Stem cells in the embryo, previously thought to mature into only red blood or immune system cells, have another function, according to new research out of University College London. Findings suggest they can differentiate into endothelial cells, too, and could help in the growth of blood vessels in developing fetuses.
The research, published in Nature and partly funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), used fluorescent tags to track the fate of erythromyeloid progenitors as they developed into mature cells. While it’s been established that stem cells can differentiate into red blood cells and immune system cells in the embryo, clinicians didn’t know prior to this study that they could develop into endothelial cells themselves.
Christiana Ruhrberg, senior author of the study and a professor at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, said scientists have believed for years that blood vessels only develop in the fetus when existing endothelial cells divide. Her research suggests stem cells can become another source of those endothelial cells, presenting more opportunity for blood vessel growth.
“Until now, scientists thought erythromyeloid progenitors only formed red blood and immune system cells in the fetus,” she said in a BHF release. “To find that they also generate endothelial cells for growing new blood vessels in the fetus was unexpected and is hugely exciting.”
A major limitation of Ruhrberg et al.’s study was that it didn’t include human subjects—just petri dishes and mouse models. But, in both the petri dish and a mouse’s womb, erythromyeloid progenitors differentiated into red blood, immune system, and endothelial cells.
Ruhrberg said methods need to be developed to track down these cells in humans, and further research to determine the true function of endothelial cells that come from erythromyeloid progenitors is warranted.
She said the study changed the scientific understanding of how blood vessels form and grow, and how stem cells step in to repair damaged ones.
“Using stem cells to treat patients with heart and circulatory disease has huge potential, but taking positive findings from the lab to patients has often been very challenging,” Metin Avkiran, associate medical director for the BHF, said in the release. “Getting these fundamentals right is essential for finding stem cell treatments which will work in patients. These findings could pave the way to new discoveries in regenerative medicine and allow scientists in the future to grow new blood vessels and repair those that are damaged in many forms of heart and circulatory disease.”
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.