Stomach Cells Naturally Revert to Stem Cells: Study

Specialized cells in the stomach revert to stem cells more often than they thought, say Washington University School of Medicine scientists.

"We already knew that these cells, which are called chief cells, can change back into stem //cells to make temporary repairs in significant stomach injuries, such as a cut or damage from infection," said Jason Mills, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at Washington University. "The fact that they're making this transition more often, even in the absence of noticeable injuries, suggests that it may be easier than we realized to make some types of mature, specialized adult cells revert to stem cells."

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The findings are published Oct. 10 in Cell.

Chief cells normally produce digestive fluids for the stomach. Mills studies their transformation into stem cells for injury repair. He also is investigating the possibility that the potential for growth unleashed by this change may contribute to stomach cancers http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/25196.aspx.

In the new report, Mills, graduate student Greg Sibbel and Hans Clevers, MD, PhD, a geneticist at Utrecht Medical Center, identify markers that show a small number of chief cells become stem cells even in the absence of serious injury.

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If a significant injury is introduced in cell cultures or in animal models, more chief cells become stem cells, making it possible to fix the damage.

"Chief cells normally are big factories with elaborate networks of tubing and secretory mechanisms for making and secreting digestive juices," said Mills, the associate director of Washington University's Digestive Diseases Center. "That all has to be dismantled and recycled so the chief cell can become a stem cell. It's a remarkable change."

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Mills' other goals include learning if the chief cells' transformations are triggered by signals sent by injured tissue, by damage sensors on the chief cells or by some combination of these methods.

This research was supported by funding from the Centre for Biomedical Genetics, the European Research Council (EU-232814-StemCellMark, EU/Health-F4-2007-200720, DK09489, and 2P30 DK052574), the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF2011-357-C00093), the Wellcome Trust (097922/C/11/Z), EU Marie Curie Fellowships (EU/236954-ICSC-Lgr5, and EU/300-686-InfO), and TI PHarma (T3-106).

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Stange DE, Koo BK, Huch M, Sibbel G, Basak O, Lyubimova A, Kujala P, Bartfeldt S, Koster J, Geahlen JH, Peters PJ, van Ese JH, van de Wetering M, Mills JC, Clevers H. Differentiated Troy + chief cells act as 'reserve' stem cells to generate all lineages of the stomach epithelium. Cell, published online Oct. 10, 2013.

Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

Source-Newswise