Discovery That Blood Stem Cells Originate And Are Nurtured In The Placenta May Allow Researchers To Mimic Embryonic Environment

Solving a long-standing biological mystery, UCLA stem cell researchers have discovered that blood stem cells, the cells that later differentiate into all the cells in the blood supply, originate and are nurtured in the placenta.The discovery may allow researchers to mimic the specific embryonic microenvironment necessary for development of blood stem cells in cell culture and grow them for use in treating diseases like leukemia and aplastic anemia, said Dr.

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Filed under: Lymphoma / Leukemia on March 15th, 2008