Gene Keeps Stem Cells Available To Differentiate
Related News: Stem Cell ResearchU.S. scientists at St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, say they've found a gene, called Six2, that plays a critical role in the development of human kidneys, by keeping a population of stem cells constantly available to produce the differentiated cells that give rise to specialized parts of the organ.
The kidney stem cells are the source of cells triggered by chemical signals to differentiate into nephrons. Nephrons are the structures in the kidney that cleanse the blood of waste. The nephrons later become attached to tubes that collect the filtered blood as urine and direct it to the bladder.
The St. Jude research team showed that the key gene Six2 works by preventing some precursor cells from responding to those signals. This way it's ensuring a continual source of undifferentiated stem cells available to maintain the growth of the kidney.
Guillermo Oliver, a member of the St. Jude Genetics and Tumor Cell Biology Department, said that their work shows that the gene Six2 is critical to preventing the developing kidney from running out of stem cells and collapsing into a mass of underdeveloped tissue.
Posted on October 19, 2006 10:01 PM