healthy glow.
The renal cells in mice with Alport syndrome with light marker of bone marrow transplantation (green); GBM is displayed in red.
Raghu Kalluri
Kidney disease can condemn patients to dialysis for life with a transplant the only chance for relief. Researchers have now shown that stem cells from bone marrow could one day provide a better alternative. Mice receiving a bone marrow transplant containing these cells experienced a dramatic reduction of symptoms associated with Alport syndrome -. A genetic disease in which the kidneys filter system breaks down
The kidneys filter waste from the blood with a dense network of capillaries called the glomerulus. High blood pressure in this region of the forces of undesirable molecules through the basal glomerular sievelike membrane (GBM) and its associated cells. The waste flows in the renal tubule, from which it is eventually excreted in the urine, while the purified blood returns to the veins.
But in Alport syndrome, this filter often fails. Patients have a mutation in the genes that code for its main component - a wiry, a fibrous protein called collagen type IV. suitable pore formation does not occur, so that the proteins and leakage of blood in urine. And because the cells that help the filter will interact with the WBG correctly, the products are not all waste is removed from the blood.
Harvard biologist Raghu Kalluri and his colleagues wondered if help could come from bone marrow stem cells, which have been shown to grow into other body tissues ( science NOW, November 19, 03). The team gave mice with a mutation of type IV collagen gene, a bone marrow transplant, where all cells, including stem cells were labeled with a fluorescent marker. Thirteen weeks later, 10% of cells in unhealthy kidneys shone, including podocytes (which are thought to produce collagen type IV) and the mesangial cells (which support the structure of the GBM).
Kalluri is uncertain whether this means that the cells of the bone marrow had actually become podocytes mesangial cells or new, or whether the new cells were fused with the old or transferred their nuclei. Either way, the effect was dramatic given the low percentage of glowing cells :. Mice infused with stem cells from bone marrow had 70% to 80% less protein in the urine and 86% less toxic urea in their blood than controls
"it is encouraging because it means you do not need to convert large numbers of kidney cells to see an improvement, "said Kalluri, whose team publishes its findings online this week in Proceedings of the national Academy of Sciences . How the stem cells reach their destination remains a mystery. the team believed that cells in damaged kidneys attract stem cells with a chemical lure that are not present in healthy kidneys.
researchers still need to nail down exactly how the new therapy works, said Richard Poulsom histopathologist of Cancer research in London research Institute in the UK, in order to avoid side effects. If the transplanted cells exchange genetic material with the original cells, for example, essential genes may be closed or those potentially harmful could be activated.
Related Sites
- More information about kidney disease and kidney
- Alport syndrome
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