Access

Article

Nature 418, 41-49 (4 July 2002) | doi:10.1038/nature00870; Received 30 January 2002; Accepted 21 May 2002; Published online 20 June 2002

There is a Corrigendum (14 June 2007) associated with this document.

Open Innovation Challenges

naturejobs

More science jobs
Post a job for free

Pluripotency of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adult marrow

Yuehua Jiang1,2, Balkrishna N. Jahagirdar1,2,3, R. Lee Reinhardt4, Robert E. Schwartz1, C. Dirk Keene5, Xilma R. Ortiz-Gonzalez5, Morayma Reyes1, Todd Lenvik1, Troy Lund1, Mark Blackstad1, Jingbo Du1, Sara Aldrich1, Aaron Lisberg1, Walter C. Low5, David A. Largaespada6 & Catherine M. Verfaillie1,3

  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).

Top

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.

  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).