recovery stems from the type of stem cells used. Humans typically receive stem cells that can only become blood cells. In contrast, the mice received stem cells capable of becoming many cell types, including muscle, bone, and cartilage. These cells appear to reshape the bone marrow environment to support quicker recovery. The researchers linked much of this effect to osteopontin, a secreted protein known to activate immune cells.
In a press release, Dr. Viola Vogel, who was not involved in the study, highlighted the broader impact of the work: mechanopriming mesenchymal stem cells could greatly improve blood cell recovery and may open doors to new therapeutic uses for other cell types.
Dr. Krystyn Van Vliet added that adjusting the mechanical environment of these stem cells could help treat other conditions, including Parkinson’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis.