Discoveries in Signalling System Advance Stem Cell Therapeutics

Scientists from the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), an institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), in collaboration with the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI), have discovered how the body uses a single communication system to decide the fate of stem cells. Dr Kian Leong Lee and colleagues pave the way for the development of new methods of stem cell therapy with fewer side effects. Studying how a single signaling system known as the Nodal/Activin pathway tells stem cells what cell type they should eventually become, the team discovered that the pathway is able to specify a wide range of eventual cell types, challenging the current belief that chemical signaling systems are highly specific and only control a limited number of outcomes. This discovery is a major step forward for stem cell therapies and personalized medicine; by exploiting this signaling system, scientists will be able to control the eventual fate of a stem cell by simply adjusting the chemical environment of a cell. This method of controlling stem cell differentiation also avoids modifying the genetic material of the cell, a procedure that might lead to the cells becoming cancerous.  Dr Lee observes that: “This finding is extremely significant because it paves the way for advanced studies in cell regeneration and tissue repair, which could ultimately lead to its use in personalized medicine, where stem cells from the same patient could be manipulated to make other types of cells that are genetically matched to the donor.”