Posted on 05/13/2011 8:48:56 AM PDT by markomalley
Scientists believe they've discovered stem cells in the lung that can make a wide variety of the organ's tissues, a finding that might open new doors for treating emphysema and other diseases.
When these human cells were injected into mice, they showed their versatility by rebuilding airways, air sacs and blood vessels within two weeks. One expert called that "amazing."
While stem cells have been found in bone marrow and some other parts of the body, it hasn't been clear whether such a versatile cell existed in the lung.
Experts not involved in the study stressed that the work must be confirmed by further research and that it's too soon to make any promises about therapies. But they said it could be a significant advance in a difficult field of research.
"These are remarkable findings and they have extraordinary implications," said Dr. Alan Fine of Boston University, who called the mouse results amazing. "But it has to be replicated."
Stem cells can produce a wide variety of specialized kinds of cells. Scientists are working to harness them as repair kits for fixing damage from diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes. Most people have heard about embryonic stem cells, which have caused controversy because embryos must be destroyed to recover them.
In contrast, the new lung cell would be an "adult" stem cell, like others found in the body. Adult stem cells maintain and repair the tissues where they're found. The bone marrow cells, for example, give rise to various kinds of blood cells, and they've been used for years in transplants to treat leukemia and other blood diseases.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
Wonder if this can be used to treat lung cancer?
Last i saw, they were thinking of using adult stem cells to create 'custom antibodies' that would attack the cancer.
This technique would probably be more to repair the damage that the cancer had already done.
Funny how they do so many things with adult stem cells, and it gets credited as embryonic stem cells, when all embryonic stem cells have done is give cancer to people.
I wonder if the scientists can build me a 2nd set of lungs so I can hold my breath twice as long.
Kind of the "soup nazi" treatment.
This advance opens the door to many more advances. This is truly amazing. I almost didn’t even find out about it, because unless babies get killed in the process the news gets swept under the rug. As long as babies get killed, the media will report that there were great medical advances, even though there weren’t. As long as innocent people die, their satisfied.
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