1. Stem Cell Institute, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
2. Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
3. Department of Microbiology, Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
4. Department of Neurosurgery, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
5. Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
6. These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence to: Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to C.M.V. (e-mail: Email: verfa001@umn.edu).

Abstract

We report here that cells co-purifying with mesenchymal stem cells—termed here multipotent adult progenitor cells or MAPCs—differentiate, at the single cell level, not only into mesenchymal cells, but also cells with visceral mesoderm, neuroectoderm and endoderm characteristics in vitro. When injected into an early blastocyst, single MAPCs contribute to most, if not all, somatic cell types. On transplantation into a non-irradiated host, MAPCs engraft and differentiate to the haematopoietic lineage, in addition to the epithelium of liver, lung and gut. Engraftment in the haematopoietic system as well as the gastrointestinal tract is increased when MAPCs are transplanted in a minimally irradiated host. As MAPCs proliferate extensively without obvious senescence or loss of differentiation potential, they may be an ideal cell source for therapy of inherited or degenerative diseases.