SYDNEY, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Australian researchers have created lab-grown blood stem cells that closely resemble those in the human body in a world-first that could lead to treatments for several disorders, according to a study published on Tuesday.
A team from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne made a breakthrough in creating transplantable blood stem cells, paving the way for lab-grown cells to treat children with leukemia and bone marrow failure disorders.
Stem cell transplants, also known as bone marrow transplants, are commonly used to treat leukemia, white blood cell cancer, and bone marrow disorders because of stem cells' ability to self-replicate and create red or white blood cells and platelets.
However, finding a perfect donor match for a transplant is often difficult.
The new study marked the first time researchers have developed blood stem cells in a lab that closely match those in the human embryo and can be used to treat any patient.
"The ability to take any cell from a patient, reprogram it into a stem cell, and then turn these into specifically matched blood cells for transplantation will have a massive impact on these vulnerable patients' lives," researcher Elizabeth Ng said in a media release. "Importantly, these human cells can be created at the scale and purity required for clinical use."
The team injected immune-deficient mice with the lab-engineered human blood cells in the study. They found that the cells became functional bone marrow at similar levels to that seen in umbilical cord transplants, a proven benchmark of success.
They also found that the lab-grown cells could be frozen before being implanted into the mice, mimicking the preservation process of donor cells before being transplanted into human patients.
Andrew Elefanty from the institute said that the ability to develop personalized, patient-specific blood cells would prevent the complications of donor-to-patient transplants, address donor shortages and help correct the underlying causes of blood diseases.
He said the next step, likely within five years, is to conduct a phase one clinical trial to test the safety of using the lab-grown cells in humans. ■