Molar Extraction Simplifies Stem Cell Harvest
The process of acquiring stem cells through bone marrow
harvesting — which calls for needle punctures to the rear hipbone under general
anesthesia — may be set for a makeover based on research that shows tissue used
in creating stem cells can be taken from a routine wisdom tooth extraction.
Researchers at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced
Industrial Science and Technology gathered third molars from three donors and
successfully generated a series of induced-pluripotent stem cells (iPS), which
can be genetically reprogrammed to function as stem cells. Stem cells, in turn,
can be used in therapies to treat a variety of cancers and blood disorders.
Although material to make iPS cells can be gathered from
tissues elsewhere in the body, including skin tissue, those cells are not
easily programmable and proliferate poorly. Mesenchymal stromal cells found
within the soft pulp of human teeth, however, harbor large numbers of cells
similar to the type of cells extracted through bone marrow harvesting. What
makes the acquisition of cells from the third molars particularly significant
is that the acquisition process is considerably smaller than a bone marrow
harvest. In addition, mesenchyal stromal cells can be harvested from the tooth
and banked for that patient’s future use.
In addition to current clinical uses of stem cells, emerging
research shows stem cells may play a pivotal role in therapies that will regrow
heart tissue, form insulin-producing cells to treat diabetes, and provide novel
treatment sources for spinal cord injuries, osteoarthritis and Alzheimer’s
disease. For example, as part of their research, the Japanese scientists caused
the cells they extracted from the donated third molars to differentiae into
beating cardiac muscle.
Source: American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology
