An international work led by researchers from IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) published in the journal Nature Communications, has discovered that the intensity or efficiency of how a protein called Notch is activated, which is involved in the different stages of embryonic development, determines the fate of the cells, that is, whether the cells will form the aorta artery or whether they will form blood stem cells (hematopoietic). In the case of arterial cells, many Notch molecules need to be activated while in the case of hematopoietic cells, much less are needed.
According to Dr. Anna Bigas, coordinator of the IMIM stem cells and cancer group " to achieve these levels of activation, we have shown that there is a competition between two proteins that activate Notch, that is, between two ligands, so that one limits the activation generated by the other to be able to form hematopoietic stem cells ".
Until now, it was known, from the work of this same group and other groups, that the activation of Notch was essential to form arteries and to form hematopoietic stem cells. The proteins responsible for this activation were also known to be the Delta4 and Jagged1 ligands respectively. The researchers have shown with this work how this signal works to achieve a certain activation level and form the two different types of cells.
This is important to determine the signals that are needed to generate hematopoietic stem cells in the laboratory, either from embryonic stem cells or from other sources. " Currently, cells with stem cell characteristics are already being obtained in the laboratory, but it is an inefficient process and still not very reproducible. This study will help to improve the quality and efficiency in obtaining hematopoietic stem cells and this may mean, in a In the future, the possibility of obtaining an inexhaustible source of cells for hematological transplants and, therefore, the possibility of a transplant for many patients who do not have compatible donors "comments the researcher.
Researchers have conducted the current study from mouse cells, now the next step is to replicate the research with human embryonic cells or with reprogrammed endothelial cells where they think it will work in a similar way. Furthermore, it is quite possible that similar mechanisms work to generate other cell types.
" Although the application is not immediate because all the signals and how to regulate them are not yet known, little by little a more precise protocol is being developed to know how to generate cells with the capacity to be transplanted ", the researchers conclude.
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