Regenerative medicine: a radical reappraisal of the spleen.
The spleen has long been considered a dispensable organ. Recent research, however, has found that the spleen of adult mice holds a reservoir of stem cells that can rapidly and robustly differentiate into functional cells of diverse lineages. Splenic stem cells express Hox11, a key embryonic transcription factor that regulates organogenesis. The presence of multi-lineage stem cells in the spleen might represent lifelong persistence of cells from a primitive embryonic region called the aorta-gonad-mesonephros. By bringing together findings from diverse disciplines, we propose that the adult spleen is an important source of multi-lineage stem cells for future cellular therapies for diabetes and other diseases.
Kodama
Shohta
S
Harvard Medical School & Massachusetts General Hospital-East Immunology Lab, Building 149, 13(th) Street, Room 3602, Boston, MA 02193, USA.
Davis
Miriam
M
Faustman
Denise L
DL
D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology; D019070:Cell Lineage; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000378:metabolism; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008650:Mesonephros / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D012038:Regeneration; D044968:Regenerative Medicine; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; C107836:Tlx2 protein, mouse